The Good Example of Maha Kasapa (Maha Kasapa) .VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH. Part 4 VIII. THE ROLE OF MAJA KABILIA AFTER THE BUDDHA GET NIRVAN The next section on Mahakashyapa will probably be his main role (in cooperation with Ananda) in guiding the Sangha, after the Buddha's death. At the time of the Buddha's death, only two of the five great disciples present were the brothers Ananda and Anuruddha. And Sariputra and Muc Kien Lien entered Nirvana before the Buddha. Particularly, Maha Kassapa, who was the head of the five great disciples (including Dai Kassapa, Sariputra, Muc Kien Lien, Ananda and Ananda) was on his way to enlightenment, along with a large number of monks. Bhikkhus, from Pa and poured into Kusinàra city. During the journey, each time he was tired, Dai Ca Lettuce and his entourage, sometimes stopped to rest by the roadside. At that time a naked ascetic passed by. The ascetic carried a garland of Mandala flowers (Mandaràva), a treasure that the world at that time thought was only falling from heaven! When Mahasattva saw that flower, he immediately thought: "It must be a great event that this precious flower will appear in the physical world". At the beginning of the story about the origin of the mandala flower, Mahakashyapa, who knew a lot of naked ascetics, knew a lot of information in the world, first asked about the Buddha. The naked ascetic immediately announced happily that "World-Honored One Gotama passed into Nirvana a week ago. This mandala flower was picked up by him near the place where the cremation ceremony will be held!" After hearing this, in the group of monks of the Elder Mahakashyapa, only those recluses who have attained the Arahantship will keep their purity, while most of the ordinary Sangha have not yet ceased their afflictions. expressed sorrow, mourned bitterly. Together, they mourned the Master, saying: "When the Enlightened One has passed away, the light of the path that illuminates the dark soul in this world is no longer there!". However, there was also a Bhikkhu (until old age ordained) named Subhadda, because the level of Buddhist penetration was not complete, he was happy, "analyzed" with some fellow believers that: "Hey brethren! Where are you sad. When Gotama dies, we take the burden off our shoulders, without being reprimanded by anyone, inventing this serious rule, and inventing that miserable practice! We are now completely free, anyone can do whatever they want, there's nothing to be afraid of!" Normally, in front of such an undisciplined bhikkhu, Mahakasyapa severely rebuked him, perhaps he deserved to be expelled from the Sangha by Mahakasyapa. But in the case of having just heard of the Buddha's death, Mahakashyapa was silent. Perhaps Mahasattva didn't want to be in a state of panic because of that "loss of a teacher", there was a heavy punishment or controversy among the ranks of the ordinary Sangha! The wisdom of a Saint is difficult for most people to analyze! If for a moment Mahakashyapa's silence surprised us, then his actions later should make it clear to us. That's the fact that Mahakasyapa was the first to propose urgently, that there should be an all Saint Sangha gathering the Buddha's speech into a system! (In later centuries, it was known as "A collection of the Tripitaka") When proposing to assemble the Buddha's speech into a system, Mahakasyapa did not forget to repeat as a reason the undisciplined words of the bhikkhus. Elderly ordained, the other Subhadda name! Although Mahakasyapa did not speak to that undisciplined bhikkhu, he gently comforted the other ordinary Sangha who did not stop crying and mourning for the Master. He explained, reminding them clearly that: "Everything is impermanent, whatever is born must have death, disintegration, and disappearance!". Then he led the entire Sangha in haste to the city of Kusinara... At that time the Buddha's body was settled on the pyre. But no one can light a fire, because every spark no matter how strong it burns, when it comes close to the Buddha's coffin, it will naturally go out. While the entire Sangha and Buddhist followers present were surprised that it was a strange thing, the congregation of Dai Kassapa had just arrived... According to the revelation of the Holy Sangha, Zen master A Nau Lau Da, the reason for the phenomenon of "spontaneously extinguishing the spark", is because the Gods, gathered invisibly to attend the ceremony, used miracles to prevent them. extinguish the fire! They (the gods) deliberately waited for the Elder Mahakashyapa to arrive to see the Buddha's body for the last time! (Translator's addition: The body of the Buddha is placed in the coffin, but not covered. Anyone who comes to worship can also see the Buddha's body). When the Elder Maha Kassapa approached the pyre to look at the Buddha's face for the last time, and then "interrupted the Buddha" (walking around the coffin) three times, all the ascetics in his Sangha also bowed to the same person. self...! According to the scriptures, the fire was spontaneously ignited when Mahakasyapa knelt at the foot of the Buddha's coffin, and the whole crowd bowed to pray for the cremation! The body of the Heavenly Sphinx had just turned into a skeleton (a relic) after the cremation fire, when a dispute arose that