The next morning Cunda offers a meal to the Buddha and the Sangha. Cunda asks how many kinds of ascetic there are in the world, and the Buddha says four: one accomplished in the path, one who teaches the path, one who lives by the path, and one who defiles the path. Several Chinese versions also record a monk stealing a vessel. Pali Canon
More sources (1)
Different Accounts
The special dish: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition and the Chinese Youxing jing say Cunda prepared a special dish for the Buddha alone, and the Buddha instructed that it be served to him only (the Southern tradition says the remainder was buried; the Youxing jing says it was not shared with the other monastics). The term used in the Southern tradition is explained by the later commentaries as tender pork, and by another view as a kind of elixir; the Youxing jing has “sandalwood-tree ear” (a fungus that grows on sandalwood trees). The other Chinese versions, the Tibetan Vinaya and the Sanskrit Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra speak only of fine food, without a special dish. Taishō Canon
More differences between accounts (2)
The thief of the vessel: the Chinese Youxing jing says it was an elder who had gone forth late in life; the Chinese Fo bannihuan jing, the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya and the Tibetan Vinaya also record it; the Pali canon of the Southern tradition does not. The Sanskrit Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra also has it, and says what was stolen was the metal vessel that held the Buddha's food.
The four kinds of ascetic: the Chinese Fo bannihuan jing gives them in prose; the Chinese Youxing jing and the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya in verse.
Dating
Year 45 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged seventy-nine to eighty, after the , in the morning of the day after Cunda's invitation; the time of day is stated in the canonical text, and the later commentaries of the Southern tradition say it was the full-moon day of Vesākha; on the commentaries' account it can be fixed to the day.
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
The episode of “the meal” is 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. The “four kinds of ascetic” within it are recorded by four schools; “the monk who stole a vessel” by three 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 256b7–258a2
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§26.12–26.31
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Sv，§189
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 257a2–258a1
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》§26.15–26.16
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:4.17.1–4.19.5
- SuttaCentral 對應表SuttaCentral 對應表 sf245#wal26.18–26.26
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§26.18–26.28
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.18b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.167c–168a
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.183b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.7 p.197a–b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.7 p.197b
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.390b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.192 p.46b
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:4.18.1
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Ap-a，§82
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.18b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.167c
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.390b