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Pipphaliguhā

A cave near Rājagaha, evidently a favourite haunt of Mahā-Kassapa. Once when he lay there grievously ill, the Buddha visited him and cheered him by talking to him of the seven factors of enlightenment (bojjhaṅga) (S.v.79). On another occasion, Mahā-Kassapa spent several days there in a trance, and when, at the end of that period, he entered Rājagaha for alms, Sakka, with Sujātā, waited for him in the guise of a weaver, and his wife gave him a meal. When Kassapa discovered this, he asked Sakka not to do such a thing again; but the Buddha heard Sakka’s song of triumph when his meal was accepted and praised him for his gift (Ud.iii.7; UdA.195 f; DhA.i.427 f; see also Ud.i.6).

On another occasion, when Kassapa was in the Pipphaliguhā, he had two novices waiting on him. One was lazy and a liar and took the credit for the work, all of which was done by the other. Kassapa admonished him, and he then set fire to the elder’s hut and ran away (DhA.ii.19 f). One day, as Kassapa sat in the Pipphaliguhā, he tried to contemplate the rising and falling of living beings, but the Buddha discouraged him, saying that such a task was beyond his abilities (DhA.i.258 f). The goddess Lājā (q.v.), who had been born in Tāvatiṃsa as a reward for a meal which she once gave to Kassapa, attempted to sweep his cell in the Pipphaliguhā and to look after it, but Kassapa rejected her services. DhA.iii.6 ff.