almost caused a war, just because the local prince did not want to share the holy relic, among the people. emissaries from neighboring communities admiring the Buddha from afar. The Elder Dai Ca Diep, Zen Master Ananda and Venerable Ananda, although they are the three great apostles who are competent in this matter, the conflicting karma of those who claim the Holy Relics is too heavy, so the three of them must keep quiet, put yourself out of contention! At that time there was a good brahmin named Dona who, thanks to his diplomatic skills, whose prestige had long spread to the regions, he finally reconciled all disagreements between princes and messengers. Then, personally, as the arbitrator, he divided the holy bones (Sacred relics) into eight equal parts, to distribute among the eight disputing factions. Personally, he only asked to receive the urn containing the relics, brought back to create a worship tower. Elder Dai Ca Lettuce is the person responsible for bringing the share of relics to the country of Magadha (Magadha) and giving it to King Aja The (Ajata Satta). While on the way to carry out that work, the Elder Maha Kassapa thought, "The legacy of the Buddha's remains is handed down like this, how should the spiritual legacy of the Buddha's speech be preserved? ". He again recalled the unconscious words of the elderly monk Subhadda, as a challenge to the sign of the decline of discipline in Buddhism. The words advocating for the act of letting go, freely breaking the precepts, he considered alarm bells: If Subhadda's bad example spreads, the end of the Sangha's virtue and the teaching of liberation has come. as soon as the Buddha passed away! And in order to stop the state of Dharma decay too soon, the Elder Dai Kassapa quickly thought of convening a meeting of the Sangha, to summarize the Buddha's speech into a system of Dharma (Dhamma) and Vinaya (Vinaya) to save it. Orthodox Buddhism for the next life. After that, the remaining job was that Dai Kassapa had to personally spread the proposal to all the ascetics present inside and outside the royal capital. Then he was approved by all to appoint him as the convenor of 499 "seniors" of the Elder, all of whom must be saints Arahants, plus Venerable Ananda to have a meeting of five hundred great Sa. - subject. Ananda at that time had not yet attained Arahant liberation, but he had an extraordinary memory, and was the one who directly listened to most of the Buddha's teachings. The history of Buddhism also records: "Ananda, before the opening day of the assembly of sutras (including Dharma = Dhamma and Law = Vinaya) was an ordinary Sangha, but through diligence and determination, he attained Sainthood Arahant at dawn on the first day of the first Buddhist canon gathering (Please see the book "The Life of Saint Ananda" with a published translator). While five hundred Arahants were gathering to assemble the Buddha's speech into scriptures in a cave near Vajrasattva City, all the other Buddhist monks were required to retreat to their retreats, working hard. practice, do not move around. The first part of the collection of scriptures is to recall the rules that the Buddha taught. The recluse Upali, who remembered the most forbidden laws, was asked to repeat verbatim by the Elder Maha Kassapa, in the presiding role. The second part belongs to the classification of the whole suttas, that is, the teachings of the Buddha while he was still alive, traveling during the forty-five years of preaching the Dharma to mankind. Ananda was a recluse who heard a lot and had an incomparable memory, so he was asked by the chairperson, Mahakashyapa, to recite them all. Thanks to that, the later canonical collections have enough Buddha language to write down the five sets of A-functions, forming the Sutta Pitaka. The books of later generations often praise Ananda as the heir to the Dharma, that's why! Summarized in this first collection of Buddhist scriptures, there are only two collections of scriptures, the Sutta Pitaka and the Vinaya Pitaka. However, there were also miscellaneous issues that were heatedly raised during the congress. It is a dispute between the Sangha about a number of "trivial" rules reported by Ananda that the Buddha, before entering Nirvana, allowed the cancellation. But when Mahakashyapa questioned Ananda about the principle taught by the Buddha, to determine "what is a petty law", Ananda had not heard the Buddha speak, so he could not answer. Ananda immediately graciously admitted his mistake because he was negligent and did not ask the Master carefully about the principles of setting these petty laws. Next, most of the opinions of the Saint Sangha in the congress on this issue were momentarily different. Most of them just commented, but did not specify "what is a petty precept that can be broken!" Finally, the chairman, Mahakasyapa, must declare: "Dear respect, brethren! We don't have a majority decision, nor do we have rules to determine what petty laws can be revoked! Bam Tang would like to suggest that we should keep strictly all the commandments that the Buddha left behind!Moreover, the Buddha just passed away not long ago, if the disciples of the Buddha started to review this commandment, or cancel the other, the world will protest, they will think "Disciples of Gotama, when