Makakashō

The name and role of Makakashō

One of the Ten Great Disciples, called "foremost in zuda" and also known as Daikashō. Zuda means practicing purely without attachment to clothing, food or shelter, and he is introduced as having taken a leading role in the order after Shaka's death.

Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院

Tracing the form and traditions

It is said that he decided to leave home after seeing insects turned up from the soil during farm work being eaten by birds and feeling the sin of taking life. He is said to have already possessed seven of the thirty-two marks when he became a disciple and to have become an arakan on the eighth day; it is also noted that accounts of his early life differ between the southern and northern transmissions.

Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院

People who learned the teaching and passed it on

The Ten Great Disciples are those among Shaka's disciples who are regarded as having excelled in fields such as wisdom, preaching and the precepts. The practice or work in which each excelled is expressed in the title "foremost" (daiichi).

Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院

Until the sutras were handed down

After Shaka's death, the disciples are said to have held a council (ketsujū) to gather and confirm the teachings. A Sōtō school explanation says that Makakashō led the assembly, Ānan recited the teachings, Upari recited the precepts, and the other disciples checked them.

Source: 曹洞宗

Related kami and buddhas

• Jūroku Rakan (the Sixteen Arhats)十六羅漢
• Jūdai Deshi (the Ten Great Disciples)十大弟子