Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c14.2

v1.c14.2

There is a traditional account of the *vassas* spent by Buddha at different places. On the basis of this account Prof. Kern and Dr. Thomas have furnished us with an account of the spread of Buddhism.¹ It appears to my mind to be far from satisfactory, and so in this chapter I propose to bring together the facts scattered in the *Nikāyas*, which throw light on the propagation of Buddhism during the period of Buddha's ministration. On scanning the names of places in the *Nikāyas*, it appears that Sāvatthi was the scene of the largest number of discourses, the next place in importance being Rājagaha. Vesāli and Kapilavatthu may be counted as the third and fourth localities of importance though the number of discourses delivered at these places is comparatively much less. At the other centres very few discourses have been delivered. Another noteworthy feature that may be noticed in this connection is that the discourses delivered at Rājagaha and other centres of Magadha have in view mainly the followers of non-brāhmanical sects, the paribbājakas, and the members of the order but very rarely the brāhmaṇas while the discourses delivered at Sāvatthi and other centres within Kosala were meant more for the brāhmaṇas than for the non-brāhmaṇas. This will be apparent as we proceed with the story of conversions made at each of the various centres.