Vappa
- See also :
- See also :
Vappa Thera. One of the Pañcavaggiyā. He was the son of Vāsettha, a brahmin of Kapilavatthu.
When Asita declared that Prince Siddhattha would become the Buddha, Vappa and four other brahmins, headed by Kondañña, became recluses.
Vappa was with the Buddha during the six years of his ascetic practices, but being disappointed when the Buddha began taking solid food, he left him and went to Isipatana, where the Buddha, after his Enlightenment, preached to him and the others the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. On the fifth day after, Vappa and his companions became arahants, at the end of the Anattalakkhana Sutta. Vappa became a sotāpanna on the second day of the quarter (AA.i.84); pātipadadivase, says ThagA. (loc. infra) and MA.i.390.
Vappa's resolve to be among the first of the Buddha's followers was taken in the time of Padumuttara Buddha. In the past, he was sixteen times king, under the name of Mahādundubhi.
ThagA.i.140f.; a verse attributed to him is found in Thag.61); see also J.i.82; Dpv.i.32; Vin.i.12.
2. Vappa. A Sākiyan, disciple of the Niganthas.* He visits Moggallāna and they talk of the āsavas. The Buddha joins them and tells Vappa how the āsavas can be completely destroyed so that the monk who has so destroyed them will abide in the six satata vihāras with equanimity, mindful and comprehending.
Vappa is convinced of the superiority of the Buddha's teaching and becomes his follower. A.ii.196f.
* AA.ii.559 says he was the Buddha's uncle (cūlapitā) and a Sākiyan rājā. He was a disciple of Nigantha Nātaputta.
