The First Sagha Council

A presentation by Dhammadsa Bhikkhu 13th December 2011

1. Mahvasa Ch III 2. Cullavagga Ch XI (Vin. II 283-292) 3. Samantapsdik Ch II (Vinaya Com.) 1. Mahthera Mahnma (MT. 687) ~500 CE 2. no name given, Ven. Upli? ~543 BCE 3. Buddhaghosa (Gv. 59) ~500 CE First I will give some background information regarding the First Council.
(also written Cavagga)

Pli Literature Chosen:

Who wrote/composed the works:

Buddhist Council
The English word council is used, but it is too general and does not convey the full meaning of the Pli words used. PTS Dictionary has for Sagti: (f.) [fr. sagyati; BSk. sagti] 1. a song, chorus, music 2. proclamation (cp. sagara), rehearsal, general convocation of the Buddhist clergy in order to settle questions of doctrine and to fix the text of the Scriptures 3. text rehearsed, recension

Buddhist Council
Sagti is used in more than 120 forms and more than 570 times in the Commentaries and Sub-commentaries, but in the Sutta-Piaka and Vinaya-Piaka its used: 6 times in Dghanikya 3 times in Apadna 1 time in Buddhavasa 2 times in Jtaka 1 time in Mahvagga, Vinaya 8 times in Cullavagga, Vinaya
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Buddhist Council
Another word Sagyan, is not in the PTS Dictionary, but there we do find Gyana (nt.) singing and sa or sam means together. It is used in more than 40 forms and more than 220 times in Com and Sub-com, but in the Sutta-Piaka and Vinaya-Piaka it is used:
26 times in Dghanikya 1 time in Itivuttaka 1 time in Mahvagga, Vinaya 11 times in Cullavagga, Vinaya 1 time in Prjika
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Purpose of the Councils

It is reported (D 29 and 33 = D III, 117 and 210) the founder of Jainism (Nigaha Ntaputta) passed away. His disciples had failed to collect his teachings and no agreement had been reached. So they were greatly divided and engaged in heated arguments as to what exactly their teacher had preached. It is said that, because of this, the Buddhas disciples realised the importance of reciting the teaching together.

Instruction from the Buddha

This instruction to hold recitations and do comparative analysis was given by the Buddha in the Psdika Sutta (D 29) before he passed away. It may have been partly in response to the Jain leaders death, or the Buddha may have thought of it independently.

(D III 127) All you to whom I have taught these truths (dhamm) that I have realised by super-knowledge (abhi) should come together and recite them, setting meaning by meaning and expression by expression (sagamma samgamma atthena attha byajanena byajana sagyitabba), without dissension, in order that this holy life may continue and be established for a long time, for the profit and happiness of the many.
After that, the text says the 37 Enlightenment Factors are the things to be chanted and compared.

Ven. Sriputtas Example

In the Sagti Sutta (D 33) Ven. Sriputta emphasised the instructions of the Buddha. He said:
(D III 211) But, friends, this Dhamma has been well proclaimed by the Lord, the Fully Enlightened One. And so we should all recite it together without disagreement, so that this holy life may be enduring and established for a long time, thus to be for the welfare and happiness of the multitude, out of compassion for the world, for the benefit, welfare and happiness of gods and humans. And what is this Dhamma that has been well proclaimed by the Lord... ?

Ven. Sriputta then goes on to list around 230 teachings. As we can see, the idea of comparing teachings is not mentioned. So, more teachings are given and comparing them is not mentioned.
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The Buddha Used This Method

The Buddha Used This Method

Early Disciples Used this Method

In M 44, Bhikkhun Dhammadinna compared the Noble Eightfold Path with the Three Trainings in this way:

Right View Wisdom Right Aspiration Right Speech Morality Right Action Right Livelihood Right Effort Right Mindfulness Concentration Right Concentration

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Compare Which Teachings?

The instruction from the Buddha only says to compare the 37 Enlightenment Factors, but Ven. Sriputta basically gave a list of ALL teachings. The Buddha applied the comparison to npnasati and Dhammadinna Bhikkhun applied it to the Three Trainings, but they both compare those teachings with teachings from the 37 Enlightenment Factors (4 FM, N8FP). So compare other (all) teachings with the 37 Enlightenment Factors, may be the intended meaning of the instruction from the Buddha.
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Summary of the Record of the 1st Council

Ven. Mah Kassapa was told by a naked ascetic that the Buddha passed away. He told his company of 500 monks and some grieved. So he reminded them that all conditioned things pass away. Ven. Subhadda said that there was no need to grieve, but to be happy, because now they could do what they liked. (1, 2) Ven. Mah Kassapa suggested to a group of elder monks to recite the Dhamma-Vinaya to protect it.

