Information About

Mahakasyapa




This article is about Maha Kashyapa, a disciple of Shakyamuni Buddha . For more information on the Hindu sage Kashyapa, see Kashyapa . See also Kassapa Buddha for information on the early Buddha .


Mahākāśyapa or Kāśyapa was a Brahman of Magadha , who became one of the principal disciples of Śākyamuni Buddha and who convened and directed the first Council . Mahākāśyapa is one of the most revered of the Buddha's early disciples. He is often depicted in statuary together with Ananda , each standing to one side of the Buddha.

Zen purports to lead its adherents to insights akin to that mentioned by Śākyamuni Buddha in his ''Flower sermon''. Mahākāśyapa smiled faintly, and Śākyamuni Buddha picked that disciple as one who truly understood him and who was worth to be his succesor. Great religions of the world. Center for Distance Learning. Tarrant County College District

The words of the Śākyamuni Buddha addressed to Mahākāśyapa are described below:Zen Buddhism: A History (India & China) By Heinrich Dumoulin. Translated by James W. Heisig, Paul F. Knitter. Contributor John McRae. Published 2005. World Wisdom, Inc. Religion / World. Religions. 387 pages. ISBN 0941532895. page 9


I posses the true Dharma eye, the marvelous mind of Nirvana, the true form of the formless, the subtle dharma gate that does not rest on words or letters but is a special transmission outside of the scriptures. This I entrust to Mahākāśyapa.Zen Buddhism: A History (India & China) By Heinrich Dumoulin. Translated by James W. Heisig, Paul F. Knitter. Contributor John McRae. Published 2005. World Wisdom, Inc. Religion / World. Religions. 387 pages. ISBN 0941532895. page 9


Thus, a way within Buddhism developed which concentrated on direct experience rather than on rational creeds or revealed scriptures. Zen is a method of meditative religion which seeks to enlighten people in the manner that the Mahākāśyapa experienced. Great religions of the world. Center for Distance Learning. Tarrant County College District

In the ''Song of Enlightenment'' (證道歌 ''Zhèngdào gē'') of Yǒngjiā Xuánjué (665-713)Chang, Chung-Yuan (1967). "Ch'an Buddhism: Logical and Illogical". —one of the chief disciples of Huìnéng , the 6th patriarch of Chan Buddhism—it is written that Bodhidharma was the 28th patriarch in a line of descent from Mahākāśyapa, a disciple of Śākyamuni Buddha , and the first patriarch of Chan Buddhism:


Mahākāśyapa was the first, leading the line of transmission;
:Twenty-eight Fathers followed him in the West;
:The Lamp was then brought over the sea to this country;
:And Bodhidharma became the First Father here:
:His mantle, as we all know, passed over six Fathers,
:And by them many minds came to see the Light. Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro (1948). '' Manual Of Zen Buddhism '', 50.


According to Chinese legend, the lecherous monk and Taoist god Ji Gong is a reincarnation of Mahākāśyapa (known as the Taming Dragon Arhat ).


EXTERNAL LINKS

  • ''Maha Kassapa'' (subtitle) ''Father of the Sangha'', Hellmuth Hecker, biography based on the Pali Canon , revised and enlarged translation from Wissen und Wandel volume XXI number 6, 1975, (German) by Nyanaponika Thera, The Wheel Publication No. 345, ISBN 955-24-0026-0


  • "Mahakasyapa’s smile" Master Young San Seong Do Snim



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