佛祖統紀 4.40

4.40

Preface: When Jīngxī discussed the compilation of the Three Baskets, there were three councils. The council of one thousand was precisely the very first (on the fifteenth day of the fourth month after the Buddha's passing). The council of seven hundred was one hundred years after his passing, when the Vṛji arbitrarily practiced the ten disputes (the thirty-fourth year of King Li of Zhou; see Treatise on the Prosperity and Decline). The council of five hundred was four hundred years later, on account of King Kaniṣka inviting the saṅgha to debate doctrine, resulting in disagreement (source not yet verified). However, the Fayuan zhulin and Elder Li's Helun both rely on the Garbhastha Sūtra in taking the council of five hundred to be seven days after his passing. Now, examining the root text, Kāśyapa's addressing the five hundred was precisely sending emissaries to assemble the assembly, not yet the formal compilation; therefore, one should take Jīngxī's discussion as correct.