Mar Ngok Summer Teachings 2024: The Origins of Secret Mantra Day 7
August 7, 2024
His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa began today’s teachings by thanking the sources of refuge, the monks and nuns of the Sangha, his Dharma friends, and Tibetan compatriots. The Karmapa then resumed the topic from the prior day’s teaching regarding the difficulties that the early Buddhist Sangha encountered after the First Council.
A. Issues Faced by the Early Buddhist Sangha After the First Council
The Karmapa explained that the First Council had primarily focused on determining the Buddha’s words, which are the foundation for our listening, contemplation, and meditation. However, over time, the Sangha faced three important issues or difficulties:
First, many of the Buddha’s teachings were not included in the First Council, so they needed to be added. In addition, some senior Elders were unable to attend the First Council, so the participants were not fully representative. Therefore, there were many scattered teachings of the Buddha that urgently need to be collected and organized, or else they could be quickly lost.
Second, a few great arhats had studied the Buddha’s teachings in depth, such as Shariputra, and they had a profound understanding of them. These arhats taught the Dharma in an excellent way that was comparable to the Buddha. The Buddha had praised their teachings. When the Buddha teaches, we call this ‘turning the wheel of Dharma.’ Generally, when ordinary people speak, we don’t call it ‘turning the wheel of Dharma.’ However, the teachings of Shariputra were often called ‘turning the wheel of Dharma’ as he taught at a very high level. Therefore, the teachings of Shariputra and other great arhats also had to be compiled.
Third, a few elder bhikshus also made some mistakes when teaching the Dharma, including some serious mistakes. This required the Sangha to come together once again and re-examine the Buddha’s teachings.
After explaining these three important issues, the Karmapa explained the situation of the Sangha after the Buddha’s parinirvana.
B. Sangha Leadership Before and After the Buddha’s Parinirvana
The Karmapa explained that after the Buddha’s parinirvana, the Sangha continued as a unified community as it had not yet split into different schools. The lineage also continued as a single lineage. This lineage was passed down from the Buddha to Mahakashyapa, and from Mahayasyapa to Ananda.
During the Buddha’s lifetime, he was the undisputed and universally accepted leader of the sangha and the teachings. During the latter part of the Buddha’s life, when the Buddha was getting older, he did not guide the Sangha as directly as he did before. The main people who took on the responsibility of guiding the Sangha were Shariputra and Maudgalyayana. Though they had great qualities and were well known, when they guided the Sangha they did so as Buddha’s senior disciples, not as leaders of the Sangha in their own right.
There was also Devadatta, student and half-brother of the Buddha who tried to force his way into the leadership of the Sangha. Devadatta initially tried to take Shariputra and Maudgalyayana’s place and administer the Sangha himself. When he told the Buddha what he had done to try to accomplish this aim, the Buddha reprimanded him severely. In response, Devadatta got extremely angry and jealous of the Buddha. He criticized the Buddha, said that the Buddha was getting old and going senile, made up many things, and attempted to establish a separate sangha community. By taking a sangha that had been unified and separating it in two, Devadatta committed was is called a ‘schism of the wheel’—one of the five heinous actions. He also attempted to kill the Buddha, but was unable to budge the Buddha from his position as the King of Dharma. Despite all his efforts, Devadatta was unable to become a leader of the Sangha. In brief, the Buddha was the founder of Buddhism, the teacher of the Dharma, and the highest leader of the Sangha, and this was undisputed among his disciples during the Buddha’s lifetime.
Within the Sangha, there was a custom of making decisions by consensus or vote. However, the leader of the Sangha was not chosen by election. In this case, the Buddha appointed Mahayaskyapa as the first elder of the teachings—in other words, entrusting the teachings to him.
In the scriptures, it states that the Buddha’s teachings are entrusted to a human and to a god. The reason for that is a human has an extremely short lifetime. If they needed to uphold and preserve and spread the teachings, they would be unable to make the teachings last for a long time. However, if you gave the teachings only to the gods, who have a much longer lifespan, then the gods get careless. They get distracted by sensory pleasures. Therefore, it is said that the Buddha entrusted the teachings to both humans and gods. Before his parinirvana, the Buddha entrusted the teachings to Mahakashyapa, and to the Four Great Kings in the god realm. Before Mahakashyapa passed away, he appointed Ananda as the second elder. Thus, Ananda is known as the second elder of the teachings.
C. The Elders of the Teachings According to Different Historical Texts
The Karmapa then explained who the elders of the teachings are according to various historical texts, and noted commonalities and discrepancies between the texts.
