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Based on the sutras, the Vinaya and later commentaries
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The Buddha awakens beneath the Bodhi tree

Attested across multiple schools

The sits beneath the Bodhi tree on the bank of the Nerañjarā river at , attains the highest awakening and becomes the Buddha. The and the Udāna of the record that in the first, middle and last watches of that night the Buddha contemplated again and again, speaking one in each watch. The texts of every major school record this event.

Different Accounts

Date: some Chinese texts and the Chinese Shi'er you jing give the eighth day of the fourth month. The Southern tradition customarily takes the full-moon day of as the day of the Awakening, but the later commentaries of the Southern tradition seen so far do not state this directly. The Chinese Shi'er you jing counts the whole stay beneath the tree, from the eighth day of the fourth month to the fifteenth day of the seventh month, as “one year”.

More differences between accounts (3)

Age: the Chinese Shi'er you jing has the Awakening at thirty-five; the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya and some Buddha biographies have the going forth at nineteen followed by six years of austerities, which gives an awakening at twenty-five; the Tibetan Vinaya has the going forth at twenty-nine followed by six years of austerities.

When dependent arising was contemplated: the Pali Vinaya and the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya place it on the night of the Awakening; the Chinese and Tibetan Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya place it when the Buddha returned to the Bodhi tree a second time; the Buddha biography Fo benxing ji jing places it after the first seven days.

What was attained in the three watches of the night: the Sanskrit Catuṣpariṣat Sūtra distributes the six across the three watches, with the destruction of the defilements attained in the last; Majjhima Nikāya 36 of the Southern tradition has the recollection of past lives in the first watch, the vision of beings dying and being reborn in the second, and the destruction of the defilements in the last; the Sanskrit Mahāvastu and the Sanskrit Lalitavistara reverse the order of the first two and say the awakening came as dawn was breaking. The Sanskrit Catuṣpariṣat Sūtra further says that immediately after awakening the Buddha entered the fire-element absorption (a meditative state in which the body gives off flames), as do the Chinese and Tibetan Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya.

Dating

Year 1 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged thirty-five, on the day of the Awakening itself, before the ; this is the starting point of all the dating. The canonical texts state the day explicitly, but the sources differ on which day it was (some give the eighth day of the fourth month).

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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
How Reliability Is Assessed

Recorded by five schools: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition, the Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (Sifen lü), the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya (Wufen lü), the Sanskrit Catuṣpariṣat Sūtra and the Sanskrit Mahāvastu. Attested across multiple schools.

Dating Evidence and Precision

Stated in the canonical text (the text itself gives the time). Time precision: fixed to the day.

Sources

Back to Year 1 after the Awakening · The Buddha at 35

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。