After the alms round the Buddha rests at the Cāpāla shrine in Vesālī and says three times to Ānanda that one who has perfected the four bases of spiritual power (four practices for attaining supernormal powers) could remain in the world for an aeon (an immensely long time). Ānanda's mind is clouded by Māra and he does not ask the Buddha to remain. Māra comes before the Buddha, recalls the promise made just after the Awakening, and asks him to pass away; the Buddha says “I will pass away in three months” and at once relinquishes the life force (letting go of the vital force that sustains life); the earth quakes and the Buddha speaks a verse. Taishō Canon
More sources (9)
Pali Canon
More sources (2)
Different Accounts
When and where Māra's earlier request took place: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition says only just after the Awakening, and the later commentaries the eighth week; the Chinese Youxing jing says beneath the goatherd's banyan tree by the Nerañjarā; the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra translated by Faxian says at the conversion of Uruvela Kassapa. The Sanskrit Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra has beneath the Bodhi tree by the Nerañjarā just after the Awakening, but this sentence was supplied by modern editors.
More differences between accounts (3)
The Chinese Youxing jing already names the place of the passing in the announcement, between the twin trees in the sāla grove at Kusinārā; the Pali canon of the Southern tradition names no place. Taishō Canon
The Chinese Fo bannihuan jing separates the testing of Ānanda and Māra's request into two places; the Didong jing in the Chinese Madhyama Āgama gives the place as “the country of Jingang, the city of Di”, which does not match the Cāpāla shrine. Taishō Canon
More sources (1)
On the relinquishing of the life force: the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra translated by Faxian says the Buddha relinquished it on the spot but sustained life for three more months by supernormal power. Taishō Canon
More sources (1)
Dating
Year 45 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged seventy-nine to eighty, after the , three months before the passing; the “three months” are stated in the canonical text, and the later commentaries say it was the full moon of Māgha (a month of the ancient Indian calendar); on the commentaries' account it can be fixed to the day, on the canonical text only to three months before the passing.
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
Recorded by five schools: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition, the Chinese Dīrgha Āgama, the Sanskrit Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, the Chinese Fo bannihuan jing and Bannihuan jing and the Chinese three-fascicle Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. 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). Time precision: fixed to the day, month only.
Sources
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 247b4–249a6
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§15.4–15.18
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§16.1–16.15
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Sv，§168
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.15c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.180b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.7 p.192a
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.388a
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 247b7
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 248b4
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 249a6
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》§16.5
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:3.1.1–3.10.7
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.15b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.164c–165b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.180b–181a
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.180c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.7 p.191b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.7 p.191c
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.387c–388a
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.125 p.753c
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.192 p.43c
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.193 p.96c
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§15.1–15.18、16.1–16.15
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:3.1.4–3.2.1
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.15b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.164c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.165a
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.7 p.191b
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.387c
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1425 p.489c
- 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）§15.7
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.26 p.477b
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:3.9.3
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Bv-a，§30