According to the later commentaries, from Year 21 after the Awakening the Buddha made the Jeta Grove (the park donated by Anāthapiṇḍika) and Migāramātā's Mansion in the Eastern Park (the hall built by the lady Visākhā) at Sāvatthī his fixed places for the ; the 44th rains retreat also belongs to this period, and it is not stated at which of the two he stayed. Which discourses were given during this retreat, neither the canonical texts nor the commentaries state; discourses given at Sāvatthī without a recorded year can only be assigned to the period Years 21 to 44 after the Awakening. This event is found only in the later commentaries and the Chinese Sengqieluocha suoji jing.
Different Accounts
On how the two places were used, the later commentaries give three accounts: going back and forth, at one place by day and the other by night; alternating a year at the Jeta Grove and a year at the Eastern Park; or nineteen years at the Jeta Grove and six at the Eastern Park.
More differences between accounts (3)
Number of rains retreats: the later commentaries, taken literally, count everything after Year 21 at Sāvatthī, the final year included, and some commentaries say he stayed twenty-five years at Sāvatthī, as do the later Sri Lankan verse biographies of the Buddha; the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta of the , however, records the final year at Beluva village, so Years 21 to 44 are counted here as at Sāvatthī, 24 in all.
The Chinese Sengqieluocha suoji jing says the Buddha kept nineteen consecutive rains retreats in the country of Sāvatthī, “going nowhere else”: on one reading these are Years 26 to 44, and this year is in the country of Sāvatthī; on another reading the total is counted as 44, the nineteen years are Years 25 to 43, and this year is the last rains retreat, at the village of Pijiang in Vajji (that is, the Vajjian country). Taishō Canon
A modern online table of rains retreats places Year 44 at Beluva village and Year 45 at Kusinārā, which does not agree with the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta of the Southern tradition.
Dating
Year 44 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged seventy-eight, during the rains retreat; that “from Year 21 he kept the rains retreat at Sāvatthī” is given by the later commentaries, the number 44 for this year is inferred from the sequence, and the Buddha's age is likewise reckoned from an awakening at thirty-five; it is known only to fall roughly in this year, and the year is not 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
- 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，PTS 2.165
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Dhp-a，VRI 1.4
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.194 p.144b
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 DN-a，§111
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 DN-a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 MN-a，§390
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 MN-a
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:2.22.3
- 轉引自現代整理本轉引自現代整理本
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Jinacarita
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 《Jinavaṃsadīpanī》