the master disappears, he wants to reduce the law to be free!", causing believers to decrease their faith in Buddhism! Once again, the poor Daoist, on behalf of the chairman of the conference, declared: "What the Buddha has commanded, disciples must absolutely observe,must not be discriminated against (According to the Minor, in the Code of Canon XI - Culavagga XI Vinaya). After the end of the first congress of Buddhist scriptures, the respected dignity and role of the Elder Maha Kassapa in the clergy became larger and larger each day. Mahakashyapa can be considered as the first Buddhist master. (Today we call it the High Priesthood). Because he was not only the highest and lowest samana (), but he was also the oldest Elder among the great Sravakas and disciples of the Buddha alive. (According to the commentary, at the time of holding that conference, Mahakashyapa lived to be 120 years old. But there is another historical record that he is 40 years older than the Buddha, so when Mahakasyapa met the Buddha and officially did it. Disciple, you are already a 75-year-old Taoist sage Determining the age of a character more than 25 centuries ago is a very difficult thing. Another historical fact that Buddhists also need to know is that the Buddha's bowl, after he passed away, was entrusted by the entire Sangha to Mahakasyapa to keep! After this bowl, Dai Ca Lettuce gave it back to Ananda before going to the forest to live a long life and then disappear. Mahakashyapa's act of transmission thus recorded symbolizes the continuation of his responsibility to preserve Buddhism. Based on those data, we can conclude that: Although the Buddha said, "After the Tathagata enters Nirvana, the disciples often take the law of the law as teachers!", but Mahakashyapa was still the first. replace the Buddha to guide the Sangha. Unfortunately, in the entire Pali canon, there is no mention of the exact time and place where the great Saint Maha Kassapa passed away. IX. THE SPEAKINGS OF THE GREAT CA DIEP According to the Buddhist scriptures, the section "Ton Tuc Verses" (Theragàthà) has 40 passages of teaching, numbered from 1051 to 1090, signed by the author is Saint Tang Dai Ca Leth. These verses (also known as verses) largely reflect some of the distinctive qualities and virtues of the Dhutanga Elder. For example, the expression is satisfied with austere clothes, absolute contentment (only the minimum needs are required), strict with oneself and with fellow believers, always keeping the spirit of independence and self-confidence, loving likes solitude, away from all crowds, engrossed in purity and peace with the meditators. On the other hand, these rhyming verses also express the feelings of the Holy Sangha before the tranquil beauty of nature around him, which we cannot find similar content in prose suttas. Here, the author would like to offer you only a few excerpts from two translations by CAF Rhys Davids and by KR Norman. Those of you who want to read them all, look for the translations of these two scholars. Both of these precious documents were published by the Palì Text Society, London. 1. First quote trích Consists of four verses with the following numbers 1054, 1055, 1056 and 1057, titled: "COMMENDATIONS TO SHAMON TO PRACTICE THE TRADITIONAL BEHAVIOR BEFORE FOUR Item" () (1054) From Son Coc one day brought a bowl. Go to the village to beg for real life... See a leper next to a bowl of orphaned rice. Stop by Sa-mon waiting. (1055) The unfortunate man with sore hands, Put a few handfuls of rice in the pot. Suddenly his elbow snapped... Falling into a bowl in the middle of a cold meal! (1056) Looking at food, Samana meditates... Eat to cultivate to live a life of escape from the ceiling! Praying for the faithful patrons! Do not grudge the good and peaceful Dharma! (1057) Get a little, a lot... Sa-mon is still enough! Regular rice, cow urine medicine Accommodation with simple clothes! Under the shade of a recluse. 2. Second quote: Consists of four stanzas with numbers 1058, 1059, 1060, 1061 titled: "THE GENERAL DIEP ANSWER WHY WHY ARE OLD YOU ALWAYS READY TO MISS" (1058) Are you tired of climbing the mountain? Inheriting good knowledge to gain divine knowledge! The power of meditation to gain and overcome all the hardships of the body, Ca Diep vows to be pure and high. (1059) Hang alms round returned to the top of the mountain. The rock is sitting still like nothing! Live with the zen realm of unparalleled strength. The mind is not afraid, the body is not demanding. (1060) Every day begging for alms to return to the top of the mountain. The old ledge sat as still as nothing! Live with the zen realm of unparalleled strength. Leaving afflictions Sa-mon round of the holy life! (1061) Every day begging for alms and then returning to the top of the mountain. The high cliffs sit as still as nothing...! Enter the meditation realms of unparalleled strength. The mind is transparent, the mind is completely liberated. So when the old Sa-Mon keeps trot, Asceticism starts the momentum to make life-sustaining miracles! 