法苑珠林 12.28

12.28

Herein, it is broadly explained that there are four times of council. First, according to the two treatises, the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra and the Vajraṛṣi-śāstra: The Tathāgata, outside this Cakravāḍa iron mountain range, together with Mañjuśrī and the Buddhas of the ten directions, compiled the Mahāyāna Dharma repository. Second, according to the Bodhisattva Garbhastha Sūtra and the Dharmaguptaka-vinaya, etc.: When the Tathāgata had first entered nirvāṇa and a mere seven days had passed, Mahākāśyapa, together with five hundred arhats, sent [messengers] to the worlds of the ten directions and summoned an assembly of eight billion and eight thousand to compile the Tripiṭaka together. Third, according to the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra: After the Tathāgata entered nirvāṇa, arriving at the first fifteenth day of the summer retreat, Mahākāśyapa, together with one thousand arhats, compiled the Tripiṭaka in the city of Rājagṛha. Fourth, according to the Dharmaguptaka-vinaya: Within one hundred years after the Tathāgata entered nirvāṇa, because the Vṛjiputra monks practiced the ten points, Mahākāśyapa [i.e., the elders] together with seven hundred arhats compiled the Tripiṭaka in the city of Vaiśālī. These four successive tiers are listed below according to the scriptures, so that future sages will not harbor remaining doubts.