붓다의 다비의식에 담긴 공동체의 변화

Abstract

This paper remains to be said about the Venerable Mahākassapa's relation to Ānanda is closely connected with his leading role in the Saṃgha after the Buddha's passing away. We shall see later, Mahākassapa referred to this very incident shortly after the Buddha's cremation when he spoke of the need to convene a council of elders to preserve the Dhamma and Vinaya for posterity. When Mahākassapa arrived, he walked around the pyre tree times, reverently, with clasped hands, and then with bowed head paid his homage at the feet of the Buddha. When his group of monks had done likewise, the pyre burst into flames by itself. With that suggestion, he turned the monks gathered at Rājagaha. The monk's community agreed, and their request Mahākassapa selected five hundred elders all but one of whom were arahants. The one exception was Ānanda, whose position was ambivalent. After the holding of the First Council, the high regard in which the Venerable Mahākassapa was held grew still greater, and he was seen as the de facto head of the Buddhist Saṃgha. Thus Mahākassapa, who had been generally recognized in the Order as the worthiest in succession. Taking about Mahākassapa as a cipher for larger trends, we find a tension between forest and settled monastic points of view. The contrast between these two different ways of viewing the relation of settled monastic and forest Buddhism evident in Mahākassapa's personality.