Once out of the city the Bodhisatta dismounts, takes off his fine clothes and jewelled crown and gives them to the charioteer, asking him to lead the horse back to the palace and inform his parents; the charioteer weeps and will not leave, but the Bodhisatta does not relent. The Bodhisatta shaves off his hair and exchanges clothes with a hunter wearing an ochre robe. The shaving of the head and putting on of the ochre robe are recorded in the texts of every major school; sending the charioteer back with the horse is found in the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya and the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. Taishō Canon
Pali Canon
Different Accounts
Who shaved the head: the Chinese Dharmaguptaka and Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinayas, the Buddha biography Fangguang da zhuangyan jing and the later commentaries of the Southern tradition say the Bodhisatta shaved his own head, while the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya says a barber did it. The Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya says the Bodhisatta cut off his hair with a knife and threw it into the sky, and Sakka caught it and took it to the Heaven of the Thirty-three (the heaven where Sakka dwells) to be venerated; the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya says Sakka caught the hair in a cloth.
More differences between accounts (3)
Place: the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya says it was in the Anupiya grove not far from the city, beneath a sumanā tree; the later commentaries of the Southern tradition say it was on the bank of the Anomā river, after which he stayed seven days in a mango grove. Taishō Canon
The clothes received in exchange: the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya and the Buddha biography Fo benxing ji jing say he received a hunter's ochre robe; the Taizi ruiying benqi jing and others say it was a hunter's deerskin; the later commentaries of the Southern tradition say the presented the eight requisites of a renunciant.
Other details: the later commentaries of the Southern tradition say the prince's horse Kanthaka died of a broken heart and was reborn in the Heaven of the Thirty-three. The Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya records the Bodhisatta thinking, “Now that I have gone forth, I am of myself fully endowed with the precepts” (having gone forth, I am naturally complete in the precepts). Taishō Canon
Dating
The Buddha aged twenty-nine, from the night of the going forth to the next day; inferred from the sequence of events (the later commentaries of the Southern tradition say the Bodhisatta reached the river in a single night), it falls within about these two days, but not with complete certainty.
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
The episode of “shaving the head and putting on the ochre robe” is recorded by four schools: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition, the Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (Sifen lü), the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya (Wufen lü) and the Chinese Saṅghabhedavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. Attested across multiple schools. Within it, “sending the charioteer back with the horse” is recorded by two schools, the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya (Wufen lü) and the Chinese Saṅghabhedavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya.
- Dating Evidence and Precision
Commentarial dating (the canonical texts give no date; later commentaries record it); 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: fixed to the day.
Sources
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.102a–b
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1450 p.117c–118a
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.779c
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.99 p.167a
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.184 p.468a
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.185 p.475c
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.186 p.508b
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.187 p.576c
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.188 p.619c
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.189 p.633c
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.190 p.737c
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.191 p.947a
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.192 p.9c
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.193 p.67c
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Ja-a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Bv-a，§50，PTS 0.283–0.284
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.102b
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.102a
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1450 p.117c
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1450 p.118a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Bv-a，PTS 0.283
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Bv-a，PTS 0.284
- Pali Canon巴利 MN 26:14.1