3. Third quote: Consists of 10 stanzas, with the numbers 1062 to 1071, in order from lowest to highest. All share the same content is: "WHY WHY IS THE AGE OF GENERAL KINGAPORE STILL LIKES TO BE IN THE FOREST, IN THE MOUNTS, ALREADY CAN BE ENJOYING IN GREAT monasteries like TRUC LAM OR KEVEN?" (1062) The scene of the forest and mountains made the ascetic excited. The vines spread flowers and leaves around. When the herd of elephants pulled back to the forest... On the cliffs, Sa-Mon's heart was comfortable. (1063) Many agar blocks with dark green cloud color. Many Son Khe have crystal springs. Fireflies show off their light at night... Lying on the rock Sa-mon relax. (1064) Looking at the towering mountain top, covered with clouds. Natural architecture, inert stone building. Sacred music is the chirping of birds. Seeing the high mountain scenery is more emotional! (1065) When it rains, the forest is green and fresh. The sound of birds calling them all around. The water splashed on the clean cliffs. Give life to new plants and trees. (1066) These scenes strengthen the ascetic's vows to meditate in solitude. The higher the cliff, the higher the aspiration needs to be specialized. The faster the practitioner's mind enters the Holy Path (1067) The holy fruit helps the Sa-Mon to be determined. Living in the middle of the forest, lost in the life of freedom...! The monastic life turned into poetry. Practicing righteous conduct does not wait for anyone to remind. (1068) In the sky, under the dark red thorn flowers. Celestial color blends with green thorn leaves. The gas collected in the sunlight turns yellow. Falling on the leaves covered with a ripe color! (1069) That mountain forest is not owned by anyone. Only retirees, deer, and pets. Flying birds adorn the Zen sky on the cliffs where the mind is usually peaceful. (1070) Drinking water from the forest, sips of pure water. "Meet" often deer, monkeys on thousands of... The mossy green stream bank cools time. Above that is the meditative group. (1071) No need for worldly music to touch. Sa-mon joy inherent in meditation! The mind has been purified and pervaded endlessly. Light of enlightenment awakened to see nature! 4. Fourth quote: Consists of four verses, with numbers from 1087 to 1090 titled: "THE DANG CA DIEP SURROUND" ( Somewhere translated it is the sutra "Ca Lettuce Lion Roar" ie like the self-confident words of Dai Ca Lettuce as "the roar of a lion!"). (1087) Among those who are fully Enlightened, Except for the original teacher Shakyamuni Buddha. This Ca Lettuce body is excellent at the top of the momentum. No one else can do more than that! (1088) To serve the Master, the poor Sangha has been completed. The Master's Teaching is fully implemented. The self that makes humans, heaven, and animals no longer exists. The source of birth and death is over in this life! (1089) Gotama Buddha, the ultimate liberator, Abandoning the throne, personal belongings Buddha nature is like a lotus, not contaminated with dust. Super Three Realms, He became the Great Entry! (1090) The four foundations of mindfulness have matured! The omniscient power of the Buddha is in his hand. That super-born wisdom does not show, Du Phuong transforms the mind to be pure. And with these stanzas, out of translation in Vietnamese poetry, the translator would like to sincerely end the volume "The Good Mirror of DAI KISAPPY ", a "Sacred Sangha" Arahant Buddha. -ooOoo- Poem: CELEBRATION OF THE BIGGEST CAPITAL In the forest, there was a peaceful shadow of a person. Walking, standing, sitting meditation, abstaining from posture! People do not lie down to reduce sleep and delusion. Not afraid of hunger, not afraid of lonely life! * Dai Ca Diep, Sa-mon aristocratic source. In his youth, he used to be rich and rich. The land is more vast than a dozen villages. But wealth is hard to keep good people! * Then one day when dawn appeared, he left with his beautiful virgin wife. The couple, though sworn in as a sage. But chastity is still full moon, white snow! * Determined to find the path, the two bodies curse separation. Husband one place and wife right one place! Two paths, two opposite directions to heaven..., Hope to find a perfect Savior! * Duyen met the Buddha both in the same assembly, Worshiping the same teacher, but men and women were divided. From the time he met the Buddha and heard the sutras, he practiced asceticism and vowed to keep it regularly. * The first spell of thirteen things in order... Wearing dirty clothes, picking up the graveyard. The deserted forest is the only place to make a home. Every morning, hold a vase to beg for alms. * Credit is not divided to polarity. Get the good stuff or get the rudimentary stuff. All, people visualize: "It's predestined". Eat to live a pure life! * Do not receive much of the world to keep, Through tomorrow or save later. Each piece of rice chewed with a pure mind and prayed, For humanity to quickly escape suffering! * Then old age will not stop solidifying. Take the practice as an example to save sentient beings! The dignified precepts of virtue save themselves. Use meditation to bring life to peace! * Tu hardships mind without question, Date familiar craggy mountains, almond dung, following in the footsteps climb ... Age driver disappeared into the jungle shade! * From that point on, the sage-sama was absent. The saint's name remains in the afterlife... Today's disciples burn incense to pray. Great Ca Lettuce good mirror is still bright.END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.21/5/2021.