The Buddha reflects: “Before, I was troubled by the quarrelling monastics of Kosambī and could not be at peace; now, alone, I am entirely at ease.” He comes alone to the protected grove at Pārileyyaka and stays beneath a great sāla tree; at the same time a great elephant king, unable to bear the herd trampling his grass and muddying his water, has left the herd and come here, and with his trunk he brings the Buddha water and clears away the weeds. The Buddha, understanding that he and the elephant alike delight in seclusion, speaks a : “The great elephant and the great elephant are of one mind.” The in the later commentaries takes this as the tenth .
Different Accounts
Name of the forest and the country: the Southern tradition has beneath the auspicious sāla tree in the protected grove of Pārileyya, which the commentaries of the Southern tradition place in Kosala; the Chinese Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya has the Pārileyya sāla forest in Kosala; the Chinese Saṃyukta Āgama has the protected grove at Potuo village in the Banshe country; the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya has Boluo village. Source text 1 Source text 2
More differences between accounts (3)
The elephant's service: the commentary on the Dhammapada of the Southern tradition says the elephant fetched water for the Buddha, heated water, gathered fruit, escorted the Buddha to the edge of the village for alms, and kept guard at night holding a stick, and that the forest took its name from this; the Chinese Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya says the elephant pulled up grass, sprinkled water and offered lotus roots, and that the Buddha accepted his offerings for three months. The commentaries of the Southern tradition also say the Buddha lived on lotus roots for these three months.
After the Buddha left: the commentary on the Dhammapada of the Southern tradition says the elephant died of grief and was reborn in the Heaven of the Thirty-three (one of the heavens where the gods dwell); other accounts do not have this passage.
Saṃyutta Nikāya 22.81 of the Southern tradition and Saṃyukta Āgama 57 say that while the Buddha was staying here monastics came to visit him and he taught them the method of contemplation for the swift destruction of the defilements; these two discourses also mention Ānanda.
Dating
Year 10 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged forty-four, the three months of the rains retreat; the place of the retreat is given by the later commentaries, and the three months are stated in the Chinese Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya; known only to fall within these three months.
Related Entries
- Year
- Places
- People
- Discourses
Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
The episode of “the Buddha living alone in the forest and the elephant king leaving the herd to attend him” is recorded by three schools, the Pali canon of the Southern tradition, the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya (Wufen lü) and the Chinese Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya. Attested across multiple schools. The “stay of three months” within it is not found in the early sutras and Vinayas of any school.
- Dating Evidence and Precision
Stated in the canonical text (the text itself gives the time); commentarial dating (the canonical texts give no date; later commentaries record it). Time precision: month only.
Sources
- 巴利三藏巴利律 Kd 10:4.6.1–4.7.5
- 巴利三藏巴利 Ud 4.5:2.2–7.1
- 巴利三藏巴利 SN 22.81:1.3–3.2
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.26 p.536a
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.160a–b
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1425 p.363c–364a
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1425 p.494c
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.99 p.13c
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 AN-a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Bv-a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Vajirabuddhi
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Dhp-a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Ud-a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 SN-a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 MN-a，§236
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 MN-a，§242
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Ja-a，§19
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Mv-a
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.211 p.577c
- 巴利三藏巴利律 Kd 10:4.7.5
- 巴利三藏巴利 Ud 4.5:7.1
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1425 p.363c
- 巴利三藏巴利 SN 22.81:3.2
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Dhp-a，§5，PTS 1.61–62