This year the Buddha again keeps the at Sāvatthī. According to the later commentaries, because of the merit of the two households of Anāthapiṇḍika and the lady Visākhā (the female devotee who built Migāramātā's Mansion in the Eastern Park), the Buddha wanders everywhere outside the rainy season and during the rains retreat stays only at the two fixed places, the Jetavana and Migāramātā's Mansion in the Eastern Park. The discourses given during this year's retreat carry no year, and there is no record of anyone converted.
Different Accounts
How the two places were divided during the rains retreat is told differently by the later commentaries: going back and forth between the two by day and by night each day; alternating year by year between the Jetavana and the Eastern Park; or nineteen years at the Jetavana and six at the Eastern Park in all.
More differences between accounts (2)
One reading of the Chinese Sengqieluocha suoji jing places this year's retreat in the realm of spirits, the second of four successive retreats there; another reading counts Years 21 to 24 as four successive retreats in the realm of spirits on Mount Zheli (the name of a mountain), this year among them. Taishō Canon
The total number of rains retreats the Buddha kept at Sāvatthī is given by the later commentaries as twenty-five; the arrangement here and modern scholarly reconstructions make it twenty-four.
Dating
Year 23 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged fifty-seven, during the rains retreat; that “in his later years the Buddha resided permanently at Sāvatthī” is given by the later commentaries, and the number 23 is inferred from the sequence of events (worked out from the order of the retreats), so only the year is known, and the place of this year's retreat is itself not entirely certain.
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 AN-a，§37，VRI 2.31、緬甸版 2.31
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Bv-a，序分
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Bv-a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 MN-a，§272，VRI 2.69、PTS 2.165
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 DN-a，§111，PTS 3.860
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 MN-a，§390，PTS 2.297
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Dhp-a，§1，VRI 1.4
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.194 p.144b
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 AN-a，§37
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 DN-a，§111
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 MN-a，§390
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Dhp-a，§1
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 MN-a，§272