Mahākhandhako The Great Chapter - Ancient Buddhist Texts

11
new to the teaching, that he doesn’t know much, but he recites a verse which was
enough for Sāriputta to attain to the first stage of Sainthood (Sotāpatti). 17
This Assaji is normally identified with the Assaji who was one of the group-of-five
monks. I question this though, as Assaji characterises himself as one who was new to
the teaching and not long gone forth. But the group-of-five Assaji was hardly new to
the Sāsana, indeed he stands right at the source. He had also heard some of the most
important teachings that the Buddha had given, and had attained full liberation.
There is also no record of any of the monks from the Bāṇārasī period following the
Buddha over from Kāsī to Magadha. Assaji must have been a common name at the
time and given the weight of the evidence I am inclined to believe that the Assaji
Sāriputta met was not the same as the one in the group-of-five, but was as he
characterised himself, one newly gone forth.
In any case on the strength of this encounter Sāriputta does see the Deathless and
tells his friend Moggallāna about it, and they both leave Sañjaya, together with
another 250 of his followers, and join the Buddha and become his chief disciples.
This causes something of an uproar around the capital as many of their finest young
men are going-forth. But the Buddha teaches a verse to the monks that convinces his
critics that he is teaching true Dhamma and the uproar dies down. It is at this point
in the text that the narrative ends.
Comparison with other Texts
In preparing this text and translation of the Great Chapter I have made a careful
comparison with other records of the same events, both in the Canon and the
commentaries, together with texts like the Mahāvastu and Lalitavistara, which belong
to other sects, so as to compare and supplement the information given in the text
itself.
This has involved making a number of other translations that are parallel to this text,
and which are now published elsewhere on the website, and which can be read in
their own right as well as supplementary to the present work:
Uruvilvāto Ṛṣipatanaṁ Gamanaṁ - The Journey from Uruvilvā to Ṛṣipatana
(from Mahāvastu pp. 322-329)
Dharmacakrapravartanasūtram - The Discourse that Set the Dharma-Wheel
Rolling (from Lalitavistara)
Utpadyananirudhyanasūtram - The Discourse on Arising and Ceasing (The
Fourth Discourse of the Buddha) (Mahāvastu pp. 443-9)
17 This verse became very famous later and is found in inscriptions all over India and Asia.