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Summary of the Record of the 1st Council

The monks suggested Ven. Mah Kassapa select the monks to participate. He chose 499 Arahantas. The monks suggested Ven. nanda too and he was added. The 500 chose Rjagaha as the place to meet and went there. The 500 chose the Rainy Season to meet and recite, so no monks would disturb them. The first month of the Rains they made repairs to buildings. At the end of the first month Ven. nanda attained Arahantship.

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Summary of the Record of the 1st Council

The second month they assembled to chant. Ven. Upli was questioned by Mah Kassapa about monks and nuns Vinayas, thus: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Where was the offence laid down? Regarding whom? On what subject? What was laid down? What was further laid down? What was and was not an offence?
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Summary of the Record of the 1st Council

(3) Ven. nanda was questioned by Mah Kassapa on the Dhamma (the Five Nikyas are mentioned), thus: 1. Where was the sutta spoken? 2. To whom?

After the questioning on Vinaya and Dhamma was finished, Ven. nanda informed the monks that the Buddha gave permission to the Order to abolish the lesser and minor rules if it wished.

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Summary of the Record of the 1st Council

(4) They asked Ven. nanda if he had asked which are the lesser and minor rules and he said he hadnt. (4) Some elders said only the Defeats were major and the rest were minor. Others said the first two groups were major and others minor etc. (5) Ven. Mah Kassapa suggested that they not abolish anything or establish anything new, as the laypeople could criticise them. The Order agreed.

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Summary of the Record of the 1st Council

(6) Ven. nanda was accused of five faults, though he didnt see them as faults, he confessed out of faith in the Elders. 1. Not asking what were the minor rules. 2. Stepping on the Buddhas robe. 3. Letting women honour the Buddhas body first and letting tears drop on it. 4. Not inviting the Buddha to stay longer. 5. Enabling the going forth for women.

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Summary of the Record of the 1st Council

Ven. Pura returned to Rjagaha from the hills with at least 500 monks after the recitation. He went to visit the Elder monks (7) The elder monks told him to submit to the chanting of the Dhamma Vinaya that they had just finished. He said he would remember the Dhamma and Vinaya just as he had heard it from the Buddha in person.

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Summary of the Record of the 1st Council

Ven. nanda informed the Elders that the Buddha said, after he has gone, the Order should enforce the higher penalty on Ven. Channa. (8) They asked him if he asked the Buddha what the higher penalty was and he said yes, it was Channa may say what he likes to the monks, but the Monk Channa must neither be spoken to, nor exhorted nor instructed by monks. The penalty was enforced. (9) This event was called the Vinaya chanting of the 500.

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Critically Analysing the Record

Nine problems can easily be seen with the record of the First Council as we have it now. 1. There is no recognition given to the Buddha (or Ven. Sriputta) for the idea of a council. It seems to be Ven. Mah Kassapas idea only. 2. The instruction from the Buddha to hold a council is not mentioned. 3. The method the Buddha mentioned in the instruction is not followed. 4. The monks do not ask Ven. Upli (the Vinaya expert) the Vinaya question about minor rules.
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Critically Analysing the Record

5. The monks choose not to follow the advice of the Buddha (the teacher) about the minor rules. 6. Ven. nanda was accused of faults, but he was an Arahanta. 7. The monks try to establish a central authority. 8. The monks didnt know the higher penalty. 9. The event was called a Vinaya chanting only.

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Critically Analysing the Record

Problems 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7 show disrespect to the Buddha. This cannot be the behaviour of Arahanta monks. Re Problem 4: Even Stream-Enterers are perfect in Morality, therefore, all Noble Ones will know clearly what are the major rules (covering morality) and minor rules (covering good habits). Even the Vinaya expert, did not understand what major and minor rules were. Today there is confusion over which rules cover Morality. It is defined in different ways.

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Critically Analysing the Record

We need a simple and practical way to define Morality. If the path is too complicated, we will not have faith to walk it. The simplest and most practical way to define Morality that I have found is in the Vinaya Mahvagga (V I 172). It is like this:
4 Defeats 13 Practices Requiring a Communal Meeting 2 Uncertain Offences 30 Offences of Presumption Requiring Forfeiture 92 Offences of Presumption 4 Offences Requiring Confession 75 Training Rules 7 Methods to S ettle Disputes 17 rules - falling from morality (sla-vipatti) 210 rules - falling from good habits (cravipatti)

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Critically Analysing the Record

Problems 1, 2 and 4 do not need any more explanation. Now I will look into problems 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.
Problem 3 is: The method the Buddha mentioned in the instruction to hold councils is not followed. The monks are meeting together, but they did not show any example of setting meaning by meaning and expression by expression. They only established the suttas location and the person spoken to. Also there is only question and answer between two people, there is no group recitation.

