Pāli Dictionary

Tissa9

Person

An elder of Sāvatthi who, after his sister had a coarse gift of cloth spun into a fine robe for him, died the very night it was finished and was reborn as a louse in the robe until the Buddha had its division delayed for seven days out of compassion.

An elder of Sāvatthi. He once received a length of coarse cloth as a gift and handed it to his sister to be made into a robe. She had the cloth pounded and spun into fine yarn and made of it a soft robe-cloth. At first Tissa would not accept it but was prevailed upon to do so and had it made into a soft robe by skilled robe-makers. He died on the night it was finished and, as a result of his fancy for it, was reborn as a louse in the robe. After his death, the monks wished to divide the robe but the louse started shouting. The Buddha, hearing this by his power of divine audience, asked the monks to lay the robe aside for seven days. At the end of that period, the louse was reborn in the Tusita world.¹⁴

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