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Based on the sutras, the Vinaya and later commentaries
About the Sources

Takes a wife

Recorded by two schools

While living at home the Bodhisatta marries; his wife is the future mother of . The Pali canon of the Southern tradition calls her only the Buddha's wife or “the mother of Rāhula” and does not describe the wedding; the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya gives a fuller account: the prince distributed jewels to the young women, came last and the prince gave her his own ring, and only after winning an archery contest did he take her as his wife.

Different Accounts

The wife's name: the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya and the Buddha biographies Guoqu xianzai yinguo jing and Fo benxing ji jing have Yasodharā; the Taizi ruiying benqi jing has Quyi, with Qiuyi, Juyi and other renderings elsewhere; the Buddhavaṃsa of the Southern tradition uses another name; the and the later commentaries call her only “the mother of Rāhula” without giving a name.

More differences between accounts (3)

Her family: the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya has the daughter of the staff-bearing Sakyans (a branch of the Sakya clan); the Buddha biography Guoqu xianzai yinguo jing has the daughter of the Sakyan Mahānāma; the Xiuxing benqi jing has the daughter of King Suppabuddha; the Fo benxing ji jing has the daughter of a minister.

Age: the later commentaries of the Southern tradition have sixteen; the Buddha biographies Xiuxing benqi jing, Taizi ruiying benqi jing and Guoqu xianzai yinguo jing have seventeen; the Yichu pusa benqi jing has twenty.

The number of women attendants in the palace: the Buddhavaṃsa of the Southern tradition and the later commentaries have forty thousand, the Chinese Shi'er you jing sixty thousand, and the Buddha biography Fo benxing ji jing five hundred.

Dating

The Buddha aged sixteen; this age is given by the later commentaries of the Southern tradition (at the same time as the building of the palaces). The canonical texts themselves give no time, and the Buddha biographies mostly give seventeen; the year is uncertain.

Related Entries

Year
The Buddha at 16
Places
Kapilavatthu
People
RāhulaYasodharā
Discourses
Not recorded
Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
How Reliability Is Assessed

Recorded by two schools, the Pali canon of the Southern tradition and the Chinese Saṅghabhedavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. Recorded by two 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: year uncertain.

Sources

Back to The Buddha at 16

Source text

日期怎麼讀

成道第幾年
從佛陀成道開始，每經過一次雨季安居算一年，每一年算到安居結束為止；所有年歲一律依二十九歲出家、三十五歲成道推算。
年份依據
區分經文自己明記、後世註解書記載、先後順序推定及年歲換算。
時間精確度
分別說明確定到日、月、年，或只能放入某幾年之間。
可信度
多派共傳、兩派記載、單派記載與後世補述，表達記載的共傳範圍；與時間及位置是否確定分開閱讀。