A who lives by ploughing is distributing food when he sees the Buddha coming for alms, and says: “I plough and sow to feed myself; a renunciant too should plough.” The Buddha answers in verse, saying that he too ploughs: faith is the seed, austerity the rain, wisdom the plough. The brahmin praises him and in the Buddha. The discourse gives no year; it is listed under this year only because its setting, the village of Ekanāḷā, resembles in name the place of this year's . Taishō Canon
Pali Canon
More sources (5)
Different Accounts
The outcome: the Saṃyutta Nikāya of the Southern tradition records only that he and became a male ; the Sutta Nipāta of the Southern tradition and the Chinese Saṃyukta Āgama say he went forth at once and later attained .
More differences between accounts (3)
Place: the texts of the Southern tradition have the village of Ekanāḷā in the Southern Hills of Magadha; the Chinese Saṃyukta Āgama has Kosala; the Bieyi za ahan jing has the Bamboo Grove (the Bamboo Grove monastery outside the city) at Rājagaha.
The name: the transcriptions differ between sources, with forms such as Bhāradvāja, Douluoshe and Pulu.
Whether the “village of Ekanāḷā” in the discourse is the same place as the “brahmin village of Nāḷa” given as the rains-retreat place in the later commentaries cannot at present be determined, so whether this event belongs to this year is also uncertain.
Dating
Year 11 after the Awakening (one of the possible years), the Buddha aged forty-five; the text says it was the sowing season; inferred from the rains-retreat location, the original text gives no year, and the year is uncertain.
Related Entries
- Year
- Places
- People
- Discourses
Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
The episode of “the verses and taking refuge in the Buddha” is recorded only in the Pali canon of the Southern tradition. Recorded by one school. The “going forth and attaining arahantship” within it is not found in the early sutras and Vinayas of any school.
- Dating Evidence and Precision
Inferred from the rains-retreat location (inferred from the place of this year's rains retreat). Time precision: year uncertain.
Sources
- Pali Canon巴利 SN 7.11:1.2
- Pali Canon巴利 Snp 1.4:1.2–1.3
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.99 p.27a–b
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.100 p.466b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.101 p.493a–b
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 SN-a，§197，PTS 1.242
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Snp-a，§75，PTS 1.137
- Pali Canon巴利 Snp 1.4:1.2
- Pali Canon巴利 SN 7.11Entire text
- Pali Canon巴利 Snp 1.4Entire text
- Pali Canon巴利 SN 7.11:11.1–11.3
- Pali Canon巴利 Snp 1.4:16.1
- Pali Canon巴利 Snp 1.4:16.4
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.99 p.27b