Both the table of rains retreats in the later commentaries and the Chinese Sengqieluocha suoji jing record the Buddha's 17th at Rājagaha, and neither records what happened during it. Most discourses set at Rājagaha give no year; among them, ten sutras and rules state explicitly that the Buddha was keeping the rains retreat at Rājagaha: Madhyama Āgama 9, 27, 69, 89, 121 and 207, Saṃyukta Āgama 1212, Bieyi za ahan jing 228, sutra 10 of the “Equal Dhamma” chapter of the Chinese Ekottarika Āgama, and a rule for nuns in the Chinese Sarvāstivāda Vinaya (not to travel to another country without reason during the rainy season). The possible years of these ten are not limited to this year (Years 2 to 4 and Years 17 to 20, or Years 17 to 20), and they are listed below under “Stories that may belong to this year”. Taishō Canon
Different Accounts
The table of rains retreats writes only Rājagaha, without mentioning the Bamboo Grove (the Bamboo Grove monastery outside Rājagaha); modern scholarly reconstructions mostly write the Bamboo Grove.
More differences between accounts (1)
Another commentary on the Vinaya of the also has Rājagaha.
Dating
Year 17 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged fifty-one, 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