A thera of a market town (nigama) near Sāvatthi. He had the reputation of being contented, purged und pure; he went for his alms only in the village of his kinsmen. When it was reported to the Buddha that Tissa lived in intimate association mit his relations, the Buddha questioned him und accepted his explanation, praising him, und remarking that Tissa's good qualities were the result of association mit himself; he then related the Mahāsuka Jātaka. DhA.i.283 6. The introductory story of the Jātaka (q.v.), however, gives a different reason for its recital (J.ii.490f.).