Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c12.1153

v1.c12.1153

1. Kassapa.—Also called Kassapa Dasabala to distinguish him from other Kassapas. The twenty-fourth Buddha, the third of the present æon (the Bhaddakappa) and one of the seven Buddhas mentioned in the Canon.¹ He was born in Benares, in the Deer Park at Isipatana, of brahmin parents, Brahmadatta and Dhanavatī, belonging to the Kassapagotta. For two thousand years he lived in the household, in three different palaces, Haṃsa, Yasa and Sirinanda.² He had as chief wife Sunandā, by whom he begot a son, Vijitasena. Kassapa left the world, travelling in his palace (pāsāda), and practised austerities for only seven days. Just before his Enlightenment his wife gave him a meal of milk-rice, and a yavapāla named Soma gave him grass for his seat. His bodhi was a ban-yan-tree, and he preached his first sermon at Isipatana to a crore of monks who had renounced the world in his company. He performed the Twin-Miracle at the foot of an asana-tree outside Sundaranagara. He held only one assembly of his disciples; among his most famous conversions was that of a yakkha, Naradeva (q.v.). His chief disciples were Tissa and Bhāradvāja among monks, and Anulā and Uruvelā among nuns, his constant attendant being Sabbamitta. Among his patrons, the most eminent were Sumaṅgala and Ghaṭīkāra, Vijitasenā and Bhaddā. His body was twenty cubits high, and, after having lived for twenty thousand years, he died in the Setavya pleasaunce at Setavyā in Kāsī. Over his relics was raised a thūpa one league in height, each brick of which was worth one crore. It is said³ that there was a great difference of opinion as to what should be the size of the thūpa and of what material it should be constructed; when these points were finally settled and the work of building had started, the citizens found they had not enough money to complete it. Then an anāgāmī devotee, named Soraṭa, went all over Jambudīpa, enlisting the help of the people for the building of the thūpa. He sent the money as he received it, and on hearing that the work was completed, he set out to go and worship the thūpa; but he was seized by robbers and killed in the forest, which later came to be known as the Andhavana (q.v.).