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

Six years of austerities

Attested across multiple schools

By the Nerañjarā at the Bodhisatta practises austerities of every kind: clenching his teeth and crushing thought with thought; practising the meditation of stopping the breath, until the wind roars in his ears and his head aches as if pierced, and the gods even think he is dead. He also cuts down his food until he takes only a handful of bean broth a day, and his body wastes until his backbone is like a string of knots and his skin turns black. He practises in this way for six years without attaining the highest knowledge. The austerities, and the figure of “six years”, are recorded in the texts of every major school.

Different Accounts

What he ate during the austerities: the Buddha biographies Xiuxing benqi jing and Taizi ruiying benqi jing and the Chinese Ekottarika Āgama say a single sesame seed and a single grain of rice a day; the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya says a single sesame seed, a single grain of rice and a single bean a day; Majjhima Nikāya 36 of the Southern tradition has a handful of bean broth a day, and so on.

More differences between accounts (3)

The Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya says that when heard of his son's austerities he wept with grief, and ordered the palace attendants not to let know.

The ages of the austerities: reckoned from a going forth at twenty-nine, the austerities fall between twenty-nine and thirty-five; on the account of a going forth at nineteen, between nineteen and twenty-five.

The Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya has no account of the austerities: once has left, the Bodhisatta goes to the Bodhi tree.

Dating

The Buddha from twenty-nine to thirty-five, six years in all; the “six years” are stated in the canonical texts. The Buddha biography Fo benxing ji jing says the six years of austerities were completed on the sixteenth day of the second month, in spring, and the later commentaries of the Southern tradition say on the full moon of ; known only to fall within these years.

Related Entries

Year
The Buddha at 29 to 35 · The Quest and the Austerities
Places
UruvelāThe Nerañjarā river
People
Not recorded
Discourses
Majjhima Nikāya 36Majjhima Nikāya 85Majjhima Nikāya 100
Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
How Reliability Is Assessed

Recorded by three schools: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition, the Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (Sifen lü) and the Chinese Saṅghabhedavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. Attested across multiple schools. Within it, “the figure of ‘six years’” is recorded by two schools, the Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (Sifen lü) and the Chinese Saṅghabhedavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya.

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: approximate range, year only.

Sources

Back to The Buddha at 29 to 35 · The Quest and the Austerities

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。