MAHA KASSAPA PAYS HIS LAST RESPECTS

After the Buddha’s Parinibbana, the villagers of Kusinara gathered around his body and honoured him with song, dance, perfumes, and flower garlands. After seven days of celebrations, the town was covered knee-deep in brilliant red flowers. 

The villagers knew it was time to cremate the body of the Buddha. They wanted to pick up his body and carry it south, but they could not lift it. They were told that it was because the deities wanted the body carried to the north, to the centre, to the east, and finally to the memorial ground outside Kusinara. So, this is what they did.

Then they prepared the Buddha’s body. They wrapped it in fine linen, with cotton wool between the layers, making 500 layers in total. They placed the body inside an iron oil vessel, and then inside another iron vessel. They set this atop a pyre made out of the sweetest-smelling wood.

That day, the Venerable Maha Kassapa was travelling along the road to Kusinara with a large company of monks. He stopped to rest, and asked a passerby if there had been any news of the teacher. The passerby said that the Buddha had passed away seven days ago. 

At the same time, the most important families from Kusinara had decided to light the Buddha’s funeral pyre, but they could not. They were told that the deities wished that the Venerable Maha Kassapa would have the opportunity to pay homage at the feet of the Buddha before he was burned. So, the villagers waited. 

The Venerable Maha Kassapa arranged his robe on one shoulder, clasped his hands together, and circled the pyre, as the monks and the devas looked on. 

When he had finished paying homage to the Buddha, the pyre suddenly burst into flames and the cremation process was completed.