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| Katyayana | ||||||
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Shakbar says: Once,
long ago, the noble Katyayana contracted smallpox and was told by
his doctor that he should consume goat's meat and goat's blood and
that he should apply them to his skin. But the former answered that
he would die rather than transgress the precepts. He did not eat
the meat and so passed beyond suffering. (Source: FB. p. 79) Katyayana,
also known as Mahakatyayana, Mahakaccana [Mahaakaccaana] and, in
Japanese, as Kasennen, is one of the "Ten Disciples of the
Buddha". [ (1) Mahakashyapa, 2) Ananda, 3) Shariputra, 4) Subhuti,
5) Purna, 6) Mahamaudgalyayana, 7) Katyayana, 8) Aniruddha, 9) Upali
and 10) Rahula.] He was foremost in explaining Dharma. He was born
in a brahmin family at Ujjayini [Ujjain] and received a classical
Brahminical education studying the Vedas. Katyayana studied assiduously
under Asita on Mount Vindhya, who had predicted that Prince Siddharta
would become either a cakravartin [a great wordly ruler] or a Buddha.
With a group of seven friends he invited the Buddha to visit, and
gained enlightenment (bodhi) while listening to him preach. He was
ordained, and made numerous converts in the state of Avanti. Tradition
attributes the authorship of the Nettipakarana, a work of
grammar, and the Petakopadesa, a treatise on exegetical methodology,
to Katyayana although these were most probably composed by a school
descended from him. « Back |
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