The Dīpavaṃsa and the Mahāvaṃsa, which tell the history of Sri Lanka, and a Theravada Vinaya commentary named Samantapāsādikā each list five elders: Upali, Dasaka, Sonaka, Siggava, and Moggaliputta Tissa. These elders are primarily holders of the Vinaya lineage, since Upali was the greatest in terms of the Vinaya.
According to the Tibetan translation of the Finer Points of Discipline, there were seven elders: Kashyapa, Ananda, Śāṇavāsin, Upagupta, Dhitika, Kṛṣṇa, and Mahāśudarśana
According to the Lives of the Elders translated by Kivkara during the time of the Northern Wei Dynasty, there were twenty-one elders of the teachings up through the Bhikshu Simha. The lineage was then broken due to the actions of King Mihirakula, who ruled in Northern India. King Mihirakula strongly disliked Buddhism, so he destroyed the sangha and killed Bhikshu Simha. However modern scholars doubt that the lineage of twenty-one elders taught in this text is correct. There are three main reasons for this:
First, for the first hundred years plus a few decades after the Buddha’s parinirvana, the sangha was unified. The elders of that time were leaders of the teachings as a whole. However, after the teachings split into different schools, modern scholars say it would have been difficult for there to have been a single leader for them all. If there had been, there wouldn’t have been the situation of the teachings splitting into different schools. Therefore, after the teachings split into different schools, it would have been difficult for there to have been a single leader.
Second, the text includes Master Ashvaghosha and Nagarjuna as elders. As these are Mahayana masters, modern scholars don’t believe it would be right to include them as elders of the teachings for all of the Sangha.
Third, one of the elders listed is Nyima Gungpa. Modern scholars say it would not be proper to list him as an elder. He spread the Dharma in northwest India, and was one of the founders of the Sarvāstivāda lineage, but should not be considered an elder of the teachings as a whole.
The Karmapa explained that according to the History of Buddhism in India by Taranatha, the people of Kashmir considered Nyima Gungpa to be an elder of the teachings, because he was the most important in spreading the Dharma in northwest India. Later, it is said that Nyima Gungpa spread the teachings in Central India. Therefore, when we speak of elders, each region and each school had, in their own historical tradition, teachers that they considered elders of the teachings.
According to The Blue Annals by Gö Lotsawa Shonnu Pal, in The Commentary on the Travels to Lanka, the first seven elders up to Dhidhika are the same as in the Finer Points of Disicpline. Following, the commentary states there are nineteen elders starting with Vibhaga and ending with Bhikshu Simha. The Karmapa mentioned he still needs to reconcile this account with the Chinese sutra mentioned earlier.
According to Taranatha’s History of India, an elder was someone who was able to preserve the teachings as a whole and who had activity similar to the Buddha. The elders of the teachings did not solely have authority as the leader of the sangha. They took on the great responsibility to preserve the teachings as a whole, to preserve them and ensure they could be passed on. The elders of the teachings were therefore a crucial aspect of early Buddhism.
Next, the Karmapa spoke about the first two elders of the teachings, Mahakashyapa and Ananda. In past years, he already shared some stories about them, so today he will speak about the story of the time leading up to their parinirvana as well as what happened after. These stories help us understand the situation of the Sangha and society at that time. In addition, they help us understand the importance of Elders Mahakashyapa and Ananda and their influence on the Sangha.
According to the Japanese scholar Takayoshi Namikawa, that for Buddhists, a person’s passing into nirvana has a profound meaning, particularly if they are a spiritual master, teacher or great arhat. When a great spiritual master passes away, there is important meaning to that. The circumstances of a person’s passing can show how significant they were to the Buddha’s teachings and to the Sangha. For instance, as indicated by the title of the Pali text, Sutra of the Mahaparinirvana, the Buddha’s parinirvana is considered a demonstration of his ultimate realization.
When we speak of the Buddha’s parinirvana, we can discuss the manner of the Buddha’s passing, how he left relics, how people made offerings to them, and so on. We can see how highly people considered the Buddha and the Sangha. Similarly, when the Buddha’s disciples or great shravakas passed into nirvana, it shows how much status and influence they had, how highly people respected them, their service to the teachings and so forth. Thus, we can better understand the importance of the Buddha’s great disciples by learning about what happened leading up to and after their parinirvana.
The Karmapa then shared that he would focus on the story of Mahakashyapa’s parinirvana.
