The Date of the Buddha's Parinirvāṇa (1)
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
When considering the date of the Buddha’s Parinirvāṇa, it is often useful to start with the date of King Aśoka’s coronation. Then, we may add that year to the number of years between King Aśoka’s accession and the Buddha’s Parinirvāṇa, which occurred earlier in history. The relationship between the two dates has already been examined, and will be examined further in the next paper. Therefore, we can start by examining the date of king Aśoka’s coronation.
The result of an analysis completed by Nakamura Hajime affirms 268 B.C. to be the year of King Aśoka’s ascension to the throne, a theory that has been widely accepted by Buddhist scholars. This conclusion is based on Hajime’s supposition that King Candragupta ascended to the throne in 317 B.C. The total number of reigning years for both King Candragupta and King Bindusara was then added to the year 317 B.C. This information was drawn from the Purāṇa’s text, indicating a total of 49 years (317 B.C. + 49 years = 268 B.C.).
A review of the Purāṇa’s text shows that it is highly inconsistent and self-contradictory. Therefore, it can be said that this information is highly unreliable. The results of Nakamura’s theory are based on potentially flawed information. However, a new perspective can be gained from Aśoka’s Rock Edict XIII, which mentions the names of five Greek Kings and the years of their respective reigns.
This paper determines the year when King Aśoka ascended to the throne, calculated with reference to three important points:
- The reigning years of the five Greek kings whose names appear in the Aśoka’s Rock Edict XIII.
- The year of King Candragupta’s accession to the throne.
- The number of years from King Candragupta’s accession, to that of King Aśoka, recorded as 56 years in the chronicle texts of Ceylon.
Thus, it was concluded that King Aśoka ascended to the throne in 267 B.C. The number of years between King Aśoka’s accession to the throne and the Buddha’s Parinirvāṇa will be discussed in the next paper.
Article Details
ลิขสิทธิ์ สำนักการศึกษา วัดพระธรรมกาย
References
BARUA, Benimadhab. 1947. “The Year of Commencement of the Buddha Era.” University of Ceylon Review 5-2: 62-68.
BELOCH, Karl Julius. 1927. Griechische Geschichte IV. 2nd ed. Berlin und Leipzig.
BECHERT, Heinz. 1995. “Introductory Essay: The Dates of the Historical Buddha――a Controversial Issue.” When did the Buddha Live?: The controversy on the Dating of the Historical Buddha (Selected Papers Based on a Symposium Held under the Auspices of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen): 11-36, edited by Heinz Bechert. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications.
BECHERT, Heinz. 1995a. “The Dates of the Buddha and the Origin and Spread of the Theravāda Chronology.” When did the Buddha Live?: The controversy on the Dating of the Historical Buddha (Selected Papers Based on a Symposium Held under the Auspices of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen): 253-286, edited by Heinz Bechert. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications.
CHARPENTIER, Jarl. 1931. "Antiochus, King of the Yavanas." Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies 6-2: 303-321.
HULTZSCH, Eugen. 1925. Inscriptions of Asoka: Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum vol. 1. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
MCCRINDLE, John Watson. 1896. The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great. 2nd ed. Westminster: Archibald Constable.
NAKAMURA, Hajime (中村元). 1955. "Ma'uriya-ōchō-no-nendai-ni-tsuite マウリヤ王朝の年代について (On the Dates of the Mauryan Dynasty)." 東方学Tōhōgaku 10: 1-16(R).
NAKAMURA, Hajime (中村元). 1997. "Fuhen-ni:mauriya-ōchō-narabini-gōtama-budda-no-nendai -nitsuite 付編二: マウリヤ王朝ならびにゴータマ・ブッダの年代について(ภาคผนวก 2 สมัยพุทธกาลและราชวงศ์โมริยะ)." Indoshi vol. 2 Nakamura-hajime-senshū インド史Ⅱ ⋅ 中村元選集 #6 (ประวัติศาสตร์อินเดีย เล่มที่ 2 - รวมผลงานเขียน นากามูระ ฮาจิเมะ ลำดับที่ 6): 581- 619. Tokyo: Shunjūsha.
PARGITER, Frederick Eden. 1913. The Purāṇa Text of the Dynasties of the Kali Age: With Introduction and Notes. London: Humphrey Milford Oxford University Press.
PLUTARCH. 1949. Plutarch’s Lives VII: Demosthenes and Cicero, Alexander and Caesar; with an English Translation by Bernadotte Perrin, The Loeb Classical Library 99. London: William Heinemann Ltd.; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
RAYCHAUDHURI, Hemchandra. 1953. Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty. Calcutta: University of Calcutta.
RHYS DAVIDS, Thomas William. 1993. Buddhist India. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass (first printed. 1903).
TSUKAMOTO, Keishō (塚本啓祥). 1980. Shoki-bukkyō-kyōdan-no-kenkyū 初期仏教教団史の研究 - 部派の形成に関する文化史的考察 (A History of the Early Buddhist order: A Historical Study on the Formation of the Indian Buddhist Schools). 2nd ed. Tokyo: Sankibōbusshorin.
UI, Hakuju (宇井伯寿). 1925. "Butsumetsu-nendairon仏滅年代論 (การศึกษาปีแห่งพุทธปรินิพพาน)." Indo-tetsugaku-kenkyū 印度哲学研究 2 (งานวิจัยปรัชญาอินเดีย เล่มที่ 2): 3-111. Tokyo: Iwanamishoten.
YAMAZAKI, Gen'ichi (山崎元一). 1989. "Butsumetsu-nendai-shinpojiumu-ni-sanka-shite 1988 nen 4 katsu 11 nichi nishidoitsu, gettingen仏滅年代シンポジウムに参加して ― 1988年4月11日―18日 西ドイツ，ゲッティンゲン(Participating in the Symposium on the Date of the Historical Buddha and the Importance of Its Determination for Historiography and World History) ." Tōhōgaku東方学77: 167-176.