Ānanda drapes the robe of cloth of gold on the Buddha, and the lustre of the robe is outshone. The Buddha says the colour of the Tathāgata's body is especially pure on two occasions, the night of the Awakening and the night of the passing, and foretells that this very night he will pass away between the twin sāla trees in the grove of the Mallas at Kusinārā. Pali Canon
More sources (1)
Different Accounts
The watch of the passing: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition has the ; the Chinese Fo bannihuan jing and Bannihuan jing have midnight; the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra translated by Faxian has the end of the last watch; the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya has “on this very night”. The Sanskrit Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra here speaks only in general of the night of the passing, without foretelling this night; only between the twin trees does it say the passing will be this night, at midnight (these words are supplied by modern editors).
More differences between accounts (2)
The number of years Ānanda served the Buddha: the Chinese Youxing jing has twenty-five; the Chinese Fo bannihuan jing and Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, the Tibetan Vinaya and the Sanskrit Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra have more than twenty.
The Sanskrit Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says Ānanda first cut the robe with a knife before draping it on the Buddha.
Dating
Year 45 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged seventy-nine to eighty, after the , before the evening of the day of the passing; “this night” is stated in the canonical text, and by the later commentaries of the Southern tradition it is the full moon of Vesākha; it can be fixed to the day.
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
Stated in the canonical text (the text itself gives the time). Time precision: fixed to the day.
Sources
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 260b4–261a1
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§28.50–28.59
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 260b6
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》§28.58、32.6
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》§28.55
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:4.37.1–4.38.5
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:4.38.4
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.19b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.19c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.168b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.168b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.168c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.184a
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.7 p.198b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.7 p.198c
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.391b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.391c
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Ap-a，§82