View source for Cunda Kammāraputta

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox religious biography
|name = Cunda Kammāraputta
|image = Cunda prepares Pork.jpg
|caption = Cunda preparing pork, [[Ayutthaya Historical Park|Wat Kasatrathiraj]], [[Ayutthaya (city)|Ayutthaya]]
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|nationality = 
|religion = [[Buddhism]]
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|location = [[Pāvā]], kingdom of [[Malla (tribe)|Malla]]
|education = 
|profession = [[Metalsmith|Smith]], [[Upasaka]]
|teacher = [[Gautama Buddha]]
|reincarnation of = 
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}}

{{Buddhism}}

'''Cunda Kammāraputta''' was a [[Metalsmith|smith]] who gave [[Gautama Buddha]] his last meal as an offering while he visited his mango grove in [[Pava|Pāvā]] on his way to [[Kushinagar|Kuśīnagara]]. Shortly after having Cunda's meal, the Buddha suffered from fatal [[dysentery]].{{sfn|Dīgha Nikāya II. 126}}{{sfn|Udāna VIII. 5}}<ref group="note" name="lohitapakkhandikā"/>The condition could have been [[Clostridial necrotizing enteritis]] due to a high protein (meat) diet,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chen |first=Thomas S. N. |last2=Chen |first2=Peter S. Y. |date=May 2005 |title=The death of Buddha: a medical enquiry |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19813312/ |journal=Journal of Medical Biography |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=100–103 |doi=10.1177/096777200501300208 |issn=0967-7720 |pmid=19813312}}</ref> which is provided as [[Bhiksha|bhikkha]] as a mark of respect for high ranking [[Bhikkhu|Bhikkus]] in [[Theravada]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Secret Diet of Myanmar MONKS!!! Live to 100!! |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkY373SFzzU |language=en |access-date=2022-04-17}}</ref> 

Before entering the [[parinirvāṇa]], the Buddha told [[Ānanda]] to visit Cunda and tell him that his meal had nothing to do with his getting ill, and therefore should feel no blame nor remorse; on the contrary, offering the Tathāgata his last meal before passing away was of equal gain as of offering him his first meal before attaining [[buddhahood]], and thus he should feel rejoice.{{sfn|Dīgha Nikāya II. 135f}}<ref name="DN16"/>

==Name==
The name Kammāraputta (in [[Sanskrit]], ''Karmāraputra'') means ''son of the smith''. In Chinese, his name is rendered as 準陀 (Zhǔntuó).

==Cunda as a lay follower of Gautama Buddha==
In the ''Cunda Kammāraputta Sutta'', Gautama Buddha stays at Cunda's mango grove and they talk about rites of purification. Cunda declares that he approves of the rites of the [[brahmin]]s of the West and the Buddha mentions that the rites of purification of these brahmins and the purification in the discipline of the noble ones is quite different. Cunda asks him to explain how there is purification in his discipline, and so the Buddha teaches him the ten courses of skillful action. Cunda praises him for his teachings and declares himself a lay follower from that day on.<ref name="AN"/>

==Cunda's Meal==
In the ''Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta'', Gautama Buddha and a group of bhikkus stay at Cunda's mango grove and are offered by him a meal. The meal consists of sweet rice, cakes and ''sūkaramaddava'', which is translated differently depending on the buddhist tradition. Since the word is composed by ''sūkara'', which means ''pig'', and ''maddava'', which means ''soft, tender, delicate'', two alternatives are possible:

# Tender pig or boar meat. 
# What is enjoyed by pigs and boars.

In the latter meaning, the term has been thought to refer to a mushroom or truffle, or a yam or tuber.<ref group="note" name="sūkaramaddava"/> The idea that the Buddha's last meal consisted of [[pork]] is generally supported by the [[Theravada]] tradition; while that it was a [[Vegetarian cuisine|vegetarian dish]], by the [[Mahayana]] tradition.<ref name="Buswell"/> These may reflect the different traditional views on [[Buddhist vegetarianism]] and the [[Vinaya|monastic precepts]].

In the sutta, the Buddha asks Cunda to serve the rice and cakes to the community of bhikkus, and to only serve the ''sūkaramaddava'' to him. Any leftovers should be buried in a pit. Cunda does as he is told.<ref name="DN16"/>

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|refs=

<ref group="note" name="lohitapakkhandikā">
The word used is ''lohitapakkhandikā'' which means ''diarrhea with blood''.
</ref>

<ref group="note" name="sūkaramaddava">
K.E. Neumann, in the preface to his German translation of the ''Majjhima Nikāya'', quotes from an Indian compendium of medicinal plants, the ''Rajanigantu'', several plants beginning with ''sūkara''.
</ref>

}}

==References==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="Buswell">
{{cite book
|last1=Buswell |first1=Robert E. Jr. 
|last2=López |first2=Donald S. Jr. 
|title=The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism
|publisher=Princeton University Press
|date=2014
|page=529
}}
</ref>

<ref name="DN16">
[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.16.1-6.vaji.html Maha-parinibbana Sutta] ([[Digha Nikaya|DN]] 16), verse 56.
</ref>

<ref name="AN">
[https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an10/an10.176.than.html Cunda Kammaraputta Sutta: To Cunda the Silversmith] ([[Anguttara Nikaya|AN]] 10.176)
</ref>

}}

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