འཕགས་པ་བྲམ་ཟ་མ་དཔལ་ལྡན་མས་ཞས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད notes.1

notes.1

1. A peculiar feature of the setting is the inclusion of Ānanda in the opening narrative. Ānanda is generally believed to have only joined the Buddha’s community of followers in the second year after the Buddha’s awakening, yet the sermon at Deer Park took place only two months after this awakening. Therefore, the inclusion of Ānanda here seems to be an anomaly. This is confirmed by the fact that Ānanda is only included in the recensions of the sūtra found in Kangyurs of the Tshalpa line and is absent from those of the Themphangma line. In the latter, only the bodhisattva Ajita is described as accompanying the Buddha on the alms round.