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kappa {pi}


Pāḷi; √ kappa
gender:
type:
alt. sp.: IPA: kəppə, Velthuis: kappa, readable: kappa, simple: kappa
translation ~:
skr.:
khmer: កប្ប
thai: กปฺป
sinhal.: කප්ප
burm.: ကပ္ပ
appears:



kappa.jpg

[dic] kappa

kappa: Description welcome. Info can be removed after imput.

ATI Glossary

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Buddhist Dictionary

by late Ven. Nyanalokita Thera:

kappa (Sanskrit kalpa): 'world-period', an inconceivably long space of time, an aeon. This again is subdivided into 4 sections: world-dissolution (saṁvaṭṭa-kappa) dissolving world), continuation of the chaos (saṁvaṭṭa-ṭṭhāyī), world-formation (vivaṭṭa -kappa), continuation of the formed world (vivaṭṭa-ṭṭhāyī).

“How long a world-dissolution will continue, how long the chaos, how long the formation, how long the continuation of the formed world, of these things; o monks, one hardly can say that it will be so many years, or so many centuries, or so many millennia, or so many hundred thousands of years” AN 4.156

A detailed description of the 4 world-periods is given in that stirring discourse on the all-embracing impermanence in AN 7.62.

The beautiful simile in SN 15.5 may be mentioned here:

“Suppose, o monks, there was a huge rock of one solid mass, one mile long, one mile wide, one mile high, without split or flaw. And at the end of every hundred years a man should come and rub against it once with a silken cloth. Then that huge rock would wear off and disappear quicker than a world-period. But of such world-periods, o monks, many have passed away, many hundreds, many thousands, many hundred thousands. And how is this possible? Inconceivable, o monks, is this saṅsāra, not to be discovered is any first beginning of beings, who obstructed by ignorance and ensnared by craving, are hurrying and hastening through this round of rebirths.”

Compare here Grimm's German fairy-tale of the little shepherdboy: “In Farther Pommerania there is the diamond-mountain, one hour high, one hour wide, one hour deep. There every hundred years a little bird comes and whets its little beak on it. And when the whole mountain is ground off, then the first second of eternity has passed.”

 

PTS Dictionary

by the Pali Text Society:

 

Glossary Thanissaro

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Illustrated Glossary of Pāli Terms

by Ven. Varado Maha Thera:

Renderings
Introduction

The period of a universal cycle

The period of a universal cycle (kappa) is long (dīgho kho bhikkhu kappo SN ii 181). If a square city had sides 10 kilometres long, and walls 10 kilometres high, and was filled with mustard seeds, and a man removed one seed every hundred years, he would have removed all the seeds, but the universal cycle would still be unfinished (SN ii 182).

The maths is easily totted. If a mustard seed is a cubic millimetre, then the seeds would be emptied in 10,000 million million years.

Living for a kappa

But perplexingly, the Buddha said that by developing the four paths to psychic power (cattāro iddhipādā), if one wished one could live for a kappa or slightly more than a kappa (kappaṁ vā tiṭṭheyya kappāvasesaṁ vā SN v 259). He said he could do the same himself (DN ii 103). But is this the same kappa? Could an arahant live for billions of years?

The problem of co-existing Buddhas

Some, amazingly, say yes, he can. But there are problems with this. Firstly, there can never simultaneously be two Perfectly Enlightened Buddhas in the world (yaṁ ekissā lokadhātuyā dve arahanto sammāsambuddho apubbaṁ acarimaṁ uppajjeyyuṁ netaṁ ṭhānaṁ vijjatī ti, MN iii 65). And if these Perfectly Enlightened Buddhas lived for the period of a universal cycle, their lives would overlap, which would break this law. The births of recent Buddhas are as follows:

  • Buddha Vipassī: 91 kappas ago
  • Buddha Sikhī and Buddha Vessabhū: 31 kappas ago
  • Buddha Kakusandha, Buddha Konāgamana, Buddha Kassapa and Buddha Gotama arose in this present ‘fortunate kappa’ (bhaddakappe), and Buddha Metteyya is expected here, too (DN ii 2; BDPPN).