D. The Story of Mahakashyapa’s Parinirvana
The Karmapa told the story of Mahakashyapa’s parinirvana in four parts.
[Note: In the remaining report, quotations are used to indicate that a person mentioned in the teachings is thinking or saying something. Quotations do not necessarily indicate a word-for-word translation of the Karmapa’s teaching or the source texts.]
I. How Mahakashyapa made offerings to the relics of the Buddha
The Karmapa recounted a story from the Finer Points of Discipline of the Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition. This text was translated into Tibetan by Yeshe De and into Chinese by Master Paramatha.
One day Venerable Mahakashyapa approached Venerable Ananda and said, “Ananda, do you know, the Buddha entrusted the teachings to me and then passed into complete nirvana. Now I have also come to the time when I will pass into parinirvana, so you need to uphold the teachings in full.” Mahakashyapa explained that after he passes into parinirvana, the son of a merchant will be born in Rajagriha, the old capital of Magadha. Because the boy will be swaddled in hempen fabric, he will be named Śāṇavāsin. When he grows up, he will cross a great ocean and return. When he comes back, he will hold a five-year old festival of the Bhagavan’s teachings—a time when he makes offerings to all the members of the Sangha. Then, he will then go forth. Mahakashyapa told Ananda that he should transmit the teachings in their entirety to Śāṇavāsin.
Then, Venerable Mahakashyapa thought, “Alas, the Bhagavan had great compassion and thus underwent many hardships. He was my spiritual friend adorned with infinite qualities. I shall make offerings to his relics wherever they are and after that I will pass into nirvana.” Then he went by miraculous powers to make offerings to the Buddha’s relics at the four great stupas and eight great stupas with great respect. The four great stupas are located in the places of the Buddha’s birth, awakening, turning the wheel of Dharma, and passing away. Mahakashyapa went to the land of Nagas and made offerings to one of the Buddha’s teeth. After that, he levitated up into the sky and went to the Heaven of the Thirty-Three to see another tooth of the Buddha.
When he arrived in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, the gods Shakra and Brahma asked him, “Why have you come? If you have a reason, please tell us.” Mahakashyapa said, “Kaushika, I came here with the wish to make an offering to the tooth and other relics of the Bhagavan, and this is my final chance to make an offering.” Kaushika is another name for Shakra. When the Lord of Gods Shakra and the rest heard the word ‘final,’ they were unhappy. Without saying anything, they took out the Buddha’s tooth and put it into Mahakashyapa’s hand. Mahakashyapa held the tooth in his hand and looked at it carefully without blinking. He placed it on his head and made offerings of mandarava flowers, sandalwood powder and so forth. He taught a little bit of Dharma to Shakra and then disappeared from the summit of Mount Meru, where the Heaven of the Thirty-Three is located, and went to Rajagriha. This is according to the account of the Finer Points of Discipline.
The Karmapa explained that there is a similar account of these events also in the Sutra of King Ashoka, translated into Chinese by An Faqin of the Western Jin dynasty. The Sutra of King Ashoka basically includes the same account as the Finer Points of Discipline but there is a slight difference regarding Mahakashyapa’s contemplation prior to entrusting the teachings to Ananda. In this account, Mahakashyapa thought, “The Tathagata is my spiritual friend, so I need to repay his kindness. The way to repay his kindness is to fulfill the Buddha’s wishes, but I have done whatever the Buddha wished me to do. By way of my chaste conduct, I have benefited beings through the Dharma. For the sake of future beings, I have made sure the stream of Dharma has not been broken. I have purified the karma of the acts of those who have no conscience or propriety. For those with conscience and propriety, I have helped them remain in happiness. I have done everything to repay his kindness. Now I am old. My body is old and decrepit, so I am weary of it and will pass to nirvana.” This contemplation was not included in the Finer Points of Discipline. Following this, Mahakashyapa entrusted the teachings to Ananda. According to the Sutra of King Ashoka, after entrusting the teachings to Ananda, he went to make offerings to the relics of the Buddha in the human, naga, and god realms. The sutra also specifies that in addition to the tooth of the Buddha, there was also a crown, alms bowl and hair of the Buddha in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. This concludes how Mahakashyapa made offerings to the relics of the Buddha.
