The sub-commentary on the Vinaya commentary of the Southern tradition cites the commentator Dhammapāla: of the forty-five years in which the Buddha taught, the first fifteen were the first period. On this reckoning the middle fifteen years (Years 16 to 30 after the Awakening) are the middle period and the last fifteen (Years 31 to 45) the final period. The periodization here follows the view that the first period lasted twenty years; this three-period scheme is given only as supplementary reference.
Different Accounts
The length of the first period: the later commentary on the Aṅguttara Nikāya and the later commentary on the Buddhavaṃsa of the Southern tradition, among others, give twenty years; Dhammapāla gives fifteen.
More differences between accounts (1)
The later commentary on the Dhammapada of the Southern tradition uses this periodization, saying that Subhadda (the last disciple, converted on the night of the Buddha's passing) had no chance to see the Buddha in the first or the middle period and saw him only in the final period, at the time of his passing; another sub-commentary says that Devadatta's (the Buddha's cousin, later his opponent) splitting of the Sangha and the permission for the both fall in the final period.
Dating
This entry concerns periodization, not a single event. On the fifteen-year reckoning, the middle period is Years 16 to 30 after the Awakening (the Buddha aged fifty to sixty-four) and the final period Years 31 to 45 (aged sixty-five to eighty); on the twenty-year view, the commentaries do not say in which year the final period begins.
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
Commentarial dating (the canonical texts give no date; later commentaries record it); converted from the Buddha's age (reckoned from the Buddha's age). Time precision: year uncertain.
Sources
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Vin-ṭ，§19
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 SN-ṭ，§137，十五年說
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Dhp-a，§253
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Dhp-a，PTS 3.378
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 《Vajirabuddhi-ṭīkā》
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 AN-a，§37
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Bv-a，序分
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 SN-ṭ，§137