The Buddha leads the thousand monks to the Laṭṭhivana grove outside Rājagaha. King Bimbisāra of Magadha comes with a great crowd of and householders; the crowd cannot tell whether the Buddha is Kassapa's pupil or Kassapa the Buddha's. The Buddha asks Kassapa in why he has abandoned the fire sacrifice; Kassapa answers in verse, bows at the Buddha's feet and declares himself the Buddha's disciple. The Buddha then gives a graduated teaching; the king attains the , , and invites the Buddha to a meal at the palace the next day. Taishō Canon
Pali Canon
Different Accounts
Season: the later commentaries of the Southern tradition say the Buddha reached Rājagaha on the full moon of Phussa (a month of the ancient Indian calendar, in winter); the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya says it was “the last month of spring, when the weather was already very hot”; the two differ by three or four months.
More differences between accounts (3)
Numbers: the Pali Vinaya says one hundred and ten thousand attained the first fruit and ten thousand took refuge; most other accounts say eighty thousand gods attained realization at the same time, and the number of people present differs between sources.
Manner of the invitation: the Pali Vinaya, the Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya and the Madhyama Āgama say the king went out of the city in person; the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya and the Buddha biography Zhong benqi jing say the king first sent envoys to Gayāsīsa to invite the Buddha, and that on the way the chariot wheels sank into the ground and the city gates shut of themselves, so that the king could proceed only after releasing the prisoners; the Tibetan Vinaya also records these portents and the release of the prisoners. Taishō Canon
More sources (1)
The king's wishes: the Pali Vinaya has the king say that he had five wishes in his youth, all now fulfilled; the Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya has six. Several accounts also mention an earlier promise between the king and the Buddha before his going forth: that after awakening he would come to teach the king first.
Dating
Year 2 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged thirty-six, before the ; the later commentaries say the Buddha reached Rājagaha on the full-moon day of Phussa, so on the commentaries' account it can be fixed to the day, but the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya records a different season.
Related Entries
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- Places
- People
- Discourses
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 1:22.1.1–22.12.4
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.26 p.497b–498c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.41 p.825a
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.797b–798a
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.798a
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.109c–110a
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1450 p.134b–136c
- 大正藏大正藏 T23 no.1444 p.1027a
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.186 p.532b
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.187 p.612c–613b
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.189 p.650b–651c
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.190 p.856b
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.191 p.962c
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.192 p.33a
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.196 p.152a–153b
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Ap-a，s0510a，VRI 1.0099，phussamāsapuṇṇamāyaṃ
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Bv-a，s0511a，PTS 頁標 0.0004，同
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D1 nga 67b4–75a4
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D1 ka 31a3
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.109c
- 大正藏大正藏 T03 no.189 p.650b
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1450 p.135b
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.196 p.152a–b
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.797b
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D1 nga 70a6–70b2
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D1 nga 75a2
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1450 p.136c