The of Kosambī agree to stop paying respect and giving alms to the monks who keep on quarrelling; getting no food, the monks have no choice but to go to Sāvatthī to see the Buddha. Sāriputta, Mahāpajāpatī, Anāthapiṇḍika and others ask in turn how they should treat them, and the Buddha teaches them to judge by whether what is said accords with the Dhamma. The monks charged with the offence admit their fault, the two sides are reconciled, and the Buddha lays down the procedure for restoring the harmony of the Sangha after a reconciliation. The Vinaya texts of every major school record this event. Pali Canon
Different Accounts
Those who asked: the Pali Vinaya gives a long list, including Sāriputta, Moggallāna, Mahākassapa, Ānanda, Rāhula, Mahāpajāpatī, Anāthapiṇḍika, the lay woman Visākhā and others; the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya records only Sāriputta, Mahāpajāpatī and Anāthapiṇḍika, each coming with five hundred people; the Chinese Sarvāstivāda Vinaya also lists Moggallāna, Anuruddha and others.
More differences between accounts (2)
The points of discernment: eighteen in the Pali Vinaya, fourteen in the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya.
The later commentaries of the Southern tradition say these monks were shunned during the and came to Sāvatthī only after it ended.
Dating
Year 11 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged forty-five, before the rains retreat, immediately after the Buddha's return to Sāvatthī; inferred from the sequence of events, the year is uncertain.
Related Entries
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
Recorded in the sutras and Vinayas of several schools. 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: year uncertain.
Sources
- Pali Canon巴利律 Kd 10:5.1.4–5.14.14
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.882c
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.160b
- 大正藏大正藏 T23 no.1435 p.215c–216a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Dhp-a，§5
- 大正藏大正藏 T23 no.1435 p.216a