Disciples in various regions bring those who wish to go forth on long journeys to see the Buddha, and both sides are exhausted. The Buddha therefore lays down a rule allowing the disciples to confer the going forth and in their own regions: the candidate has hair and beard shaved, puts on the robe, bares the right shoulder, bows with the head to the preceptor's feet, kneels with palms together, and recites the refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha three times. Pali Canon
Different Accounts
The Chinese Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya says that for five years after the Awakening no monastic committed an offence, and only afterwards did offences gradually occur and the Buddha lay down rules case by case; this differs from the Pali Vinaya, which places this rule in the first . In that Vinaya the occasion for ordaining people by “Come, ” is also set at Rājagaha, not at the Deer Park.
More differences between accounts (2)
The Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya has a further rule: because Yasa did not dare accept a private invitation from his father, the Buddha allowed private invitations to be accepted, also a rule laid down in the first rains retreat; other accounts do not have it.
The Tibetan Vinaya says that what the Buddha allowed was the conferring of the going forth and full ordination by the Sangha through a formal procedure of three requests and a vote, and has no text about ordaining simply by reciting the refuges three times.
Dating
Year 1 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged thirty-five, during the rains retreat, after the sixty disciples were sent out; inferred from the sequence of events, known only to fall within this rains retreat.
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 Sarvāstivāda Vinaya (Shisong lü). 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 1:12.1.1–12.4.11
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.793a
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.190 p.835b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.111b
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1425 p.412b–413a
- 大正藏大正藏 T23 no.1435 p.410a
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D1 ka 47b2–48a6
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1425 p.412b
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.790a