ཕག་མའ་རྟགས་པ་བརྗད་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་མད notes.21

notes.21

21. The Sanskrit text as preserved in the Divyāvadāna collection does not have this introduction (nidāna) which states the location of the teaching. It also lacks the following sentence that describes the Buddha addressing the monks, and it immediately begins, without the vocative “Monks,” with the listing of the five portents as being “in the nature of things” (dharmatā). Dharmadeva’s Chinese translation does contain the nidāna component in which the location is set at Śrāvastī, but like the Sanskrit, it lacks the following narrative phrase, which makes it seem as though it is the narrator, the venerable Ānanda, who lists the five portents and who relates the events and the subsequent dialogue between Śakra and the Buddha.