At the village of Nādikā, Ānanda asks where the and lay followers who have recently died have been reborn. The Buddha explains the stage of realization of each, then says that being asked about each one in turn would weary him, and so teaches the “Mirror of the Dhamma”: a method by which disciples who have attained realization can examine themselves and know how far they have progressed. Pali Canon
More sources (1)
Different Accounts
The questioner: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition and the Chinese Youxing jing have Ānanda; the Chinese Fo bannihuan jing, Bannihuan jing, the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya and the Tibetan Vinaya have the monks asking after returning from the alms round.
More differences between accounts (3)
Cause of death: the Chinese Fo bannihuan jing, Bannihuan jing, the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya and the Buddha biography Buddhacarita state it was an epidemic; the Pali canon of the Southern tradition and the Chinese Youxing jing do not say.
The names and numbers of the dead differ in most sources; the Chinese Fo bannihuan jing and Bannihuan jing also teach the here.
Numbers: the Sanskrit Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says two hundred and fifty male attained the third stage of realization, more than three hundred the second, and more than five hundred the , the same numbers as in the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya and Saṃyukta Āgama 854.
Dating
Year 45 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged seventy-nine to eighty, before the ; inferred from the sequence of events, only the year is known.
Related Entries
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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 239b3–241a6
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§9.1–9.21
- 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）§9.12–9.16
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 239b3–239b7
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 240a7–240b2
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 241a5
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》§9.12–9.16
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:2.5.5–2.10
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.13a–b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.13b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.163a–b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.178b
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.385b–c
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§9.5–9.21
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:2.5.2–2.5.5
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.13a
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.163a
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.385b
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.99 p.217b
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§9.4
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.192 p.41c