This passage is found only in the later commentaries of the Southern tradition, which use it to link the surrounding texts: after the retreat the Buddha returns by the same route to the Jetavana at Sāvatthī; Sāriputta takes his leave and returns to his home village of Nāla, where he passes away in the room in which he was born, teaching his mother before he dies so that she attains the ; half a month later the other chief disciple, Moggallāna, also passes away. The Buddha afterwards crosses the Ganges to Ukkacelā and says on the bank that with the two chief disciples gone the assembly seems “as if empty” (the Ukkacelā Sutta of the Southern tradition).
Different Accounts
The text of the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta of the Southern tradition goes straight from the retreat at Beluva village to the Buddha entering Vesālī for alms, without this journey back to Sāvatthī; the Chinese and Tibetan texts recording the last journey also lack it.
More differences between accounts (3)
Place: the texts of the Southern tradition say the Cunda (not Cunda the smith's son who offered the Buddha his last meal) brought Sāriputta's robe, bowl and to Sāvatthī, while the Chinese Saṃyukta Āgama says Rājagaha; the Southern tradition has the Buddha give the discourse on being “as if empty” at Ukkacelā, while the Chinese Saṃyukta Āgama has Madhurā.
The Chinese Ekottarika Āgama says the two passed away after keeping a with the Buddha in the Bamboo Grove at Rājagaha, and records Moggallāna being beaten by non-Buddhists armed with sticks; the later commentaries of the Southern tradition say Moggallāna's body was crushed by bandits hired by non-Buddhists.
That the two chief disciples passed away before the Buddha is itself found in the texts of the Southern tradition, the Chinese Saṃyukta Āgama and elsewhere; only the later commentaries place it after this year's rains retreat.
Dating
Year 45 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged seventy-nine to eighty, after the rains retreat; the later commentaries say Sāriputta passed away on the full moon of Kattika and Moggallāna half a month later, on the of the dark fortnight; on the commentaries' account these two days can be fixed.
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
The episode “the two chief disciples pass away before the Buddha” is recorded by two schools, the Pali canon of the Southern tradition and the Chinese Saṃyukta Āgama. Recorded by two schools. That it happened “after this year's rains retreat and before the relinquishing of the life force” is not found in the early sutras and Vinayas of any school.
- Dating Evidence and Precision
Commentarial dating (the canonical texts give no date; later commentaries record it). Time precision: fixed to the day, month only.
Sources
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 247b3–247b7
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:3.1.1
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 301a7
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.99 p.176b
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.99 p.177a
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.125 p.639a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 SN-a，§380
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Sv，§166