A famine breaks out in the region and alms are hard to obtain. The Buddha tells the monks to go to their friends and keep the scattered around Vesālī, while he himself stays with Ānanda alone to keep the retreat at Beluva village. This is the Buddha's last rains retreat. Pali Canon
Different Accounts
The famine: the Chinese versions, the Tibetan Vinaya and the Sanskrit Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra all state a famine; the text of the Pali canon of the Southern tradition does not, and only the later commentaries say that lodging and food were scarce.
More differences between accounts (3)
The companion: the Chinese Youxing jing and the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya state that only Ānanda stayed; the Pali canon of the Southern tradition says only “I will keep the retreat here”, without mentioning Ānanda. The Sanskrit Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra also says the Buddha stayed with Ānanda as his attendant.
The Chinese Fo bannihuan jing has no words for “rains retreat”, so whether it counts as a retreat is doubtful; the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra translated by Faxian does not have this passage.
The later commentaries of the Southern tradition record the Buddha saying “I shall pass away after ten more months”.
Dating
Year 45 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged seventy-nine to eighty, at the start of the rains retreat; the retreat is stated in the canonical text, and the day of entering it is inferred, by the custom of the Pali Vinaya, as the day after the full moon of Āsāḷha; fixed roughly to the month.
Related Entries
- Year
- Places
- People
- Discourses
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
Stated in the canonical text (the text itself gives the time); commentarial dating (the canonical texts give no date; later commentaries record it); inferred from the rains-retreat location (inferred from the place of this year's rains retreat). Time precision: month only.
Sources
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Sv，§163
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 245b2–245b7
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§13.1–13.11、14.1
- 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）§13.5
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.164c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.180a
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.387a
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.180b
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 245b3–245b7
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》§13.8–13.9
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§13–14
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:2.21.2–2.22.5
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.15a
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.164b–c
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§13.4–14.1
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.192 p.43c