Thus, with up to five Perfectly Enlightened Buddhas in one kappa, with each Buddha capable of living one kappa, but unable to co-exist with other Perfectly Enlightened Buddhas, it would only be possible if kappa had more than one meaning, with one kappa being much shorter, at most a fifth of the other.

Venerable MahāKassapa: less than 220 years old

In more recent times, consider Venerable Mahā Kassapa. He was 120 years old at the First Council (BDPPN), and some even claim he is still alive today, dwelling in the Kukkutagiri Mountains, wrapt in samādhi, awaiting the arrival of Metteyya Buddha (BDPPN). According to this he is therefore now approximately 2,600 years old. But at the Second Council, 100 years after the First Council, the oldest bhikkhu on earth (paṭhavyā saṅghatthero, Vin.2.303) was Venerable Sabbakāma. Therefore Kassapa must have passed away before his 220th birthday. But 220 is too generous, because by the laws of normal distribution, Sabbakāma must have been marking the end of the bell curve. And as, at the Second Council, he had been in robes for 120 years, and if we can assume he ordained at aged 20 after leaving his wife (Tha 453), then it would seem that the absolute end of the bell curve would not be many hours or minutes beyond 140, and that 140 is therefore as old as a bhikkhu can possibly get.

Kappa: length is not fixed

The Mahāpadāna Sutta (DN ii 3) says human lifespan (āyuppamāṇaṁ) has varied considerably in the times of previous Perfectly Enlightened Buddhas, as follows:

• Buddha Vipassī: 80,000 years.

asīti vassasahassāni āyuppamāṇaṁ ahosi (DN ii 53)

  • Buddha Sikhī: 70,000 years
  • Buddha Vessabhū: 60,000 years
  • Buddha Kakusandhu: 40,000 years
  • Buddha Konāgamana: 30,000 years
  • Buddha Kassapa: 20,000 years
  • Buddha Gotama: 100 years.

The Mahāpadāna Sutta (DN ii 11) gives further details of Buddha Vipassī:

  • He was born of the khattiya race in a khattiya family

Vipassī bhikkhave bhagavā arahaṁ sammāsambuddho khattiyo jātiyā ahosi khattiyakule udapādi

  • He lived for 80,000 years

Vipassissa bhikkhave bhagavato arahato sammāsambuddhassa asītivassasahassāni āyuppamāṇaṁ ahosi

Thus Buddha Vipassī lived for the lifespan of his era. And because his own lifespan and the human lifespan correspond, and because Buddhas can live for a kappa, it suggests that kappa means the human lifespan, and that all the figures for human lifespans given in the list above can be read as kappas. So the length of this kind of kappa diminishes over time. Therefore kappa in our present era means ‘a century’.

Universal cycle: four incalculable phases

Now we will examine the other meanings of kappa: ‘universal cycle’ and ‘period of a universal cycle.’ We have already explained the timespan of the universal cycle. These cycles have four incalculable phases (cattāri kappassa asaṅkheyyānī):

1) a period when the universal cycle is in its contracting phase

yadā kappo saṁvaṭṭati

2) a period when the universal cycle is in its stationary contracted phase

yadā kappo saṁvaṭṭo tiṭṭhati

3) a period when the universal cycle is in its expanding phase

yadā kappo vivaṭṭati

4) a period when the universal cycle is in its stationary expanded phase

yadā kappo vivaṭṭo tiṭṭhati. (AN ii 142)

These cycles of expansion and contraction affect the heavenly realms, too, up to and including the world of Brahmā (DN i 15). With the contraction phase, the world of Brahmā disappears, and residents there must move temporarily into the Ābhassarā world.

Universal cycles: incalculable number of sand grains

How many of these universal cycles have there ever been? There have been so many, that the Buddha likened them to the numbers of sand grains between ‘the point where the river Ganges originates and the point where it enters the great ocean’ (SN ii 183-4). And if we remember that each sand grain represents billions of centuries, that is a very long time indeed.

