Maha Kassapa, or Big Kassapa, was a senior disciple of the Buddha known for his asceticism. He lived in the forest, dedicating himself to practice and avoiding the social entanglements that were so much a part of the Buddha’s life. He had a reputation as a fierce disciplinarian, and in the tradition has come to represent tough, macho dharma.

Civara Sutta (The robe), found in Kassapa Samyutta, records Big Kassapa in the last phase of his life remembering his first encounter with the Buddha. Kassapa was a wealthy farmer who abandoned the world while still a young man after being suddenly overcome with dread by the deaths of so many small creatures that were an inevitable aspect of farming. He ordained himself, and marched off into the world of renunciation to seek enlightenment. Not long afterwards he met the Buddha on the road. The Buddha was himself a young man, his awakening still fresh. Kassapa immediately fell at the Buddha’s feet and declared himself his student. The Buddha wasted no time taking him on, and charged him with three key practices that were to define the rest of his life. The third of these practices is what concerns us here. The Buddha said:

Kassapa, you should train yourself in this way: “I will not abandon mindfulness immersed in body associated with joy. [sata-sahagata ca me kayagata-sati na vijahissati].” Read More...

The blog returns, after a long absence! For this gap in transmission I offer my apologies, along with the same excuse I offered last time — life in its intensity. But it’s a new year, and time for a new start. For this first entry I’d like leave mindfulness aside to focus on the issue of pleasure, beginning with the question of why devas don’t have sex.

The Buddha believed in a range of realms other than the human, including heavens and hells. Heavens are inhabited by devas, and these are part of the kama loka, or realm of desire, in which humans also dwell. Like humans, devas are gendered — they come in male and female forms. But unlike humans, devas are “spontaneously born” (opapatika), and so do not reproduce sexually. Steven Collins, in his book Nirvana and other Buddhist felicities, points out that devas are sensual rather than sexual. Among devas, relations between the sexes consist of sensually charged friendships characterised by an aesthetic rather than erotic quality. Devas are also happier than humans, implying that, for the Buddha, a refined sensuality is more pleasurable than the stimulation of normal human sexuality. Read More...