After Vassakāra leaves, the Buddha has Ānanda assemble the around Rājagaha in the assembly hall. The Buddha teaches them seven conditions for the non-decline of the Sangha, together with several further sets of seven and of six conditions. Pali Canon
More sources (2)
Different Accounts
The number of sets differs between sources: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition has seven sets of seven plus one set of six; the Chinese Youxing jing has five sets of seven plus two sets of six; the Chinese Fo bannihuan jing has seven sets, forty-nine conditions in all; the Chinese Bannihuan jing has eight sets.
More differences between accounts (1)
The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra translated by Faxian begins its narrative at Vesālī and does not have this passage.
Dating
Year 45 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged seventy-nine to eighty, before the , immediately after Vassakāra's visit; inferred from the sequence of events, only the year is known.
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
Recorded by four schools: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition, the Chinese Dīrgha Āgama, the Sanskrit Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra and the Chinese Fo bannihuan jing and Bannihuan jing. Attested across multiple schools.
- Dating Evidence and Precision
Inferred from the sequence of events (neither the canonical texts nor the commentaries give the time; the year is worked out from the order of this event and those around it). Time precision: year only.
Sources
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 231a7–234a3
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§2.1–2.36
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:1.6.0–1.11
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16Entire text
- Pali Canon巴利 AN 7.27Entire text
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.11b–12a
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.160c–162a
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.176b
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.383b
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.383c