Fragrance Of Virtue Wafts To Heaven
The Story of Monk Mahakassapa
Chapter 4: Flowers • Verse 13
The Story of Monk Mahakassapa
Chapter 4: Flowers • Verse 13
Faint is the fragrance of tagara and sandal, but excellent is the fragrance of the virtuous, wafting even amongst the gods.
While residing at the Veluvana Monastery in Rajagaha, the Buddha spoke this verse with reference to Monk Mahakassapa.
One day, Venerable Kassapa rose from a meditation that had lasted seven days and set out to make an unbroken round for alms in Rajagaha. At the same time, five hundred nymphs, wives of Sakka, king of the gods, prepared alms intending to offer them to him, but when they met him on the road and asked him to accept their offering, he told them to go away, since he wished to favour the poor.
Sakka himself then wished to give alms to the Venerable. Disguising himself as a broken-down old weaver and transforming the nymph Wellborn into an old woman, he conjured a weavers' lane by supernatural power and sat there spinning thread.
When Mahakassapa, intending to favour poor folk, came upon this street and noticed the two of them, Sakka took his bowl, asking him not to mind whether the food was coarse or fine but to be gracious to them. Instantly, the portion of alms, rich with every kind of sauce and curry, filled the whole city of Rajagaha with its fragrance.
Sensing something unusual, Mahakassapa perceived that this weak-looking old man was in fact Sakka, and rebuked him for depriving poor folk of the chance to gain merit by giving alms to him himself. Sakka protested that he was in fact poorer than anyone, since three deities of greater merit than himself, reborn after the Buddha's appearance in the world, outshone him so completely that their glory overpowered his whenever they appeared together.
Mahakassapa told him not to attempt such deception again, but when Sakka asked whether he had still gained merit by giving alms through deception, the Venerable admitted that he had. Sakka, satisfied that it was his duty to keep performing meritorious deeds, saluted the Venerable and, together with Sujata, circled him in reverence.
The Story of Monk Mahakassapa
Chapter 4: Flowers • Verse 13
Faint is the fragrance of tagara and sandal, but excellent is the fragrance of the virtuous, wafting even amongst the gods.
While residing at the Veluvana Monastery in Rajagaha, the Buddha spoke this verse with reference to Monk Mahakassapa.
One day, Venerable Kassapa rose from a meditation that had lasted seven days and set out to make an unbroken round for alms in Rajagaha. At the same time, five hundred nymphs, wives of Sakka, king of the gods, prepared alms intending to offer them to him, but when they met him on the road and asked him to accept their offering, he told them to go away, since he wished to favour the poor.
Sakka himself then wished to give alms to the Venerable. Disguising himself as a broken-down old weaver and transforming the nymph Wellborn into an old woman, he conjured a weavers' lane by supernatural power and sat there spinning thread.
When Mahakassapa, intending to favour poor folk, came upon this street and noticed the two of them, Sakka took his bowl, asking him not to mind whether the food was coarse or fine but to be gracious to them. Instantly, the portion of alms, rich with every kind of sauce and curry, filled the whole city of Rajagaha with its fragrance.
Sensing something unusual, Mahakassapa perceived that this weak-looking old man was in fact Sakka, and rebuked him for depriving poor folk of the chance to gain merit by giving alms to him himself. Sakka protested that he was in fact poorer than anyone, since three deities of greater merit than himself, reborn after the Buddha's appearance in the world, outshone him so completely that their glory overpowered his whenever they appeared together.
Mahakassapa told him not to attempt such deception again, but when Sakka asked whether he had still gained merit by giving alms through deception, the Venerable admitted that he had. Sakka, satisfied that it was his duty to keep performing meritorious deeds, saluted the Venerable and, together with Sujata, circled him in reverence.