At Bhoganagara (the name is rendered differently in the sources) the Buddha teaches the “four great references” (four criteria of judgement) for deciding whether what one hears is truly the word of the Buddha. If a monk says “I heard this from the Buddha himself”, or that he heard it from the Sangha of some place, from several elders or from one elder, it should be compared with the sutras and the Vinaya, accepted if it agrees and rejected if it does not. Taishō Canon
Pali Canon
Different Accounts
The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra translated by Faxian first teaches the here and records five hundred monks attaining ; the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya presents it as four “black statements” (wrong statements) and four “white statements” (correct statements).
More differences between accounts (3)
The place name differs between sources, rendered as Bhoganagara, Fuyan, Shanjia, Shouyong, Pujia and so on.
The Buddha biography Buddhacarita places the announcement of the passing in this city.
Lodging: the Sanskrit Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra and the Chinese Youxing jing, Fo bannihuan jing, Bannihuan jing and Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya all have the grove north of the city; the Pali canon of the Southern tradition has the Ānanda shrine. The Sanskrit Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra sums up the four criteria as “rely on the sutras, not on the person”.
Dating
Year 45 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged seventy-nine to eighty, after the , within the three months after the announcement of the passing; inferred from the sequence of events, known only to fall within these three months.
Related Entries
- Year
- Places
- People
- Discourses
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
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: month only.
Sources
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 253b7–256a6
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§21.7、24.1–24.52
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.7 p.195c
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.192 p.46a
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 254a3
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 256a2
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》§21.7
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:4.7.2–4.11
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.17c–18a
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.167a–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.182c
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.389b
- Pali Canon巴利律 Kd 6:40.1.0–40.3.66
- SuttaCentral 對應表SuttaCentral 對應表 sf245#wal24
- 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）§24.1–24.52
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:4.7.1
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.17b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.166b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.182a
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.7 p.195b
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.389a