II. Mahakashyapa went to meet King Ajatashatru, and then entered parinirvana
The Karmapa continued the story by recounting how Mahakashyapa sought a meeting with King Ajatashatru as he was preparing to pass into nirvana. Mahakashyapa thought, that he should inform King Ajatashatru that he would be passing into parinirvana and went to the king’s palace. He said to the guard, “O, you man, go and inform King Ajatashatru that Mahakashyapa is waiting at the door and would like to see the king.” The gatekeeper went inside and saw the king was asleep. In India it is common to take a nap after lunch as it is very hot. The gatekeeper returned to Mahakashyapa and said, “Noble One, the king is sleeping.” The Elder said, “Go wake him up.” The guard said, “Noble One, I can’t wake the king up. He is cruel and will punish me.” Mahakashyapa replied, “then whenever the king wakes up, inform him that Mahakashyapa came to see him and said he will pass into parinirvana.”
Then, Mahakashyapa left Rajagriha and went south to Kukkutapada Mountain. At Kukkutapada Mountain, there are three large peaks at the summit. He spread some hay over these three peaks and thought, “I shall cover my body with this robe made of rags the Bhagavan gave me and bless it so that it remains until the teachings of Maitreya spread.” The Bhagavan had a robe made of rags, pieces of other fabric that people had thrown out, which he had then given to Mahakashyapa.
Mahakashyapa then made the wish that his body would not deteriorate until Maitreya came, so that Maitreya’s disciples could see his body and would feel weariness with the world. With this intention, he entered samadhi.
After Mahakashyapa entered samadhi, the three peaks closed together to form a chamber round his body. Mahakashyapa then realized that after King Ajatashatru woke up, he would come to see Mahakashyapa’s remains. Mahakashyapa thought that if the king was not able see his body, he would be so sad that he would vomit hot blood and die. Therefore, he resolved that when King Ajatashatru came, the mountain would open to let him into the chamber, otherwise, it wouldn’t open until Maitreya arrived. In this way, Mahakashyapa entered meditation, relinquished his life, and passed away.
According to the Chinese translation in the Finer Points of Discipline, as soon as Mahakashyapa relinquished his life, the earth shook six ways. Stars with long plumes of smoke fell and fire started in all directions. The gods beat drums in the sky. At that time, Mahakashyapa levitated into the sky and displayed various miracles. Sometimes he poured water from his body, and sometimes there were appearances of fire from his body. Sheets of rain fell from great clouds, and so forth. After displaying these miracles, he entered the chamber in the rock, assumed the posture of the Buddha when he passed away, lay down on his right side with one leg atop the other, and entered parinirvana in the expanse of nirvana without remainder.
When the gods realized that Venerable Mahakashyapa had passed away, Shakra, Brahma and many hundreds and thousands of gods tossed utpala, lotus and white lotus flowers, and sandalwood and agora powder. They went to where Venerable Mahakashyapa’s bodily remains lay and offered many varieties of flowers, sandalwood and myrobalan powders, and sprinkled them on his body. Then, the three peaks closed. In brief, Mahakashyapa passed away like this.
Then the gods, bereft of Mahakashyapa, grieved. They said, “Even before we have recovered from the grief of losing the Bhagavan, we are stricken by grief today as well. The gods who used to live in this cave of the banyan tree are no more than names. All their virtuous qualities have followed them. The realm of the kingdom of Magadha has been emptied and it’s like there’s nothing left there. Now there is no longer a protector to lovingly benefit those who are hungry, destitute, and defenseless. People no longer have a field of merit, where they can accumulate merit, and so are destitute of virtue. Now two bhagavans have passed into parinirvana,” they thought. “Now the peak of the mountain of true Dharma has fallen. Now the ship of true Dharma has been rocked, the light of true Dharma has gone out, the ocean of true Dharma is turbulent, and the helpful teacher has disappeared.” In this way they lamented, prostrated, and disappeared.
The account in the Sutra of King Ashoka, translated by An Faqin of the Western Jin Dynasty, is slightly different from the account in the Finer Points of Discipline. In the Sutra of King Ashoka, it says that after Mahakashyapa entrusted the teachings to Ananda, Ananda suspected Mahakashyapa would pass into parinirvana and would not be able to see him again. Therefore, every day he followed Mahakashyapa. One day Mahakashyapa said to Ananda, “You go to Rajagriha alone for alms. I am also going to Rajagriha for alms,” but he did not let Ananda stay with him this time. Perhaps it would have interfered with Mahakashyapa passing into parinirvana. Thus, Ananda put on his robes in the morning, and with his Dharma robes and alms bowl went into Rajagriha for alms. Mahakashyapa also put on his robe, and went separately to Rajagriha to beg for alms. He didn’t let Ananda stay with him. In addition, according to the Sutra of King Ashoka, in the past, Ajatashatru had said to Mahakashyapa, “Inform me when you’ll pass into nirvana. Please tell me before you pass into nirvana.” Since Mahakashyapa was going to pass into nirvana, he thought, “Today I need to go to see King Ajatashatru.” This is the reason why he went to see King Ajatashatru. These are particularities of the Sutra of King Ashoka that are not included in the Finer Points of Discipline.
