Cunda Kammāraputta, a lay Buddhist living in the ancient Indian city, Pāvā offered Buddha his last meal. The meal said to consist of sweet rice, cakes and sūkaramaddava is a matter of debate. Sūkaramaddava, composing of the words sūkara and maddava are said to mean pig and soft, tender, delicate respectively and hence, Buddhists in the Theravada tradition interpret that as a meal consisting of pork while those in the Mahayana tradition believe it is a vegetarian dish consisting of mushroom, truffle, yam or tuber; all of which are soft and tender. What is sure perhaps is unlike Jesus's last meal with his disciples, Buddha's last meal was fatal. Buddha had suffered from dysentery from his meal and had passed away shortly after in Kushinagar. As for Jesus's meal, besides being depicted in the Last Supper by famed Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, there is an interesting oriental version in the Holy Trinity Church in Yanshui, Taiwan:
Comments