page_title: Mahākāśyapa
section_title: In art and culture
hierarchical_section_title: Mahākāśyapa / Legacy / In art and culture
caption_attribution_description: 中文: 释迦牟尼佛，汕头天坛花园 People's Republic of China
context_page_description: Mahā Kāśyapa or 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 paranirvāṇa 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 and Zen traditions. In Buddhist texts, he assumed many identities, that of a renunciant saint, a lawgiver, an anti-establishment figure, but also a "guarantor of future justice" in the time of Maitreya, the future Buddha—he has been described as "both the anchorite and the friend of mankind, even of the outcast".
  In canonical Buddhist texts in several traditions, Mahākāśyapa was born as Pippali in a brahmin caste family, and entered an arranged marriage with a woman named Bhadra-Kapilānī. Both of them aspired to lead a celibate life, however, and they decided not to consummate their marriage. Having grown weary of the agricultural profession and the damage it did, they both left the lay life behind to become mendicants.
context_section_description: In Buddhist art, depictions of Mahākāśyapa have "left an indelible mark". He was depicted in paranirvāṇa scenes as a reassurance that Gautama Buddha's dispensation would not be lost; he was depicted next to Maitreya Buddha as an anticipatory vision of the future. The scene in which he paid his final respects to the Buddha became a well-known depiction in Buddhist art, and Strong has argued that it may have led to the cult of the Buddha's footprints.
  In Chinese art, Mahākāśyapa is usually depicted with long beard and hair. Buddhist studies scholar Mun-Keat Choong hypothesizes that these depictions found their way back in at least one Chinese Buddhist discourse, the discourse in which Mahākāśyapa is criticized for looking inappropriate. This may have been the work of the translators. In Mahāyāna iconography, Mahākāśyapa is often depicted flanking the Buddha at the left side, together with Ānanda at the right. The two disciples have been very popular in art depictions since the time of Greco-Buddhism, and Migot argued that the tradition of Mahākāśyapa and Ānanda being the Buddha's two main disciples was older than that of the tradition of Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana, because in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta only the former pair features, and the traditional explanation for this that Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana did not outlive the Buddha seems unconvincing. In Chan temples, the image of Mahākāśyapa is often placed in a central position, being the first patriarch of the tradition. In the history of Mahāyāna Buddhism, as the rag-robe asceticism of Mahākāśyapa contributed to his legendary figure and the legitimation of the Mahāyāna creed, rag-robes became an icon in East Asian Buddhism. The Buddha's disciples and founders of East Asian Buddhism were often depicted in them. When fukudenkai sewing groups were founded in Japan in the early twentieth century, to introduce sewing robes for monastics as a spiritual practice, they often referred to the early Buddhist account of Mahākāśyapa receiving the rag-robes from the Buddha. Fukudenkai practitioners usually use second-hand clothes to sew the rag-robes, just like in the time of the Buddha.
caption: In Mahāyāna iconography, Ānanda is often depicted flanking the Buddha at the right side, together with Mahākāśyapa at the left. Temple of Heaven Garden [zh] in Shantou, China.
exif: {"Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPad mini 4", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "10.3.1", "Image DateTime": "2017:04:16 11:28:51", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1696", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "13438", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/33", "EXIF FNumber": "12/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "125", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:04:16 11:28:51", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:04:16 11:28:51", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "12521/2475", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4845/1918", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "7582/3121", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "No flash function", "EXIF FocalLength": "33/10", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[1631, 1223, 1795, 1077]", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "884", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "884", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3264", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2448", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "31", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[33/10, 33/10, 12/5, 12/5]", "EXIF LensMake": "Apple", "EXIF LensModel": "iPad mini 4 back camera 3.3mm f/2.4"}