14.9 The Story about the Golden Shrine of Kassapa, the One of Ten Strengths

14.9 The Story about the Golden Shrine of Kassapa, the One of Ten Strengths
Kassapadasabalassa Suvaṇṇacetiyavatthu

Dhp 195-196

Burlingame: Honor to Whom Honor is Due

While the Buddha and his disciples were on walking tour they came to the shrine of Kassapa, a previous Buddha; one Brahmin came and paid homage to the shrine, but not to the Buddha or his disciples; the Buddha lauded the Brahmin for his act of faith but said it is even better to worship those still living who are worthy of worship.

Keywords: Shrines, Reverence, Previous Buddhas

“For those who worship those worthy,” this Dhamma teaching was given by the Teacher while he was making a journey with reference to the Buddha Kassapa’s golden shrine. {3.250}

One day the Realised One departed from Sāvatthī, accompanied by a large company of bhikkhus and set out for Bārāṇasī. On his way there he came to a certain shrine near the village Todeyya. There the Happy One sat down, sent forth Ānanda, the Treasurer of the Faith, and bade him summon a Brahmin who was tilling the soil near by. {3.251}

When the Brahmin came, he omitted to pay reverence to the Realised One, but paid reverence only to the shrine. Having so done, he stood there before the Teacher. Said the Happy One: “How do you regard this place, Brahmin?” The Brahmin replied: “This shrine has come down to us through generations, and that is why I reverence it. Dear Gotama.” Thereupon the Happy One praised him, saying: “In reverencing this place you have done well, Brahmin.”

When the bhikkhus heard this, they entertained misgivings and said: “For what reason did the Fortunate One bestow this praise?” So in order to dispel their doubt, the Realised One recited the Ghāṭikāra Discourse in the Majjhima Nikāya. AJ: MN 81, which relates the story of Buddha Kassapa’s supporter, the potter Ghāṭikāra. Then by the supernatural power of his psychic power, he created in the air a mountain of gold, a double, as it [30.69] were, of the golden shrine of the Buddha Kassapa, a league in height. Then, pointing to the numerous company of his disciples, he said: “Brahmin, it is even more fitting to render honor to men who are so deserving of honor as these.”

Then, in the words of the Great Discourse about the Parinibbāna, AJ: DN 16. he declared that the Buddhas and others, four in number, are worthy of shrines. Then he described in detail the three kinds of shrines: the shrine for bodily relics, the shrine for commemorative relics, and the shrine for articles used or enjoyed. So saying, he pronounced the following verses:

195-196. Pūjārahe pūjayato, Buddhe yadi va sāvake,
papañcasamatikkante, tiṇṇasokapariddave;
te tādise pūjayato, nibbute akutobhaye,
na sakkā puññaṁ saṅkhātuṁ, imettam-api kenaci.

For those who worship those worthy,
whether Buddhas or disciples,
with impediments overcome,
free of grief and lamentation;
for those who worship such as these,
the emancipated, fearless,
none can measure their vast merit,
saying: it is as much as this. {3.253}

At the end of the teaching the Brahmin became a Stream-enterer.

For the space of seven days the golden shrine, a league in height, remained poised in the air. There was a great concourse of people; for the space of seven days they did honor to the shrine in all manner of ways. At that time arose the schism of the holders of schismatic views. By the supernatural power of the Buddha that shrine returned to its original place; and in that place, at that very moment, there was a great stone shrine. Eighty-four thousand living beings in that company had comprehension of the Dhamma.