Mahāpajāpatī, reflecting that she could not bear to see the Buddha and Ānanda pass away, asks the Buddha's permission to pass away first, and the Buddha consents by silence. After displaying supernormal powers, Mahāpajāpatī and five hundred nuns enter the meditative absorptions in sequence and pass away. The Buddha and the great disciples themselves lift her bier and perform her cremation and funeral honours. Pali Canon
More sources (1)
Different Accounts
Timing: the Chinese Ekottarika Āgama says it was after the Buddha announced that he would pass away “in no more than three months”; the Therī-apadāna of the Southern tradition and the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya give no year.
More differences between accounts (3)
Place: the Therī-apadāna of the Southern tradition has the Hall with the Peaked Roof in the Great Wood at Vesālī; the Chinese Ekottarika Āgama has the Universal Assembly Hall at Vesālī; the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya has the Many-Rooted Tree Park at the city of Jiebiluo (that is, Kapilavatthu).
Age: the Therī-apadāna of the Southern tradition and the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya both say Mahāpajāpatī was one hundred and twenty; the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya adds that she showed no sign of age, like a girl of sixteen. Taishō Canon
Order: the Therī-apadāna of the Southern tradition says Mahāpajāpatī passed away before Yasodharā; if, following the Chinese Ekottarika Āgama, it is placed in Year 45 after the Awakening, this conflicts with Yasodharā's estimated passing in Year 44, and the two accounts stand side by side.
Dating
There is no year shared between the texts, and no year is estimated here. According to the Chinese Ekottarika Āgama, it was within the three months after the Buddha announced his passing in Year 45 after the Awakening (the Buddha aged seventy-nine to eighty), overlapping with the Buddha's last journey; other sources say only that it was in the Buddha's last years, before his passing.
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
Recorded only in the Chinese Kṣudrakavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. Recorded by one school.
- Dating Evidence and Precision
Stated in the canonical text (the text itself gives the time). Time precision: year uncertain, month only.
Sources
- Pali Canon巴利 Thi-ap 17:1.1–6.4
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.125 p.821b–823b
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.125 p.822b
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.248a–249a
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.249a
- Pali Canon巴利 Thi-ap 28Entire text
- Pali Canon巴利 Thi-ap 17:97.1
- Pali Canon巴利 Thi-ap 17Entire text
- Pali Canon巴利 Thi-ap 17:1.1–1.4
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.248a
- 大正藏大正藏 T02 no.125 p.821c