Finally, the Sutra of King Ashoka explain what happened after Mahakashyapa passed into parinirvana slightly differently. Mahakashyapa was born in a big Brahmin family. The family was unable to have a child, so they went to a specific, huge banyan tree. It was a huge tree and they believed there was a god who dwelled there, so they went and made offerings to him. They always went to make offerings to the god, hoping to have a son someday. Then later, the Elder Mahakashyapa was born. Thus, the god of the cave of the banyan tree probably refers to the tree god of the banyan tree where his parents had prayed before he was born. According to the Sutra of King Ashoka, the gods in the cave of the banyan tree also lamented the Dharma had disappeared and so forth.
III. Ananda and King Ajatashatru visited Mahakashyapa’s remains
The Karmapa then explained how after Mahakashyapa passed into parinirvana, Ananda and King Ajatashatru went to pay respects to his remains.
According to the Finer Points of Discipline, King Ajatashatru had been sleeping when Mahakashyapa came to visit him. In addition, the king was having a bad dream: in that dream, the line of uncles in his royal lineage had been broken. This was his maternal lineage. According to the Chinese translation, it says that he dreamt that there were pillars and beams, and one of the beams would break—when he dreamt this, he woke up in a fright. When he woke up, the gatekeeper told him, “The Venerable Elder Mahakashyapa came and saw me. He says he will pass into parinirvana.” When the king heard this, he fainted and fell on the floor, unconscious. His attendants sprinkled him with water and revived him. Immediately he got up and went to the Bamboo Grove, the monastery in Rajagriha. When he saw Ananda, he prostrated his entire body at Ananda’s feet and wept, saying, “Today I heard that Mahakashyapa has passed into parinirvana.”
Following this, the Venerable Ananda took King Ajatashatru to the mountain where Mahakashyapa had passed away, Kukkutapada Mountain. They climbed the mountain, which is not easy to climb. It is said that there used to be many bandits and thieves there. The Karmapa mentioned his own visit to this mountain, and how they sent extra police as the region is known to have bandits. When Ananda and King Ajatashatru arrived to the top of the mountain, they couldn’t see Mahakashyapa’s body right away as it was inside the mountain. However, since Mahakashyapa had the thought that when King Ajatashatru visited the king would be able to see his remains, the yakshas opened the mountain. King Ajatashatru saw Mahakashyapa’s body covered in all the flowers and powders offered by the gods—mandarava flowers, sandalwood and so forth. When King Ajatashatru saw that, he raised his arms and prostrated like a tree that had been toppled from its base.
They king arose and began to collect firewood. Elder Ananda asked him, “Great King, what are you doing?” The king replied, “I will cremate the Elder’s remains.” At that time in India, there was a tradition of cremating everyone’s remains. But at that time, Ananda told the King that he wasn’t supposed to do that, as the remains were blessed to remain without deteriorating until Maitreya’s teachings appeared in the future. Ananda explained to King Ajatashatru that Bodhisattva Maitreya would come to that place surrounded by 690 million disciples, hold Mahakashyapa’s body, and say to his disciples, “This is the Elder Mahakashyapa, the disciple of the Bhagavan Shakyamuni who became the greatest in having few desires, being content, and keeping the twelve qualities of training. He was also the first to compile the true Dharma of the Buddha Shakyamuni.”
At the time of Maitreya, people will have large and tall bodies. The disciples who see Mahakashyapa’s remains will think, “People of that time had small bodies. Certainly, the Bhagavan Shakyamuni’s body must have been large.” However, when they think this, Maitreya will take the outer robe from the body and hold it up for all to see, saying, “This is the outer robe of the Bhagavan Shakyamuni.” The disciples will be amazed at seeing that the Buddha Bhagavan was not so big. Because of that, the 690 million bhikshus will take on the qualities of training and practice them as much as they can, accomplishing them, and then manifest the state of arhatship. For this reason, Mahakashyapa blessed his body to remain without decomposing, and thus it could not be cremated. However, Ananda explained that they could build a stupa on top of it.