Recalling previous lives

When ascetics and Brahmanists recall previous lives, the Brahmajāla Sutta says they fall into three groups:

• those who remember up to several hundred thousand lifetimes

anekāni pi jātisatasahassāni

• those who recall [past lives during] 10 universal cycles

dasa pi saṁvaṭṭavivaṭṭāni

• those who recall [past lives during] 40 universal cycles

These feats of memory are extraordinary, but nothing compared to Venerable Sobhita, called the ‘chief of disciples who could recall past lives’ (AN i 25). In the course of one night he was able to recall [past lives during] 500 universal cycles (pañcakappasatānāhaṁ ekarattiṁ anussarinti, Tha 165-6). Anuruddha could remember further, but may have needed more nights:

• It is because I have developed and cultivated these four bases of mindfulness that I recall [past lives during] 1,000 universal cycles.

Imesañca panāhaṁ āvuso catunnaṁ satipaṭṭhānānaṁ bhāvitattā bahulīkatattā kappasahassaṁ anussarāmīti. (SN v 303)

But that merely 1,000 sand grains in the 2500 kilometres of the River Ganges. The Buddha’s ability was unlimited. His usual ability during conversations was 91 universal cycles (MN i 483; SN iv 325):

• When I recollect the past ninety-one universal cycles, Vaccha, I do not recall any Ājīvaka ascetic who went to heaven.

Ito kho so vaccha ekanavuto kappo yamahaṁ anussarāmi nābhijānāmi kañci ājīvakaṁ saggūpagaṁ. (MN i 483)

• When I recollect the past ninety-one universal cycles, headman, I do not recall any family being destroyed merely by giving cooked almsfood.

Ito so gāmaṇi ekanavuto kappo yamahaṁ anussarāmi nābhijānāmi kiñcikulaṁ pakkabhikkhāanuppadānamattena upahatapubbaṁ. (SN iv 324)

But at full stretch he could recall hundreds of thousands of universal cycles. In fact, as far as he liked (so yāvatakaṁ ākaṅkhati tāvatakaṁ anussarati, DN iii 134). Thus he could legitimately proclaim:

• So long is the period of a universal cycle, bhikkhu. And of universal cycles of such length, we have wandered the round of birth and death for the periods of so many universal cycles, so many hundreds of universal cycles, so many thousands of universal cycles, so many hundreds of thousands of universal cycles.

Evaṁ dīgho kho bhikkhu kappo. Evaṁ dīghānaṁ kho bhikkhu kappānaṁ neko kappo saṁsito nekaṁ kappasataṁ saṁsitaṁ nekaṁ kappasahassaṁ saṁsitaṁ nekaṁ kappasatasahassaṁ saṁsitaṁ. (SN ii 181-2)

Recollecting kappas of contraction and expansion: centuries

When bhikkhus recall their previous lives, they describe it as follows:

• ’I recall my manifold past lives, that is, one birth, two lifetimes, three lifetimes… a hundred lifetimes, a thousand lifetimes, a hundred thousand lifetimes, [past lives during] many kappas of contraction, many kappas of expansion, many kappas of contraction and expansion.

aneke pi saṁvaṭṭakappe aneke pi vivaṭṭakappe aneke pi saṁvaṭṭavivaṭṭakappe. (SN ii 214)

Because kappa is part of the contraction and expansion phases of the universal cycle, in this context it must mean ‘century’:

• ’… many centuries of the universal cycle’s contraction phase, many centuries of the universal cycle’s expansion phase… .’

Illustrations

Illustration: kappa, period of a universal cycle

Devadatta is bound for [rebirth in] the plane of sub-human existence, bound for hell, and he will remain there for the period of a universal cycle, unredeemable.

āpāyiko devadatto nerayiko kappaṭṭho atekiccho. (AN iii 402)

Illustration: kappa, egocentric conception

‘One of purified wisdom who has utterly transcended egocentric conception in regards to things of the past and future, who is free of [bondage to] the six senses and their objects: he would properly fulfil the ideals of religious asceticism in the world.

