The Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya records that when the Buddha set out from Rājagaha on a journey, King Bimbisāra escorted him with his fourfold army to the bank of the Ganges; Moggallāna made the river shallow by his supernormal power and the Buddha waded across. The Buddha then went to Qucha village in the Vajjian country (a country of ancient India), to Vesālī and elsewhere; in this account Ambapālī attains the on hearing the Dhamma, then and takes the . The passage also mentions cold weather and the Buddha's rule that monastics may have three robes.
Different Accounts
The content of this passage is the same as the passages of the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya cited in the entries of the last journey on crossing the Ganges, the teaching at Qucha village and Ambapālī's offering; the treatment here is that those entries still count the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya among the texts recording those events, but note that the evidence comes from a different journey.
Dating
The year is unknown. In this account King Bimbisāra is still alive, and by the traditional account he had died before the Buddha's last year, so this cannot be the journey of the last year; beyond that there is no range from which to estimate, so no age is given.
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
The sources for this event have not yet been fully compared; its reliability is not yet graded.
- Dating Evidence and Precision
Source of the year not recorded.