As soon as the king had gone outside, the mountains immediately closed back up so that Mahakashyapa’s body was no longer visible. After that, the king built a stupa on the peak of the mountain and made offerings. Then King Ajatashatru touched the Venerable Ananda’s feet and said, “Elder, when the Bhagavan passed into parinirvana, I didn’t see him. When Elder Mahakashyapa passed into parinirvana, I didn’t see him. Thus, when you pass into parinirvana, please make sure that I can see you.” Ananda accepted and promised he would do that.
IV. Maitreya’s future visit to Mahakashyapa’s remains
The Karmapa then explained sources for the story of Mahakashyapa’s parinirvana and how they describe Maitreya’s future visit to Mahakashyapa’s remains. The stories of Mahakashyapa’s parinirvana are found in the texts of the Northern Buddhist tradition, which means that they are primarily texts which have been preserved in Chinese translation, such as The Life Story of King Ashoka, The Sutra Compiling the Buddha’s Deeds, The Finer Points of Discipline of the Mulasarvastivada tradition, and The Great Commentary on the 100,000 Prajnaparamita by Nagarjuna. However, there is no description of Mahakashyapa’s parinirvana in the Pali scriptures. Why is this? The Karmapa explained that according to the Japanese scholar Takayoshi Namikawa, it is possible that at that time, this account was not considered as important as the story of Ananda and therefore not mentioned in the treatises and commentaries. The texts quoted in the teachings today are from the Mulasarvastivada’s Finer Points of Discipline and The Life Story of King Ashoka. The stories in these differ slightly from the descriptions in The Sutra Compiling the Buddha’s Deeds, The Great Commentary on the 100,000-line Prajnaparamita, and The Great Tang Records of the Western Regions.
For example, The Great Commentary on the 100,000-line Prajnaparamita, which was only translated into Chinese, says that the bodhisattva Maitreya will lead a large assembly to Vulture Peak Mountain and, opening the peak of the mountain with his toes, will take out Mahakashyapa’s remains, his outer robe, his ringing staff, and his alms bowl. Maitreya will say to his followers, “The past Buddha Shakyamuni appeared in a time when humans could live one hundred years. At that time, Mahakashyapa was the greatest in having few desires, being content, and remaining within the qualities of training. He achieved the six clairvoyances and three awarenesses. He was always compassionate toward sentient beings and brought them benefit and happiness, and by his miraculous powers he made his bodily remains last until now. If he could perform such great benefit with a body as small as this, why should you, who have large bodies and were born in a good time, not accomplish benefit for yourselves?”
The Buddha taught at a time of conflict. The time of Maitreya is said to be a good time—thus, according to the Great Commentary on the 100,000, Maitreya will say, “You’re born in a good time, so why aren’t you accomplishing benefit for yourselves?” Maitreya will then teach the true Dharma and liberate innumerable sentient beings from suffering. Because of this, we know that Maitreya will teach Dharma on Vulture Peak Mountain. This also shows that transcendent prajna is taught by all buddhas of past, present, and future. Thus, we should have faith in and celebrate the prajnaparamita.
The Great Commentary on the 100,000 does not say anything about the actual parinirvana of Mahakashyapa, but it does say his remains will be at Vulture Peak Mountain and will not deteriorate. All the other accounts say the remains are at Kukkutapada Mountain. The Karmapa explained that Vulture Peak is a very significant place where the Buddha taught the Dharma many times. However, it’s more appropriate to consider Kukkutapada Mountain as the location of Mahakashyapa’s parinirvana as no other text mentions Vulture Peak Mountain as the location.
The Karmapa then summarized the story of Mahakashyapa’s parinirvana. Buddha Shakyamuni entrusted his teachings to Mahakashyapa. When Mahakashyapa knew he was going to pass away soon, he entrusted them to Ananda. Then he went alone to Kukkutapada Mountain and blessed his body so that it would remain without deteriorating until the time of Maitreya. Then he entered samadhi and passed away. In the future when Maitreya comes to the world, he will show Mahakashyapa’s remains to all sentient beings, saying, “This is a great disciple of the Buddha Shakyamuni. This is Mahakashyapa.” And because of this, many will develop diligence, world-weariness, and attain noble results. Later, a stupa would be built on the top of the mountain. 19th-century archeologists were able to identify Kukkutapada Mountain and the stupa that marks the location of Mahakashyapa’s parinirvana due to the writings of Tang Xuanzang, who described the location of the mountain and stupa in The Great Tang Records of the Western Regions.
Finally, the Karmapa mentioned an update to the teaching schedule and concluded the teachings for the day.
