The sits beneath the Bodhi tree on the bank of the Nerañjarā river at Uruvelā, 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. Taishō Canon
Pali Canon
More sources (4)
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. Taishō Canon
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
- Pali Canon巴利律 Kd 1:1.1.1
- Pali Canon巴利 Ud 1.1:1.2–1.4
- Pali Canon巴利 Ud 1.2:1.4
- Pali Canon巴利 Ud 1.3:1.4
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.781c
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.102c–103a
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.185 p.478b
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.186 p.522b
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.187 p.595c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.175c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.190c
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.195 p.147a
- 藏譯(德格版)德格版 D1 nga 33b1–33b2
- 藏譯(德格版)德格版 D1 nga 38a4–38b4
- 藏譯(德格版)德格版 D1 ga 285b1
- 藏譯(德格版)德格版 D1 ka 30b1–30b2
- 梵文原典梵文《四眾經》§1–25
- 梵文原典梵文《大事》第二冊 p.283–285
- 梵文原典梵文《普曜經》第 22 品
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.25b
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.184 p.467c
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.185 p.475b
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1450 p.109c
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.125 p.609c
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.125 p.752b
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1450 p.126a
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.190 p.799b
- 藏譯(德格版)德格版 D1 ka 30b1
- 藏譯(德格版)德格版 D1 nga 38a4–38a5
- 梵文原典梵文《四眾經》§2–24
- 梵文原典梵文《大事》第二冊 p.283–284
- 梵文原典梵文《四眾經》§25
- 梵文原典梵文《大事》第二冊 p.284
- Pali Canon巴利律 Kd 1:1.1.1–1.7.6
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1450 p.124c