Atītesu anāgatesu cā pi kappātīto aticca suddhipañño
Sabbāyatanehi vippamutto sammā so loke paribbajeyya. (Snp 373)

kappaṁ

kappaṁ: (main article see: kappa)

Illustration: kappaṁ, century

If one develops and cultivates the four paths to psychic power, if one wishes, one could live for a century or for slightly more than a century.

so ākaṅkhamāno kappaṁ vā tiṭṭheyya kappāvasesaṁ vā. (SN v 259)

Beings have wandered the round of birth and death for many centuries, many hundreds of centuries, many thousands of centuries, many hundreds of thousands of centuries

neko kappo saṁsito nekaṁ kappasataṁ saṁsitaṁ nekaṁ kappasahassaṁ saṁsitaṁ nekaṁ kappasatasahassaṁ saṁsitaṁ. (SN ii 181)

Illustration: kappaṁ, the period of a universal cycle

• ‘Bhante, how long is the period of a universal cycle?’

kīvadīgho nu kho bhante kappo ti?

• ’The period of a universal cycle is long, bhikkhu. It is not easy to count it and say it is so many years, or so many hundreds of years, or so many thousands of years, or so many hundreds of thousands of years.”

Dīgho kho bhikkhu kappo. So na sukaro saṅkhātuṁ ettakāni vassāni iti vā ettakāni vassasatāni iti vā ettakāni vassasahassāni iti vā ettakāni vassasatasahassāni iti vā ti. (SN ii 181)

kappe

kappe: (main article see: kappa)

Illustration: kappe, centuries

Bhikkhus, to whatever extent I wish, I recall my manifold past lives, that is, one birth, two lifetimes… a hundred thousand lifetimes, [past lives during] many centuries of the universal cycle’s contraction phase, many centuries of the universal cycle’s expansion phase, many centuries of the universal cycle’s contraction and expansion phases.

aneke pi saṁvaṭṭakappe aneke pi vivaṭṭakappe aneke pi saṁvaṭṭavivaṭṭakappe. (SN ii 214)

Illustration: kappe, universal cycle; saṁvaṭṭavivaṭṭakappa, the period of a universal cycle;

Having cultivated a mind of [unlimited] goodwill for seven years, then for the periods of seven universal cycles I did not return to this [low] plane of existence.

Satta vassāni mettacittaṁ bhāvetvā satta saṁvaṭṭavivaṭṭakappe nayimaṁ lokaṁ punarāgamāsiṁ.

During the universal cycle’s contraction phase, I went to the Ābhassarā world.

Saṁvaṭṭamāne sudaṁ bhikkhave kappe ābhassarūpago homi.

During the universal cycle’s expansion phase, I was reborn in an empty Brahmā palace.

Vivaṭṭamāne kappe suññaṁ brahmavimānaṁ upapajjāmi. (Iti 14-16)

kappā

kappā: (main article see: kappa)

Illustration: kappā, universal cycle

• ’Master Gotama, how many universal cycles have elapsed and gone by?’

Kīvabahukā nu kho bho gotama kappā abbhatītā atikkantā ti.

• ’Brahman, many universal cycles have elapsed and gone by. It is not easy to count them and say that there have been so many universal cycles, or so many hundreds of universal cycles, or so many thousands of universal cycles, or so many hundreds of thousands of universal cycles.’

Bahukā kho brāhmaṇa kappā abbhatītā atikkantā. Te na sukarā saṅkhātuṁ ettakā kappā iti vā ettakāni kappasatāni iti vā ettakāni kappasahassāni iti vā ettakāni kappasatasahassāni iti vā ti. (SN ii 183-4)

kappaṁ n’eti

Renderings
Introduction

Kappaṁ n’eti: Snp 521, Snp 535, and Snp 860

Kappaṁ n’eti occurs thrice in the scriptures: Snp 521, Snp 535, and Snp 860. Kappaṁ occurs with the same meaning a further five times at Snp 373, Snp 517, Snp 911, Snp 914, and Snp 1101, but these do not much help with the meaning of kappaṁ n’eti:

• He is not caught up in egocentric conception.

• The one who has abandoned egocentric conception

In Snp 911 kappaṁ is almost synonymous with saṅkhā:

• The Brahman is beyond the limits of conception and egocentric conception.

Na brāhmaṇo kappamupeti saṅkhā. (Snp 911)

Snp 373 and Snp 517 are in the illustrations.

Kappa: meaning

Kappa means ‘a (false) supposition, imagining; a theory; a figment,’ says DOP. These words concur with our rendering, except for being countable nouns.

