Setting out from the Bodhi tree for Bārāṇasī, the Buddha meets the ascetic Upaka on the road between Gayā and the Bodhi tree. Struck by the Buddha's serene appearance, Upaka asks who his teacher is. The Buddha answers in verse: he has surpassed all and knows all, has awakened by himself without a teacher, and is going to the city of Kāsi to beat the drum of the deathless. Upaka does not believe him, shakes his head and leaves. Pali Canon
More sources (2)
Different Accounts
Upaka's name and identity differ between sources: some call him an Ājīvika (an ascetic sect of ancient India), others a brahmin ascetic, a seer or simply a non-Buddhist. The prose of the Sanskrit Lalitavistara says only “an Ājīvika”, and names him Upaka only in the verses.
More differences between accounts (3)
His response: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition says he shook his head and left; the Buddha biography Zhong benqi jing says he was delighted and asked the Buddha to teach him; the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya says a god rebuked him. The Sanskrit Lalitavistara says that after answering he went south and the Buddha went north.
The journey: the later commentaries of the Southern tradition say the eighteen were covered in a single day; the Buddha biography Fangguang da zhuangyan jing says the Buddha first went into the city of Bārāṇasī for alms and only after the meal went to the Deer Park. The Sanskrit Lalitavistara says that on the way the Buddha accepted an offering from the nāga king Sudassana at Gayā, passed through several towns to the bank of the Ganges, where the ferryman demanded a fare, and flew across the river through the air, whereupon King Bimbisāra exempted renunciants from the ferry fare.
The Buddha biography Guoqu xianzai yinguo jing places this meeting after the merchants' offering of food.
Dating
Year 1 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged thirty-five, before the ; the later commentaries say the Buddha set out on the morning of the fourteenth day of the bright fortnight of Āsāḷha (a month of the ancient Indian calendar; the day before the full moon) and reached the Deer Park that evening; on the commentaries' account it can be fixed to the day.
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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 Madhyama Āgama. Attested across multiple schools.
- Dating Evidence and Precision
Commentarial dating (the canonical texts give no date; later commentaries record it). Time precision: fixed to the day.
Sources
- Pali Canon巴利律 Kd 1:6.7.1–6.9.6
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.26 p.777b
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.125 p.618c
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.787b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.104a–b
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1450 p.127a
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.187 p.605c–606a
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.189 p.643c–644a
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.190 p.808a–b
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.191 p.953b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.192 p.28c–29a
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.196 p.148a
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D1 nga 41a1–41a7
- 梵文原典梵文《普曜經》第 26 品
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.187 p.606b
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D1 nga 41a1
- Pali Canon巴利 MN 26:25.1–25.27
- Pali Canon巴利 MN 85:49.2–49.28
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