As sons of the leading families of Magadha go forth one after another, the people of Rājagaha murmur, blaming “the ascetic Gotama” (the ascetic of the Gotama clan, that is, the Buddha) for leaving people without heirs, wives widowed and families cut off, and they taunt the monks in verse whenever they see them. The Buddha teaches the monks to answer in verse, to the effect: “The Tathāgata leads people by the true Dhamma; what is there to envy?” The murmuring dies down after seven days. Pali Canon
Different Accounts
Who taunted: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition and the Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya have the people of Rājagaha; the Pravrajyāvastu of the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya has the disciples of Sañjaya; the Tibetan Vinaya has those in Rājagaha who resented the going forth of Sañjaya's disciples; the sense of the verse is the same, but there is no mention of its “dying down after seven days”.
Dating
Year 2 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged thirty-six, before the , after Sāriputta and Moggallāna went forth; that it “died down after seven days” is stated in the Pali Vinaya, so the murmuring can be fixed as lasting seven days.
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
Recorded by three schools: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition, the Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (Sifen lü) and the sutras and Vinaya transmitted by the Sarvāstivāda. 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 1:24.5.1–24.7.11
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.799b
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.110c
- 大正藏大正藏 T23 no.1444 p.1028a–b
- SuttaCentral 對應表SuttaCentral 對應表 san-lo-mvu75#sc2
- 轉引自現代整理本轉引自現代整理本
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D1 ka 35b2–36a7
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D1 ka 35b3
- 大正藏大正藏 T23 no.1444 p.1028a