After handing over the throne, King Bimbisāra is put to death by his son Ajātasattu; this event is recorded by five schools. The say that Ajātasattu, following Devadatta, shut his father in a smoke-house (a sealed room heated with smoke) and cut off his food, allowing only Queen Vedehī to visit; the queen hid food in her clothes, her hair-knot and her shoes, and later smeared honey on her body for the king to lick, but all of this was forbidden. The king kept himself alive by the bliss of walking slowly back and forth (walking meditation), so Ajātasattu ordered a barber to cut open the soles of his feet, rub in salt and oil, and roast them over charcoal. The king died recollecting the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, and was reborn as a in the retinue of Vessavaṇa, the Great King. Pali Canon
Different Accounts
Manner of death: the details of imprisonment, starvation and the cutting and roasting of the feet are found only in the later commentaries of the Southern tradition; the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya says only that Ajātasattu “took his father's life”; the Saṅghabhedavastu of the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya has the crown prince imprison the old king after his accession, with the queen bringing food every day.
More differences between accounts (2)
In the Sāmaññaphala Sutta of the Southern tradition and the Shamenguo jing of the Chinese Dīrgha Āgama, Ajātasattu admits with his own lips that he killed his father; the Chinese Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya also says Ajātasattu was deeply troubled after killing his father.
The Chinese Sarvāstivāda Vinaya uses “the death of King Pingsha (that is, Bimbisāra) and the accession of King Ajātasattu” as the temporal setting of a Vinaya case.
Dating
Conjecturally Year 38 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged seventy-two, inferred as the same year as the abdication; the canonical texts do not say how long passed between the abdication and the death, and the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya says only “not long after”. This is the result of inference from the sequence of events and from the Buddha's age; the season is unknown and the year is not certain.
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
The episode of “Bimbisāra dies at the hands of Ajātasattu” is recorded by five schools, the Pali canon of the Southern tradition, the Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (Sifen lü), the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya (Wufen lü), the Chinese Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya and the Chinese Saṅghabhedavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. Attested across multiple schools. Within it, “the smoke-house, starvation and cutting of the feet” is not found in the early sutras and Vinayas of any school.
- 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.
Sources
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 DN-a，§150
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 DN-a，PTS 1.136–1.137
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1450 p.189c
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.19b
- 大正藏大正藏 T23 no.1435 p.347b
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.798a
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 2:99.6
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.109b
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1425 p.329b
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.125 p.782b