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Critically Analysing the Record

The methodology given by the Buddha had been applied by him in the npnasati Sutta, where he compared the 16 steps with the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. Another example of the methodology is given in M 44 Cavedalla Sutta, where Bhikkhun Dhammadinna compares the Three Trainings with the Noble Eightfold Path. This comparison was later followed by Bhadantcariya Buddhaghosa in his Visuddhimagga.

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Critically Analysing the Record

The Buddha said that meeting and applying this method, would be for the happiness and benefit of the many. When we examine setting meaning by meaning we are looking at the spirit of his teaching. When we examine setting expression by expression we are looking at the letter of his teaching.

(A I 178) He teaches Dhamma that is lovely in the beginning, lovely in the middle, lovely in the ending, both in letter and spirit; in all its fullness he preaches the divine life that is utterly pure. Well indeed for us if we could see Arahantas such as these.
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Critically Analysing the Record

(A I 70) Those mendicants who exclude both the letter and the spirit, by taking the discourses wrongly and interpreting according to the letter, such are responsible for the loss of many folk, for the discomfort of many folk, for the loss, discomfort and sorrow of devas and mankind. Moreover such mendicants make demerit and cause the disappearance of this true Dhamma. But those mendicants who, by taking the discourses rightly and interpreting according to the letter, conform to both letter and spirit, such are responsible for the profit, for the welfare of many folk, for the profit, the welfare, the happiness of devas and mankind. Moreover such mendicants make merit and establish this true Dhamma.
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Critically Analysing the Record

Problem 5: The monks choose not to follow the advice of the Buddha (the teacher) about the minor rules, but put their logic higher. In the suttas we have at least one other example of monks putting their logic above the advice of our teacher (the Buddha). It is M 70 the Kgiri Sutta. There the Buddha advised monks to give up eating (a third meal) in the evening, but they refused, giving a logical argument. The Buddha criticised them. The Klma Sutta (A I 188) teaches not to accept or reject anything just because of one's logical thinking or philosophy, but if it is praised by the wise, to test it and see whether it is true, in one's life, or not.

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Critically Analysing the Record

Problem 6: Ven. nanda was accused of faults as an Arahanta. The mentioned faults were supposed to have occurred before the First Council when he was not yet an Arahanta. Ven. nanda is still called to confess, even though he does not see them as faults. One is only supposed to confess faults that one sees. It seems strange that the monks of the Council ask him to confess faults he does not see. This request of the monks is the action of the Third Fetter and is more evidence that the monks of this Council were not Arahanta.

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Critically Analysing the Record

We see recorded at the end of the Council that Ven. nanda says to Ven. Channa that once he attained Arahantship the higher penalty automatically was revoked. This agrees with the quote in the suttas referring to any Noble One, because he has perfect morality:
Whatever minor, trifling observances he may transgress, he is cleared of them. He strictly observes the rudiments of the holy life. (A I 231)

But as Poussin points out (p16, 1976) according to Vinaya, they should still be confessed. If Ven. nanda was aware of committing faults before he was Arahanta, he certainly would have confessed them before the Council began. Usually monks do that.

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Critically Analysing the Record

Problem 7: The monks try to establish a central authority through the texts, which they controlled. We know from the Mahparinibbna Sutta that the Buddha would not establish a central authority to take over from him and we know from Vinaya that any local Sagha (community), of four monks or more, is the one to make decisions about that Sagha and by consensus (100% agreement). The story of Ven. Pura shows that there were Saghas that followed the first idea above from the Buddha, but it seems the Sagha of the First Council did not.

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Critically Analysing the Record

Problem 8: Louis De La Vallee Poussin (p14, 1976) has pointed out that the monks did not know what the higher penalty was. It can be found in the Mahparinibbna Sutta (D II 154). He said that Olenberg declared that the Vinaya does not know of it. So the Mahparinibbna Sutta was created after the Vinaya. There is another explanation. Since the details of the suttas were not given, only the location and the person spoken to, the Mahparinibbna Sutta may have been included in such a way. Because the assembly did not know of the details of the Mahparinibbna Sutta, it proves Ven. nanda did not recite the contents of it (or other suttas).

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Critically Analysing the Record

Problem 9: At the end of the text it says: Now because five hundred monksnot one more, not one less, were at this chanting of the discipline, this chanting of the discipline is in consequence called 'that of the Five Hundred. Poussin (p14) points out that since Ven. nandas work is not mentioned in the title, so it may be a later addition to try to give authority to a later system of ordering the suttas. Vinayas from some other sects also do not mention the sutta recitation. My own note is, Vinayas are arranged quite consistently throughout the various sects, but the suttas have much more variation.

