Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c21.221

v1.c21.221

Tapassu (Tapussa) Sutta.—The householder Tapassu visits Ānanda at Uruvelakappa, and expresses surprise that young men in the fulness of life can renounce the pleasures of household life and enter the Order. Ānanda takes Tapassu to the Buddha, who is having his siesta at the foot of a tree in the Mahāvana, and repeats Tapassu’s remark. The Buddha tells Ānanda how he himself had attained to Buddhahood by passing through the nine successive stages, the anupubbavihārā. These nine stages consist of the four jhānas, the four āyatanas (ākāsānañcāyatana, etc.), and, as the crowning stage, the saññāvedayitanirodha.¹