Ānanda goes back to his lodging, leans against the door and weeps, saying: “I am still a learner (one still in training, not yet fully liberated), and my teacher, who is so kind and compassionate to me, is about to pass away.” The Buddha calls him over and comforts him, praises him for having served the Buddha with loving-kindness in body, speech and mind, and says that Ānanda, like a wheel-turning monarch, has four rare and wonderful qualities. Pali Canon
Different Accounts
Order: the Chinese Youxing jing places this passage after the conversion of Subhadda.
More differences between accounts (2)
Place: the Sanskrit Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says Ānanda wept beneath the twin trees, behind the Buddha, holding the bed, saying “the eye of the world will vanish all too soon”, without the sentence “I am still a learner”; its position is close to the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya and the Tibetan Vinaya, before the conversion of Subhadda.
The four rare qualities: the Sanskrit Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says Ānanda has two sets of four rare qualities; the Pali canon of the Southern tradition has only one set.
Dating
Year 45 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged seventy-nine to eighty, after the , on the night of the passing; stated in the canonical text; it can be fixed to this night.
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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). Time precision: fixed to the day.
Sources
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 263a5–264b5
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》（Waldschmidt）§32.11–32.42
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.169b
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 263a6–264b5
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》§32
- 梵文原典梵文《大般涅槃經》§32.33–32.42
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:5.13.1–5.16
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.25b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.169b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.184c–185b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.7 p.200b
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.392b
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.125 p.751a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Ap-a，§82