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Critically Analysing the Record

There may be at least three problems with the record that are not so obvious. 1. The text does not call the event the First Council. 2. The instruction to the hold councils from the Buddha is to all of you whom I taught The Buddha taught the Four Assemblies: monks, nuns, lay men and women, but only the first assembly is part of the First Council record. This shows strong patriarchy, which is still a strong part of Brahmanism. 3. The Five Nikyas are mentioned, but it is unlikely they were formed so early, as Ven. Sujato has demonstrated in his thesis, A History of Mindfulness, 2011. There was an early classification called the 9 agas (M I 133).

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Critically Analysing the Record

Regarding the text not saying it is of the First Council: As mentioned above, the Sagti Sutta was given by Ven. Sriputta in response to the death of the founder of Jainism (Nigaha Ntaputta). In it Ven. Sriputta says that we should all recite the Dhamma the Lord taught together and goes on to list the Dhammas by number. This is the protoAguttaranikya and Abhidhamma. But the part of the instruction from the Buddha about comparing meaning with meaning (the spirit) and expression with expression (the letter) was not mentioned by Ven. Sriputta. This may be why that part of the advice was not followed in the First Council.

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Critically Analysing the Record

It is said that Ven. Sriputta passed away a few months before the Buddha. When we consider direct instruction from the Buddha and the situation of the passing of Nigaha Ntaputta, it seems very likely that other local Sagha councils (recitation and analysis) happened between the instruction of the Buddha, (the example set by Ven. Sriputta) and the First Council. I would suggest that recitation and analysis of the Dhamma became a regular and common occurrence very quickly after the passing of Nigaha Ntaputta. This could be related to the verse in the Magala Sutta: Klena dhamma-skacch etam-magalam-uttama. Timely discussion of the Dhamma, this is a higher fortune.

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Critically Analysing the Record

(A I 72-73) And what, mendicants, is the company trained in inquiry, not trained in bluster? Herein, mendicants, in whatever company the mendicants do not listen to those discourses spoken by disciples but listen to those spoken by the Accomplished One... and having mastered that teaching, question each other about it, open up discussion thus: "What is this (letter)? What is the meaning of this (spirit)?" - when such open up the unrevealed, explain the unexplained and dispel doubts on divers points of the teaching, such a company, mendicants, is called trained in inquiry, not in bluster. These are the two companies (those who listen to discourses of disciples or the Buddha and analyse them) and of these two, the latter has the pre-eminence.

The Buddha said this, while he was still alive. So there were monks following his instructions already.
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It is possible when the Pimokkha was about one third smaller (maybe around 150 rules A I 231) that the monks not only came together on Uposatha day for purpose of reciting the Vinaya, but also to recite, listen to and discuss Dhamma. Or maybe it was Vinaya one Uposatha and Dhamma the next Uposatha. M 118 the npnasati Sutta says:
On that occasion - the Uposatha day of the fifteenth, the full-moon night of the Komudi full moon of the fourth month - the Blessed One was seated in the open surrounded by the Sagha of bhikkhus. Then, surveying the silent Sagha of bhikkhus, he addressed them thus: "Bhikkhus, this assembly is free from prattle, this assembly is free from chatter. It consists purely of heartwood.

Critically Analysing the Record

And he taught them the npnasati Sutta, in which he applied the methodology. No mention of Pimokkha.
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Conclusion
It looks like there are some problems with the record of the First Sagha Council, as we have it now, in the Theravda Tradition. Comparisons with parallel texts from other early Buddhist schools may solve some of these problems. New texts from other early schools of Buddhism have been found in recent years. If it was only a recitation of Pimokkha: it was certainly not the first; maybe it was the first (Vinaya) council AFTER the Buddhas passing, not absolutely the first council. In any case, we do not have to believe the record of the First Council to have unshakable Faith in the Triple Gem (one of the fruits of Stream-Entry).

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Conclusion
I believe the Buddha taught, all conditioned things are impermanent. The Tipiaka is and non-canonical texts are conditioned things. Therefore they must be impermanent and change over time. I believe the Ther maintained the Tipiaka very well. I believe it was passed on perfectly in the beginning. I have full faith that the Buddhas teaching can still be found in the Tipiaka, but not that every word is correct. This is scientific faith, faith with reason.

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Your kind attention is much appreciated.

Action is the refuge. Kamma paisarao.

A copy of this presentation may be obtained by emailing me at: dhammadaso@live.com.au
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