After conferring with Kokālika and others, Devadatta asks the Buddha for five things: that monastics should live in the forest for life, live only on alms, wear only robes made of rags, sit only at the foot of trees, and eat no fish or meat; the Buddha does not consent. Devadatta announces abroad that the Buddha does not allow these five things, and on an he rises and distributes voting sticks for all to declare their position; five hundred newly ordained Vajjian monks from Vesālī take the sticks and follow him to Gayāsīsa, and the Sangha is thus split. The Buddha says that the retribution for splitting the Sangha is suffering for a kappa (an immensely long age), and answers Upāli on what counts as splitting the Sangha; this event is recorded by five schools. Pali Canon
More sources (1)
Different Accounts
The content of the five things: the Pali Vinaya as above; the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya has no salt, no ghee or milk, no fish or meat, and so on.
More differences between accounts (2)
Destination: the Pali Vinaya and the Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya have Gayāsīsa; the Chinese Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya has “set out towards the city of Gayā”.
Timing: the later Pali commentaries on the Vinaya say the split of the Sangha took place in the Buddha's later years; the tabulations of modern scholars give the Buddha's age as seventy-two.
Dating
Around Year 38 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged about seventy-two; the possible range is Years 38 to 45 after the Awakening, since it must fall after Ajātasattu's accession and while Sāriputta and Moggallāna were still alive (on the alternative reckoning of Ajātasattu's accession, Year 37 at the earliest). The canonical texts state that it was on an uposatha day but do not say in which year; the year is inferred from the sequence of events and is not certain.
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
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 Sarvāstivāda Vinaya (Shisong lü). Attested across multiple schools.
- 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, fixed to the day.
Sources
- Pali Canon巴利律 Kd 17:3.14.1–3.17.11
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.909b
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.164a–166c
- 大正藏大正藏 T23 no.1435 p.259b–262a
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1425 p.442c
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1450 p.201b–205b
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 《Vajirabuddhi-ṭīkā》
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.164a
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.909c
- 轉引自現代整理本轉引自現代整理本
- Pali Canon巴利律 Kd 17:3.16.15
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1425 p.281c–284c