Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c35.468

v2.c35.468

According to the Commentary,² Kumārakassapa was not an arahant at the time of the preaching of the sutta. The deity was a deity of the Suddhāvāsa-brahma world. He was one of five friends who, in the time of Kassapa Buddha, had entered the Order and who, in order to meditate uninterruptedly, had climbed a rock by means of a ladder which they had then removed, thus cutting off their return. The eldest became an arahant in three days, the second (*anuthera*) was this deity, who had become an *anāgāmī*. The third was Pukkusāti, the fourth Bāhiya Dārucīriya and the last Kumārakassapa. This deity was responsible for the arahantship both of Bāhiya and Kassapa, for Kassapa took the Vammīka Sutta as the subject of his meditations and thus developed insight.