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	{{EarlyBuddhism}}
	The '''First Buddhist council''' was convened in the year following the Buddha's ] (death),<ref name="32lbud"></ref> which is 543–542 BCE according to ] tradition, at various earlier dates according to certain ] traditions, and various later dates according to certain Western estimates.<ref>Gombrich, Richard (1988/2002). ''Theravada Buddhism''. London: Routledge. Gombrich, p. 32, writes: "The Buddhist era begins at the Buddha's Enlightenment. Modern Theravadins date this in 544/3 BCE, but this tradition is of uncertain antiquity.... he best we can say is that he was probably Enlightened between 550 and 450 , more likely later rather than earlier."</ref>

	==Dating the council==
	According to late commentarial accounts, ] sponsored the council. Tradition holds that on the full moon day of ] lunar month the Council was held in a hall erected by Ajātasattu outside ] in ], three months after ] had died. Detailed accounts of the council can be found in the ] sections of the canonical ]s. Other sources state that the Buddha died 218 years before the coronation of ] in 269 BCE, so by this definition, the Buddha died in 483 BCE, which matches the reign of Ajātasattu.

	According to this record, the incident which prompted ] to call this meeting was his hearing a disparaging remark about the strict rule of life for monks. The monk Subhadda, who had ordained late in life, upon hearing that the Buddha had expired, voiced his resentment at having to abide by all the rules for monks laid down by the Buddha. Many monks lamented the passing of the Buddha and were deeply grieved but Subhadda spoke up to show happiness and relief that Buddha was gone.
	{{quote\|And Subhadda, the late-received one, said to the Bhikkhus: "Enough, Sirs! Weep not, neither lament! We are well rid of the great Samana. We used to be annoyed by being told, 'This beseems you, this beseems you not.' But now we shall be able to do whatever we like; and what we do not like, that we shall not have to do."<ref name="khandhaka"></ref>}}
	Mahakassapa was alarmed by his remark and feared that the ] and ] might be corrupted and not survive intact if other monks were to behave like Subhadda and interpret the Dhamma and the Vinaya rules as they pleased. To avoid this he decided that the Dhamma must be preserved and protected. To this end after gaining the ]'s approval he called to council five hundred ]s.<ref name="khandhaka"/> ] was to be included in this provided he attained the state of the arahant by the time the council convened.<ref name="lakdiva"></ref>

	] in ], where the First Buddhist Council may have been held.]]
	With the Mahākassapa presiding, the five hundred arahant monks met in council during ]. The first thing Mahākassapa did was to question the foremost expert on the Vinaya of the day, ], on particulars of the ]. Mahākassapa asked him specifically about the ruling on the first ], with regard to the subject, the occasion, the individual introduced, the proclamation, the repetition of the proclamation, the offense and the case of non-offense. Upali gave knowledgeable and adequate answers and his remarks met with the unanimous approval of the presiding ]. Thus, the Vinaya was formally approved.

	The Mahākassapa then turned his attention to Ananda in virtue of his reputable expertise in all matters connected with the Dhamma. The night before the Council was to meet, Ananda had attained Arahantship and joined the Council.<ref name="32lbud"/><ref name="lakdiva"/> Mahākassapa was able to question him at length about the Dhamma with specific reference to the Buddha's sermons. This interrogation on the Dhamma sought to verify the place where all the discourses were first preached and the person to whom they had been addressed.

	Ananda aided by his word-perfect memory was able to answer accurately and so the Discourses met with the unanimous approval of the Sangha. The First Council also gave its official seal of approval for the closure of the chapter on the minor and lesser rules, and approval for their observance. It took the monks seven months to recite the whole of the Vinaya and the Dhamma and those monks sufficiently endowed with good memories retained all that had been recited. This historic first council came to be known as the Pancasatika because five hundred fully enlightened Arahants had taken part in it.

	==See also==
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	==References==
	{{reflist}}

	==Bibliography==
	* Mukherjee, Biswadeb (1994). , Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal, pp. 452–473

	== External links ==
	*
	* BuddhaNet
	* The Illustrated History of Buddhism
	* The Monist

	{{Buddhism topics}}

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Latest revision as of 13:33, 6 July 2023

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