Devadatta considers whom he should first win over; thinking that Prince Ajātasattu is young and has a bright future, he turns himself into a child with a snake wound about its waist, appears on the prince's lap, and then resumes the form of a monastic. The prince is delighted, and goes to attend on him morning and evening every day with five hundred carriages, offering five hundred pots of food. The Buddha tells the that with these offerings Devadatta's wholesome practice can only decline, just as the plantain, the bamboo and the reed are destroyed by bearing their own fruit. This event is found in the of three schools. Taishō Canon
Pali Canon
More sources (1)
Different Accounts
The Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya has a different order: it first records that Devadatta lost his supernormal powers through greed for offerings and envy, then that he asked the Buddha to hand the Sangha over to him, and only after that that he incited Ajātasattu to kill his father.
More differences between accounts (2)
The Chinese Sarvāstivāda Vinaya says that for twelve years after his going forth Devadatta practised with a good heart, and only then turned to evil; the Pali Vinaya has no such number of years. Taishō Canon
The Saṅghabhedavastu of the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya gives Devadatta's motive as: when the king dies the crown prince will become king, so he should be won over first.
Dating
Around Year 38 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged seventy-two; the canonical texts say only that it was in the Buddha's later years, before the demand to take over the Sangha. It is placed here around Year 38 on the basis of the year of Ajātasattu's accession, the alternative reckoning being Year 37 (the Buddha aged seventy-one); the season is unknown, as is whether it was before or after the ; inferred from the sequence of events, the year is not certain.
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
Recorded by three schools: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition, the Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (Sifen lü) and the Chinese Sarvāstivāda Vinaya (Shisong lü). Attested across multiple schools.
- Dating Evidence and Precision
Inferred from the sequence of events (neither the canonical texts nor the commentaries give the time; the year is worked out from the order of this event and those around it); converted from the Buddha's age (reckoned from the Buddha's age). Time precision: year uncertain.