A wealthy merchant of Rājagaha hangs a bowl made of sandalwood (a fragrant wood) on top of a bamboo pole and says that anyone with may come and take it; the Buddha's disciple Piṇḍola rises into the air, takes the bowl, and flies three times around Rājagaha. The Buddha rebukes him and lays down a rule that monastics may not display supernormal powers before lay people, and has him break the bowl and grind it into eye ointment. The later commentaries of the go on to say that the non-Buddhists, supposing that the Buddha himself could not display supernormal powers either, challenged him to a contest; the Buddha told King Bimbisāra that the rule bound only his disciples and not himself, and undertook to display supernormal powers at Sāvatthī four months later. Pali Canon
Different Accounts
The owner of the bowl and the place: the and the later commentaries have a wealthy merchant of Rājagaha; the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya has a Licchavi of Vesālī; the Chinese Sarvāstivāda Vinaya has the householder Shuti.
More differences between accounts (2)
The penalty: the Pali Vinaya and the Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya have him break the bowl and make eye ointment to distribute among the monastics; the Chinese Sarvāstivāda Vinaya says Piṇḍola was banished for life from Jambudīpa (the human world) and had to go to Goyāniya (another of the legendary great continents).
The Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya says the non-Buddhists first demanded a contest of supernormal powers at Rājagaha, and the Buddha passed in turn through Ujjenī (a city of ancient India) and Kapilavatthu before finally reaching Sāvatthī.
Dating
Year 7 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged forty-one, before the ; the later commentaries say the Buddha undertook to display supernormal powers “four months later”, so it is placed four months before the Twin Miracle; the year is uncertain.
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
Recorded by four schools: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition, the Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (Sifen lü), the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya (Wufen 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). Time precision: year uncertain.
Sources
- Pali Canon巴利律 Kd 15:8.1.17–8.2.12
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Dhp-a
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.946c
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.170a
- 大正藏大正藏 T23 no.1435 p.268c–269a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Snp-a，§962
- 大正藏大正藏 T23 no.1435 p.269a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Dhp-a，§180
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.947a–948c