The First Council

Home  |  Basic of Buddhism

In the year of Shakyamuni’s passing, King Ajatashatru sponsored the building of a lecture hall in front of the Cave of the Seven Leaves, south of Rajagriha in Magadha. There, at a gathering of five hundred monks presided over by the aged Mahakashyapa, Upali, who was foremost in keeping the precepts, recited the rules of conduct (the storehouse of precepts) that Shakyamuni had prescribed. Thereafter, Ananda, who was foremost at listening to Shakyamuni’s doctrines, recited the Buddha’s teachings (the storehouse of sutras).

The great assembly then confirmed and organized the content of the leading disciples’ recitations. This compilation of the Buddha’s teachings, which took seven months to complete, is known either as the Compilation at Rajagriha, after the place where the project took place, or as the Assembly of the Five Hundred Monks, after the men who undertook this task.

The opening phrase, “Thus I heard,” appears at the beginning of many of the sutras, to verify that the subsequent teaching is exactly as the Buddha’s disciples heard him preach it.
It should be noted that the Buddha’s teachings were confirmed at this first council exclusively through memorized recitation. No written record was made of those proceedings. It is said that this method of preservation was used at the time as a specific form of meditation. Apparently, the prevailing thought was that the written word was insufficient to capture such noble doctrine.
 

The Second Council and the First Schism within the Buddhist Order

BUDDHASUNIVERSE.COM