THE GREAT CHRONICLE OF BUDDHAS
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be done. He will thus render service to My dispensation so that it may last for five
thousand years.‛ The Buddha also was of the opinion that ‚if I install him in My
monastery, monks will show obedience to him.‛ Hence the Buddha's desire to
install the Venerable in His (the Buddha's) position. It was for this reason that the
Buddha was desirous of exchanging of robes. It was because of this desire that the
Buddha spoke in praise of the Venerable Kassapa.)
If somebody admiringly spoke of the good quality of the bowl or that of the robe, it was
a natural practice of the noble Venerable to say: ‚Please accept the bowl, Venerable Sir,‛
or ‚Please receive the robe, Venerable Sir.‛ Therefore, knowing by hint that ‚the Exalted
Buddha would like to put on my outer robe, for he admired its softness,‛ the Venerable
said: ‚Exalted Buddha, may the Glorious One please put on this outer robe.‛ ‚Dear son
Kassapa, which robe will you don then?‛ asked the Buddha. ‚If I get the kind of robe you
are wearing, I will don it,‛ replied the Venerable. Then the Buddha said: ‚Dear son
Kassapa, can you do that? This robe made of rags have become very old because of my
long use. Indeed, when I picked it up, that day saw the quake of this great earth down to
the water limit. Those of less virtue are unable to wear this kind of robe that had been
worn out. Only those who engage themselves in the Dhamma practice and who, by nature,
are used to such attire deserve it.‛ So saying the Buddha gave His robe for the Venerable
Kassapa’s. After the exchange of robes was done in this way, the Buddha put on the
Venerable’s robe and the Venerable donned the Buddha's. At that moment, the great earth
quaked violently down to the water limit as if it were saying, though it lacks mind and
volition: ‚Exalted Buddha, you have done something difficult to do. There has never been
in the past such an occasion on which a Buddha gives His robe to His disciple. I cannot
bear up this virtue of Yours.‛
(c) Achievement of Spirituality and An Etadagga Title
On the part of the Venerable MahÈ Kassapa, no arrogance arose in him just by getting the
Buddha's robe; he never thought: ‚Now I have obtained the robe previously used by the
Exalted One: I have nothing to strive now, either for higher Paths and Fruitions.‛ Instead,
he made a vow to practise the thirteen austere (
dhuta~ga
) practices most willingly as taught
by the Buddha. Because he put great efforts in developing the ascetic Dhamma, he
remained only for seven days as a worldling and on the eighth day, at early dawn, he
attained arahatship with the fourfold Analytical Knowledge (
paÔisambhidÈ
-
magga-ÒÈÓa
).
Setting this Venerable as an example, the Buddha delivered many discourses as
contained in the NidÈnavagga Kassapa SaÑyutta (see the translation of the same
SaÑyutta).
The Buddha admired the Venerable through many Suttas such as Cand'|pama Sutta, in
which the Buddha says: ‚
Kassapo bhikkhave cand’|pamo kulÈni upasankamati
—— Monks,
Kassapa Thera approached his donors of the four social classes by controlling his deed,
word and thought like the moon, i.e. being absolutely free from physical, verbal and mental
roughness does he approach his donors.‛ Later on the Buddha declared, by citing the noble
Venerable as the foremost (
etadagga
) in
dhuta~ga
practices, as preserved in the Kassapa
SaÑyutta:
‚EtadaggaÑ bhikkhave mama sÈvakÈnaÑ bhikkh|naÑ dhutavÈdÈnaÑ
yadidam MahÈkassapo.‛
Monks, among my disciples
bhikkhus
, who practise by themselves and who
teach and exhort others to practise the excellent
dhuta~ga
practices which
shake off moral impurities (
kilesa
), MahÈ Kassapa Thera is the best.
(5) ANURUDDHA MAHŒTHERA
(a) Aspiration expressed in The Past
A hundred thousand aeons ago, in the lifetime of the Buddha Padumuttara, the future