The Buddha reflects that the truth he has realized is too profound for ordinary people to understand, and inclines not to teach. Brahmā, lord of the Sahā world, appears and three times earnestly asks the Buddha to teach. Surveying beings with the eye of a Buddha, the Buddha sees that their capacity to receive the teaching varies, like lotuses in a pond, and agrees to teach. The Brahmāyācana Sutta and the Ariyapariyesanā Sutta of the Southern tradition, the Chinese Ekottarika Āgama and the Vinayas of the various schools all record this. Taishō Canon
More sources (5)
Pali Canon
More sources (2)
Different Accounts
Timing: the Pali Vinaya places it after the merchants' offering of food, when the Buddha had returned to the goatherd's banyan tree; the later commentaries of the Southern tradition place it after day 49; the Buddha biography Guoqu xianzai yinguo jing says the entreaty itself lasted two weeks, and the Fo benxing ji jing has the eighth week. The Sanskrit Lalitavistara sets the place beneath a different tree (the Tārāyaṇa tree).
More differences between accounts (3)
Who entreated: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition, the Chinese Dharmaguptaka and Mahīśāsaka Vinayas and the Ekottarika Āgama have Brahmā alone; some Buddha biographies and the later commentaries of the Southern tradition say Brahmā came together with Sakka and other gods. The Sanskrit Lalitavistara says the Brahmā was named Sikhī (Skt. Śikhin) and came with a great retinue, and that before coming the second time he first went to consult Sakka. Taishō Canon
More sources (2)
The cause: the Buddha biography Taizi ruiying benqi jing says the Buddha wished to pass away and emitted light, and Brahmā came out of fear that the Buddha would pass away; all other accounts say the Buddha inclined not to teach. The Sanskrit Lalitavistara adds that Brahmā came to entreat a second time because he saw that the people of Magadha held wrong views of the kind “the wind does not blow, fire does not burn, the sky does not rain”. Taishō Canon
The Luomo jing in the Chinese Madhyama Āgama and another discourse in the Ekottarika Āgama have no entreaty by Brahmā, and begin directly from “To whom should I teach first?”. Taishō Canon
Dating
Year 1 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged thirty-five, before the ; in the order of the Pali Vinaya about days 29 to 35 after the Awakening. The canonical texts do not give the number of days of the entreaty, and inferring from the sequence of events, it is known only to fall within the weeks after the Awakening.
Related Entries
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
Recorded by four schools: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition, 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
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: approximate range.
Sources
- Pali Canon巴利律 Kd 1:5.1.1–5.13.3
- Pali Canon巴利 SN 6.1:1.2
- Pali Canon巴利 MN 26:19.1–21.10
- Pali Canon巴利 MN 85:43.1–45.10
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.125 p.593a–b
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.125 p.618a
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.786b–787b
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.103c–104a
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1450 p.126b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.185 p.479c–480c
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.186 p.528a
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.187 p.602c
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.187 p.604b
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.189 p.642c–643a
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.190 p.803c
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.192 p.28b–c
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D1 nga 39a2–40a5
- 梵文原典梵文《普曜經》第 25 品
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.189 p.643a
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.190 p.805a
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.185 p.480a
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.26 p.777a
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.125 p.618a–b
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