This entry is not an event but a basis for reckoning years. The Sri Lankan chronicles, the Dīpavaṃsa and the Mahāvaṃsa, and the commentary on the Vinaya of the Southern tradition record that King Bimbisāra reigned fifty-two years, thirty-seven of them contemporary with the Buddha, and that Ajātasattu reigned thirty-two years, the Buddha passing away in the eighth year of his reign. On this basis Ajātasattu's accession is reckoned here as Year 38 after the Awakening, and many events of the Buddha's last years take it as their starting point.
Different Accounts
How Bimbisāra came to the throne: the Dīpavaṃsa says he succeeded on his father's death; the Mahāvaṃsa says his father himself performed his consecration.
More differences between accounts (2)
The regnal years recorded in the Chinese Shanjian lü piposha differ from those of the Southern tradition.
The other reckoning: if “passing away in the eighth year” is taken to mean after eight full years of the reign, Ajātasattu's accession becomes Year 37 after the Awakening.
Dating
The result of the conversion is Year 38 after the Awakening (the Buddha aged seventy-two). This is worked out from the regnal years in the chronicles; the canonical texts themselves do not say in which year after the Awakening Ajātasattu came to the throne.
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
Converted from the Buddha's age (worked out from the Buddha's age). Time precision: year only.
Sources
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 《大史》2.29
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Vin-a
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Sp-ṭ
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1462 p.687a