PED says kappa means ‘anything made with a definite object in view, prepared, arranged,’ and says that ‘as a cycle of time=saṁsāra at Sn 521, 535, 860,’ which is wrong.

Eti: meaning

Eti means:

  • ‘to go, go to, reach’ (PED).
  • ‘goes; goes towards; reaches, obtains; reaches (a state); is involved (in)’ (DOP).

Norman: come to/submit to figments

Norman translates the three references as follows:

• He comes to no figment among devas and men who are subject to figments.

Devamanussesu kappiyesu kappaṁ n’eti. (Snp 521)

• Having thrust away the triple perception, the mud, he does not come to figments.

Saññaṁ tividhaṁ panujja paṅkaṁ kappaṁ n’eti. (Snp 535)

• He does not submit to figments, being without figments.

kappaṁ n’eti akappiyo. (Snp 860)

Norman does not always follow the singular cases, for which an uncountable noun would be suitable.

Snp 860: not caught up in egocentric conception

In Snp 860 kappaṁ n’eti is associated with not comparing oneself with others:

• The sage, free of greed and stinginess, does not proclaim himself as being amongst the superior, equal, or inferior. He is not caught up in egocentric conception. He is free of egocentric conception.

Vītagedho amaccharī na ussesu vadate muni
Na samesu na omesu kappaṁ n’eti akappiyo. (Snp 860)

Snp 535: the three modes [of self-centredness] abandoned

In Snp 535 kappaṁ n’eti is associated with abandoning the three modes of self-centredness:

• One who has thrust away the three grubby modes of perception, and who is not caught up in egocentric conception: they call him ‘noble.’

Saññaṁ tividhaṁ panujja paṅkaṁ kappaṁ n’eti tamāhu ariyo ti. (Snp 535)

Because Snp 860 (in paragraph above) involves comparison of oneself with others, we regard saññaṁ tividhaṁ… paṅkaṁ (‘the three grubby modes of perception’) in Snp 535 as likewise implying comparison of oneself with others, and therefore meaning tisso vidhā (‘the three modes [of self-centredness]’). The three modes of self-centredness are:

• ‘I am better’ mode [of self-centredness]

seyyo’hamasmī ti vidhā

• ‘I am equal’ mode [of self-centredness]

sadiso’hamasmī ti vidhā

• ‘I am worse’ mode [of self-centredness]

hīno’hamasmī ti vidhā. (SN v 56)

Snp 521

Snp 521 is illustrated below.

Conclusion

Kappaṁ n’eti is associated with terms that imply arahantship:

1) Not comparing oneself with others

2) Thrusting away the three modes of self-centredness

Although kappaṁ is close in meaning to the widely supported ‘figment,’ this term is problematic for two reasons:

1) Firstly, our findings show that the specific figment involved is egocentric conception.’

2) Secondly, egocentric conception is an uncountable noun, and therefore better than ‘figment’ because pluralising is then unnecessary.

Illustrations

Illustration: kappaṁ n’eti, he is not caught up in egocentric conception

Amidst devas and men caught up in egocentric conception, he is not caught up in egocentric conception. They call him spiritually cleansed.

Devamanussesu kappiyesu kappaṁ n’eti tamāhu nahātako ti. (Snp 521)

kappāni

kappāni: (main article see: kappaṁ n’eti)

Illustration: kappāni, modes of egocentric conception

‘One who has investigated all modes of egocentric conception, the round of birth and death, and both the passing away and rebirth [of beings]; one who is free of spiritual defilement, spiritually unblemished, spiritually purified, who has realised the destruction of birth: they call him enlightened.’

Kappāni viceyya kevalāni saṁsāraṁ dubhayaṁ cutūpapātaṁ
Vigatarajamanaṅgaṇaṁ visuddhaṁ pattaṁ jātikhayaṁ tamāhu buddhan ti. (Snp 517)

COMMENT:

Kappāni: ‘modes of egocentric conception.’ Egocentric conception is linked to the three modes of self-centredness in Snp 535. It likely has that meaning here.

 

Glossary various Teacher

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See also

Suttas and Dhammadesanā

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en/dictionary/kappa.txt · Last modified: 2019/09/25 05:31 by 127.0.0.1