While the Buddha is staying on Mount Cāliya, his attendant Meghiya goes to the village for alms, sees a delightful mango grove by the river, and asks leave to go and practise there; the Buddha twice asks him to wait, saying that for now he has no one else with him, and agrees only at the third request. In the grove Meghiya is constantly beset by thoughts of desire, ill will and harming others, and has to come back and report to the Buddha. The Buddha tells him that while the mind is not yet mature he can rely on five things: good companions in practice, keeping the precepts, hearing talk conducive to practice, energy, and wisdom; and that he should cultivate contemplation of the unattractiveness of the body, loving-kindness, mindfulness of breathing and contemplation of impermanence. Pali Canon
More sources (1)
Different Accounts
Place: the Udāna and the Aṅguttara Nikāya of the Southern tradition have Mount Cāliya; the Mixi jing (Discourse to Meghiya) in the Chinese Madhyama Āgama has a cave in the mango grove at the village of Shedou in Magadha. Taishō Canon
More differences between accounts (2)
The later commentaries of the Southern tradition give two explanations of the name “Cālikā”: one that the marshes around the city gates shake, the other that the city was built beside a road that shakes.
The later commentary on the Aṅguttara Nikāya of the Southern tradition places the Meghiya episode immediately before the choosing of Ānanda as permanent attendant: only after going to the village with Meghiya did the Buddha go to Sāvatthī to choose an attendant.
Dating
Year uncertain. Possibly Year 13 after the Awakening (the Buddha aged forty-seven), Year 18 (aged fifty-two) or Year 19 (aged fifty-three). The canonical texts give no year; the three years are derived only because the place, Mount Cāliya, corresponds to these three rains retreats recorded in the later commentaries. The later commentaries also say Meghiya was one of the attendants of the first twenty years after the Awakening, and all three years fall within that period, so the range cannot be narrowed further.
Related Entries
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
Recorded by two schools, the Pali canon of the Southern tradition and the Chinese Madhyama Āgama. Recorded by two schools.
- Dating Evidence and Precision
Commentarial dating (the canonical texts give no date; later commentaries record it); inferred from the rains-retreat location (inferred from the place of that year's ). Time precision: year uncertain.
Sources
- Pali Canon巴利 Ud 4.1:1.1–1.4
- Pali Canon巴利 AN 9.3:1.1–1.3
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.26 p.491a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Ud-a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 AN-a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Ud-a，§31