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Kappa

Fitting or Time

The term can mean that which relates to what is fit and propper, or to Time as a period of time or as lifespan.

References:

SN 5.51.10
DN

* indicates unchecked, unstandardized external referencing system


Pāḷi MO Hare Horner Punnaji Bodhi Nanamoli Rhys Davids (Mrs)Rhys Davids Thanissaro Upalavana Walshe Woodward Warren
Kappa Kappa Aeon span of life

 

A Dictionary of the Pāḷi Language
Robert Caesar Childers
[EDITED ENTRY]

Kappo (adj.), Fit, suitable, worthy; nearly equal to, rivalling, resembling, like ... Kappākappesu kovido, skilled in distinguishing suitable and unsuitable things ...

Kappo, Time; a short time, moment; precept, rule, ordinance; the rules concerning rites, one of the Vedaṇgas; practice, usage, mode; alternative, permission; a chapter or section of a book; thought; all, the whole; a vast period, age, cycle ... The term Kappa is given to certain vast periods or cycles of time, of which there are three, mahākappo, asaṇkheyyakappo or asaṇkhyakappo, and antarakappo. All the Cakkavā'as are subject to an alternate process of deestruction and renovation, and a Mahāknppa is the period which elapses from the commencement of the destruction of a Cakkavā'a to its complete restoration. Each Makākappa is subdivided into four Asaṇkheyyakappas, called saṃvaṭṭo, sam vaṭṭhāyī, vivaṭṭo, and vivaṭṭaṭṭhāyī. In the first the destruction (by fire, water or wind) begins and is accomplished, the Cakkavā'a being resolved into its native elements, or consumed so that nothing remains; in the second this state of void or chaos continues; in the third the process of renovation begins and is completed, and the fourth is a period of continuance. After the end of the fourth period the dissolntion recommences as before, and so this alternate process of destruction and renovation goes on to all eternity. Each Asaṇkheyyakappa contains twenty Antaraknppas, an Anturakappā being the interval that elapses while the age of man increases from ten years to an asaṇkheyya, and then decreases again to ten years; this period is of immense duration, see Yugaṃ. A Kappa is either suññakappo, in which there is no Buddha, or asuññakappo or buddhakappo, in which one or more Buddhas appear. There are five sorts of Asuññaknppa,sārakappo in which one Buddha appears, maṇḍakappo in which two appear, varakappo in which three appear, sāramaṇḍakappo in which four appear, and bhaddakappo or mahābhaddakappo in which five appear. The present kappa is a Bhaddakappa; of its five Buddhas four have appeared, viz. Kakusandho, Koṇdgamano, Kassapo, and Gotamo (Cakyamuni), the fifth Metteyyo has yet to appear. By the word Kappa standing alone a Mahākappa is meant. The interval of time which elapses between one Buddhakappa and the next varies from one Mahākappa to so vast a number as an asaṇkheyya of Mahākappas. The names of the last twenty-seven Buddhas are preserved. Of these the four first, Taṇhāṇkaro, Medhaṇkaro, Saraṇaṇkaro, and Dīpaṇkaro, belonged to a Sāramaṇḍakappa the date of which was four asaṇkheyyas of Mahākappas plus a hundred thousand Mahākappas ago. Dīpaṇkara, the last of these four, was the first of the twenty-four Buddhas (see Buddho). Since his kappa there have heen eleven Buddhakappas, the present one being the eleventh, The interval between Dīpaṇkara's kappa and the next Buddhakappa was one asaṇkheyya of Mahākappas (Suññakappas). Twenty-nine Suññakappas elapsed between the present kappa and the last Buddhakappa, which was a Maṇḍakappa of two Buddhas, Sikhī and Vessabhu.—Kuppasatasahassādhikāni cattāri asṇkheyyāni, four asaṇkheyyas of kappas plus a hundred thouusand ... .

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