俱舍論疏 1.4

1.4

2. As for determining the day of the dharmacakrapravartana: In the various sūtras and treatises it is always stated, 'In the Mṛgadāva of Vārāṇasī, he turned the dharmacakra of the catvāri āryasatyāni for the pañcaka bhikṣavaḥ.' The number of days accounted for in intermediate events varies, yet those which do not explicitly specify the names of the month and day of preaching the Dharma cannot be solely relied upon. Only the Vibhāṣā and the Vinaya commentary explicitly specify the month and day of preaching the Dharma, and one should rely upon these texts. The Vibhāṣā, fascicle 183, says: 'On the eighth day of the bright half of the month of Kārttika, the Buddha delivered Ājñātakauṇḍinya.' Kārttika corresponds to the eighth month of this land. The Vibhāṣā, fascicle 136, says: 'On the eighth day of the bright half of the month of Kārttika, day and night are equal; on the ninth day, the night increases by one lava.' Although the characters jie and jia differ, the word is the same. Thus we know that it was definitely the eighth day of the eighth month. Furthermore, the Vinaya commentary says: 'The Buddha and the pañcaka bhikṣavaḥ began the earlier varṣā on the sixteenth day of the fourth month, and during the single summer retreat they did not attain the noble fruit. Past the summer, on the eighth day of the eighth month, Kauṇḍinya suddenly perceived the Dharma.' The reasoning of these two treatises is extremely clear; since other texts are not clear, they cannot be taken as standard. Therefore, we know that the dharmacakrapravartana definitely took place on the eighth day of the eighth month. Although there are two different explanations of the Buddha's abhisambodhi day—either the eighth day of the second month or the eighth day of the fourth month—no sūtra or treatise says that the dharmacakrapravartana occurred in the second or fourth month; therefore we know it was not after three weeks. Nor is there any text saying it was in the third, fourth, fifth, or sixth month; therefore we know that the dharmacakrapravartana was not after six weeks, seven weeks, eight weeks, or fifty-seven days.