..續本文上一頁 One also makes other prophecies concerning Kaccana”s future sojourn in samsara, which from our temporal perspective would now constitute his past history. The Buddha foretold that as the fruit of his meritorious gifts, the householder would become a lord of the gods (devinda) for thirty aeons, exercising rulership over the gods. Having returned to the human world, he would become a world monarch (cakkavatti-raja) named Pabhassara, whose body would emit rays of light all around. He would spend his next to last existence in the Tusita heaven, and passing away from there, he would be reborn in a brahman family with the clan name Kaccana. In that life he would attain arahantship and be appointed a great disciple by the Buddha.

　　A later section of the Apadana gives a somewhat different account of Maha Kaccana”s original aspiration to great discipleship.[4] In this version, at the time of the Buddha Padumuttara, the future disciple was an ascetic living in seclusion in the Himalayas. One day, while traveling through the sky by supernormal power, he passed over a populated area and saw the Victorious One down below. He descended, approached the Master to listen to the Dhamma, and heard him praise a certain bhikkhu (whose name was also Kaccana) as the chief among those who can elaborate on brief statements. Thereupon the ascetic, amazed by this unexpected encounter, went to the Himalayas, collected a bouquet of flowers, and, quickly returning to the assembly, presented them to the Buddha. At that point he formed the aspiration to become the chief expositor of the Dhamma in the Dispensation of some future Buddha. The Lord Padumuttara then prophesied that his aspiration would be fulfilled 100,000 aeons later when the Buddha Gotama arises in the world.

　　In this same series of verses Maha Kaccana states that as a result of his offering to the Buddha he never took rebirth thereafter in the nether world — in the hells, the animal realm, or the sphere of ghosts — but was always reborn either in the world of gods or in the human realm. Also, when he took rebirth as a human being, he was always reborn into the upper two social classes — among nobles or brahmans — and never into low-class families.

　　One important incident, which determined a particular feature of the great disciple”s physical appearance during his final existence, took place during the Dispensation of the Buddha Kassapa, the immediate predecessor of Gotama in the lineage of Enlightened Ones. At the time of the Buddha Kassapa, Kaccana had taken rebirth in a family of Benares. After the Lord Kassapa”s Parinibbana he offered a precious golden brick for the construction of a golden stupa for the Buddha. On presenting it he made the wish: "Whenever I am reborn, may my body always have a golden hue." As a result of this, when he was reborn during the time of our Buddha, his body was endowed with a beautiful golden hue, which deeply impressed those who beheld it.[5] In one case, which we will discuss below (see pp.13-15), this physical attribute of the elder led to a bizarre series of events.

　　3. Kaccana”s Conversion to the Dhamma

　　In his last existence, when the Buddha Gotama appeared in the world, Kaccana was born as the son of the chaplain (purohita) in the city of Ujjeni, the capital of Avanti, to the southwest of the Middle Country.[6] His father”s personal name was Tiritivaccha, his mother”s Candima,[7] and they were of the Kaccayana clan, one of the oldest and most highly respected lines of brahmans. Since he was born with a golden colored body, his parents exclaimed that he had brought his name along with him at birth, and they named him "Kañcana," which means "golden." As a brahman and the son of the court chaplain, when Kañcana grew up he studied the Three Veda…

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