MahÄphussadeva Thera
Generally called AlindakavÄsÄ« MahÄphussadeva. For twenty-one years he practised meditation on his way up and down to the village for alms (gatapaccÄgatikavaá¹á¹a). People working in the fields, seeing him constantly stop and walk back again, would wonder why he did so. However, he did not heed their curiosity, and after twenty years he became an Arahant. That night the deity at the end of his walk illuminated it with the radiance of her fingers, and Sakka, BrahmÄ, and other gods came to do him honour. His colleague, VanavÄsÄ« MahÄtissa, asked him the next day the reason for all the light, but he evaded the question (SA.iii.154f.; VibhÄ.352; MA.i.208f; SNA.i.55f).
It is said (MA.i.524) that during the period of his meditations, he wept every invitation (pavÄraṇa) day to see that he was yet a “learner.â€
|
