After the alms round the Buddha leaves Vesālī. On leaving the city he turns his whole body round like a royal elephant, looks at Vesālī and says: this is the last time the Tathāgata (a title of the Buddha) will look upon Vesālī. Pali Canon
Different Accounts
The Chinese Youxing jing does not have this passage, going straight from the Fragrance shrine to Ambagāma. Taishō Canon
More differences between accounts (2)
The Chinese Bannihuan jing and the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra translated by Faxian have the Buddha smile as he looks at the city, and the latter adds that the sky rained tears.
The later commentaries of the Southern tradition say the Buddha looked back in this way so that the kings of Vesālī, who would die within three years, could gain merit by building an “Elephant's Glance shrine” here.
Dating
Year 45 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged seventy-nine to eighty, after the , on the day of leaving Vesālī; inferred from the sequence of events, only the year is known.
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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 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
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
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Sv，§186
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 251b4–252a2
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§20.1–20.10
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.17b
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 251b4–251b7
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 252a1–252a2
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:4.1.1–4.1.4
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.165c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.181c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.7 p.193b
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.388c
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.125 p.748c
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.192 p.45c