Suttas in a chronological order?

[Aminah]

Cool. Just to note, at some (reasonably soon-ish ) point Ajahn Brahmali’s new translation of this text (and the rest of the Vinaya) will be updated on SuttaCentral (some may find I.B. Horner’s 1938-51 translation a bit archaic).

[dhammadharo]

Nice, I was going to ask how Ajahn Brahmali relied on Horner. Both are listed on the text…

[Aminah]

Yes. For a precise answer you’d need to ask Ajahn Brahmali himself, but to the best of my understanding this is Horner’s translation, cleaned up a little bit by Ajahn.

[dhammadharo]

OK… interesting how this is found in the Vinaya of all places…

[Aminah]

You may or may not find this of interest:

Frauwallner’s “Earliest Vinaya”: a scanned pdf to download

Here’s a scanned copy of Frauwallner’s classic study of the Vinaya Skandhaka texts. It is a landmark work in modern academic scholarship of the Vinaya, but is almost unavailable outside a few University libraries. I made a scanned copy a few years ago. In the last little while I’ve learned how to do OCR on a pdf, so I’ve made a searchable version for my own use. I thought some others might find it handy. If you’re interested in the history of the early community and the evolution of the early …

[sujato]

@Piotr

Bhikkhu Nanamoli made this sort of attempt in his “The Life of the Buddha: According to the Pali Canon”.

This is I think still the best source for a chronology, so far as it can be established. Note, however, that it gives the chronology of the events rather than the texts. The Buddha’s birth story, for example, was obviously spoken some time after the event itself! It also omits some things, notably the Attadaṇḍa Sutta (Snp 4.15).

[sam-sg]

Was studying MN90 this morning when I came across this interesting conversation where the Ven. Ānanda, the Buddha, King Pasenadi, and the king’s son, General Vidudabha participate. After a conversation between Ānanda and Gen. Vidudabha, the king asks in sec 15.1:

Then the king said to the Buddha, “Sir, what is this mendicant’s name?”

“Ānanda, great king.”

“A joy he is, and a joy he seems! What Venerable Ānanda says seems reasonable."

This is very interesting, because it sounds like this is the first time King Pasenadi meets Ānanda, i.e., the event would have occurred quite early during the Buddha’s teaching life after his awakening.

However, Ven. Nyanamoli’s work (BP101S, The Life of the Buddha) puts this passage after the “middle period” in chapter 11 which covers an uncertain period, the chapter itself being presented in the book after the chapter where the Buddha is already 55 years old. I’m unable to find any more chronological details around MN90, and am curious whether anyone else has looked into this.

[Snowbird]

@sam-sg

because it sounds like this is the first time King Pasenadi meets Ānanda

I don’t have any real basis for this, but I have always assumed this was just how kings behaved. Like it is kind of a rhetorical question to provoke a formal response. As if it was appropriate to have some kind of formal introduction even when he already knew the person. But like I said, it’s just my idea.

[NgXinZhao]

Commentary to dhammapada stories have something about visākhā which I find really streches the limit of the 45 years of Buddha’s teaching.

When visākhā was a kid, her grandfather invited the Buddha and got her to become a stream winner. Later, she got married, and her 20 kids each has 20 kids whom each has 20 kids. So as a great grandma, she donated her monastery to the Buddha as well. Let’s say 8 years from Buddha arrival to marriage and counting first kids, grandkids, using age 16 as marriage age, age 17 as age of giving birth, we get from Buddha’s first meeting with her to the acceptance of her monastery to be:

8 + 17 + 17 = 42 years.

[kalestorm]

There are many possibilities. For example, the king could meet Ānanda before, but didn’t know his name. One situation could be that Ānanda was not formally introduced to the king before.

It also could be just some rhetoric statements the Sutta used.