An often-used epithet of the Buddha (e.g., D.iii.197; Sn.v.1128; Thag. 26, 158, 417, etc.) The Vimānavatthu Commentary (p.116) says that Ādicca (the Sun) belonged to the Gotamagotta, as did also the Buddha, hence his epithet Ādiccabandhu; other explanations are given in the same context: the Buddha is born in the same noble birth (ariyā jāti) and is the descendant of the Sun (taṃ paticca tassa ariyāya jātiya jātattā), or the Sun is the Buddha’s kinsman because the Sun is the Buddha’s breast-born son (orasaputta) inasmuch as the Sun is the Buddha’s disciple. It is in this sense that in the Saṃyuttanikāya (S.i.57) the Buddha speaks of the sun as “mama pajā,” which Buddhaghosa (SA.i.86) explains as meaning disciple and spiritual son.

Ādicca is described as tapataṃ mukhaṃ (chief of heat-producing things). MA.ii.783.