The table of rains retreats in the later commentaries records the Buddha's 16th at Āḷavī, and says the Buddha first tamed the yakkha Āḷavaka, bringing eighty-four thousand people to liberation, and only then kept the retreat here. What happened during the retreat is not recorded.
Different Accounts
The Chinese Sengqieluocha suoji jing has “returned to the country of Kapilavatthu” for this year, and does not record the yakkha Āḷavaka either. Taishō Canon
More differences between accounts (1)
The later Pali Buddha biographies and modern scholarly reconstructions write the name Āḷavī in different ways; some modern scholars write it as the Āḷavī .
Dating
Year 16 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged fifty, during the rains retreat; the year is given by the later commentaries, and only the year is known.
Related Entries
- Year
- Places
- People
- Discourses
Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
Not recorded in the early sutras and Vinayas of any school; found only in the commentaries or later Buddha biographies. Later addition.
- 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: year only.
Sources
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 AN-a，§37
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Bv-a
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.194 p.144b
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Jinacarita