महाकश्यप

Mahākāśyapa () was one of the principal disciples of Gautama Buddha. He is regarded in Buddhism as an enlightened disciple, being foremost in ascetic practice. Mahākāśyapa assumed leadership of the monastic community following the parinirvāṇa (death) of the Buddha, presiding over the First Buddhist Council. He was considered to be the first patriarch in a number of Early Buddhist schools and continued to have an important role as patriarch in the Chan/Zen tradition. In Buddhist texts, he assumed many identities, that of a renunciant saint, a lawgiver, an anti-establishment figure, but also a "

Key facts

Religious biography.image: File:China, Hebei province, Southern Xiangtangshan caves, Northern Qi dynasty - Standing Disciple Mahakasyapa Holding a Cylindrical Reliquary - 1972.166 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif
Religious biography.caption: Mahākāśyapa holding a reliquary, sixth century CE, Hebei province, China
Religious biography.birth_name: Pippali
Religious biography.birth_date: or 520 BC
Religious biography.birth_place: Mahātittha, Magadha (present-day Bihar, India)
Religious biography.death_date: or 380 BC
Religious biography.death_place: In Kukkuṭapāda Mountain, Magadha. According to many hagiographic accounts, undecomposed body still there
Religious biography.nationality: Magadha
Religious biography.religion: Buddhism
Religious biography.school: all, but most honored in Theravāda and Chan Buddhism