The Bodhisatta walks towards the Bodhi tree (the great tree beneath which he later awakens); on the way he asks a grass-cutter for some grass, carries it to the tree, spreads it as a seat and sits cross-legged, his body erect and his mind fixed on the present, and vows that he will not leave this seat until the defilements are destroyed. The acceptance of grass for the seat is found in the Chinese Dharmaguptaka, Mahīśāsaka and Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinayas; the Pali canon of the Southern tradition itself does not mention the grass, recording only that the Buddha awakened beneath this tree. Pali Canon
More sources (1)
Different Accounts
The grass-cutter: the Chinese Dharmaguptaka and Mahīśāsaka Vinayas have Ji'an; the Buddha biographies Xiuxing benqi jing and Guoqu xianzai yinguo jing have Jixiang (“Auspicious”); the Pravrajyāvastu of the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya has Changzhu, while the Saṅghabhedavastu of the same Vinaya says it was a labourer created by Sakka; the later commentaries of the Southern tradition say the grass-cutter presented eight handfuls of grass.
More differences between accounts (2)
The name of the tree: the Chinese Vinayas have the Bodhi tree; the Buddhavaṃsa of the Southern tradition and the later commentaries have the assattha tree (the Bodhi tree's proper name); the Buddha biographies Xiuxing benqi jing and Taizi ruiying benqi jing have the beiduo tree.
The site of the seat: the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya says a solitary rocky hill split of itself, and the Bodhisatta crossed the Nerañjarā and sat down on the “diamond ground” on the eastern bank; the later commentaries of the Southern tradition say the Bodhisatta walked around the tree examining it, chose the eastern side as the spot where he would not be shaken once seated, and sat facing east. Taishō Canon
Dating
The Buddha aged thirty-five, on the eve of the Awakening; the later commentaries of the Southern tradition say it was in the evening of the full-moon day of Vesākha, so on the commentaries' account it can be fixed to the day; the canonical texts themselves give no number of days.
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
Recorded by three schools: the Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (Sifen lü), the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya (Wufen lü) and the Chinese Saṅghabhedavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. Attested across multiple schools.
- 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.1428 p.781a
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.102c
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1450 p.122b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1450 p.123a
- 大正藏大正藏 T23 no.1444 p.1026c
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.184 p.470a
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.186 p.515a
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.187 p.587a
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.189 p.639c
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.190 p.773a
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.191 p.950a
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.192 p.24c
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.193 p.75c
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Ja-a
- Pali Canon巴利 Bv 27:20.1
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 14:1.8.7
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1450 p.122b