The Buddha comes to the village of Pāṭaligāma, and the local lay followers invite him to their rest-house. He teaches them the five dangers of breaking the precepts and the five benefits of keeping them, speaking far into the night. The Chinese Youxing jing says that after hearing the teaching these followers asked to become male and took the five precepts. Pali Canon
More sources (2)
Different Accounts
Content: the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya and the Tibetan Vinaya have the five dangers of heedlessness (carelessness and lack of effort) and the five benefits of heedfulness, not breaking and keeping the precepts.
More differences between accounts (2)
The audience: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition calls them male lay disciples, already followers; the other Chinese versions have brahmins and householders.
The place of the teaching is given variously as a rest-house, beneath a tree, a newly built hall, or beside a shrine.
Dating
Year 45 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged seventy-nine to eighty, before the , from the evening to late at night on the day of arrival at Pāṭaliputta; the time of day is stated in the canonical text, while the position in the journey is inferred from the sequence of events; known only to be a certain day in this year.
Related Entries
- Year
- Places
- People
- Discourses
Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
The episode of “the five dangers and five benefits” is 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. The “taking of refuge” within it is recorded only in the Chinese Dīrgha Āgama.
- Dating Evidence and Precision
Stated in the canonical text (the text itself gives the time); 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: fixed to the day.
Sources
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 234b6–236a6
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§4.2–4.20
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.384c
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 235b3–236a5
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:1.19.1–1.25.4
- Pali Canon巴利律 Kd 6:28.1.1–28.7.1
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.12b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.162b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.177c
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.384b
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1448 p.21c
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§4.6–4.17
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.12a–b
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.192 p.41b
- 轉引自現代整理本轉引自現代整理本
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§4.2
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:1.22.1