On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c20.83

v2.c20.83

The account here given by our pilgrim of the original formation of the Buddhist canon merits some attention. He agrees with Fa-hsien in giving as the place of Kaśyapa's Council a cave in the north side of the South Mountain (the Dakṣiṇa-giri or Dakkhiṇa-giri) to the north of Old Rājagaha. Fa-hsien calls the cave Ch'ê-ti (車帝),¹ which may be the Cha-ti (刹帝) of a Vinaya treatise, and perhaps for the Pali chetiya.² The account of the First Council given in the canon merely says it was held at Rājagaha. The Mahāvaṃsa makes the Council to have been held in the Sattapaṇṇi cave in the Vebhāra mountain;³ the "Sarvata Vinaya" and certain other treatises describe the Council as meeting in the Pippala Cave on the Gridhrakūṭa⁴ and this is probably the Nyagrodha cave of Rockhill's Tibetan authority;⁵ and other places are given in other works.