The first Buddhist council was held in Saptaparni cave Rajgir (Rajagriha) in 483 BCE under the patronage of King Ajatashatru shortly after the demise of Lord Buddha (in Kushinara) during the first rainy season. It was imperative to preserve teachings and ideas of Lord Buddha for posterity, however there was no relevant technology. Even scripts and writings were yet to be invented. It was still Shruti era of Vedic time characterized by “individual” memory-based oral transmission of knowledge and information from the teacher to the learners. Only sources of what Lord Buddha had taught the humanity in his lifetime were the memories of His living disciples and the people who had heard His lectures and discourses on various issues. The Council was attended by 500 expert arahants and presided over by Mahakasyapa. Ananda, Lord Buddha’s personal assistant for several decades, recited the Suttas (Lord Budhha’s teachings), while Upali, an expert in monastic discipline, recited the Vinaya (the monastic rules) before the Council. Seven months of collective deliberations of the Council resulted in Vinaya Pitaka and Sutta Pitaka (each comprising of five nikayas) thus preserving Lord Buddha’s teachings and monastic rules for the posterity. The First Buddhist Council was the first well-organized “collective” effort towards preservation of knowledge in original form for the future generations. It contributed immensely in transforming Buddhism into first world religion following Patliputra’s third Council held under Ashoka the great.  

How do we know about someone’s thoughts and ideas? In the modern time, it is done through direct evidence like written works of the concerned person or by his contemporaries or through audio or video recordings of speeches or events. For example, we know about Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas through his own writings, written accounts of his contemporaries and audio or video recordings of his speeches on various occasions during his lifetime. However, situations were very different in ancient times.  

About 2300 years ago, during Emperor Ashoka reign, there was no technology to record ideas for posterity. Writing was not yet in vogue. Ashoka contributed to the development of Dhamma lipi (brahmi script) and engraved his ideas in stones in the form of pillar and rock edicts in prakrit language at various places in his vast realm. These stone inscriptions became the sources of information about Ashoka after Brahmi script was deciphered by James Princep in 1837 and Brahmi and Kharosthi inscriptions were successfully read, and we knew about Ashoka’s ideas of Dhamma and how he had written down the core human values in stones as operating principles of governance and had actually founded the first welfare state in the world in antiquity.  

About three centuries prior to Ashoka during Lord Buddha’s lifetime, script did not exist in the Indian subcontinent. Writing was yet to develop let alone any technology. So, how do we know about Lord Buddha’s teachings and ideas? There is no direct source belonging to His time in any form of writing. It was still Shruti era of Vedic time characterized by “individual memory-based oral transmission” of knowledge and information from the teacher to the learners. Only sources of what Lord Buddha taught to the world in his lifetime from his first sermon in Sarnath, Kashi till his death in Kushinara were the memories of His living disciples who had heard His lectures and discourses deliberated on various issues.  

Efforts towards preservation of Lord Buddha’s teachings started taking concrete shape after Mahakashyap (the third of the ten principal disciples of Lord Buddha) overheard one monk saying “Do not cry. Do not lament. We are freed from the ruthless master, we are free from his advice- do this, don’t do that. Today, we can do whatever we like.” This kind of comment coming so shortly after Lord Buddha’s demise alarmed Mahakashyap who in turn decided to take steps to protect and preserve Lord Buddha’s teachings. He approached Ajatashatru, the then Haryanka dynasty King of Magadha whose father King Bimbisara and was a contemporary of Lord Buddha and the First Council was organized during the first rainy season after demise of Lord Buddha under the patronage of King Ajatshatru at Saptaparni cave near the capital city of Rajagriha.

The Council was attended by 500 expert arahants and was presided over by Mahakasyapa. Ananda, Lord Buddha’s personal assistant for several decades, recited the Suttas (Lord Budhha’s teachings), while Upali, an expert in monastic discipline, recited the Vinaya (the monastic rules) before the Council. The proceedings of the Council resulted in the settlement of the texts of the Dhamma (Sutta Pitaka comprising of five nikayas) under the leadership of Ananda while Vinaya was settled under the leadership of Upali. The Council of 500 expert monks recited and approved the texts, thus compiled, standardized and preserved Lord Buddha’s teachings and monastic rules for the posterity. Please note – the compilation and preservation of the teachings of Lord Buddha was still in Shruti (oral) form. The participant monks taught the approved versions of Dhamma and Vinay to the learners in the Viharas. The formal written accounts had to wait till script and writing evolved.  

The First Buddhist Council was the first well-organized “collective” effort towards preservation of knowledge in the original form for the future generations. It contributed immensely in transforming Buddhism into the first world religion after Third Buddhist Council was held in Patliputra under patronage of Ashoka the great.   

And such an august gathering like the First Buddhist Council took place in the Saptaparni cave near present day Rajgir.  

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References:  

  1. Albert J. Edmunds, Teitaro Suzuki. The First Buddhist Council. The Monist, Vol. 14, No. 2 (January, 1904), pp. 253-282 (30 pages). Available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/27899468  
  1. Pokhrel, T.P., 2019. Buddhist Councils: Means and Ends for Clarity and Revitalization. Year 21, No. 19, September 2019 A Nepalese Journal …, 2018. Available at https://nepan.org.np/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/PARTICIPATION_19-September-2019.pdf#page=104  
  1. Prebish, C. S., 1974. A Review of Scholarship on the Buddhist Councils. The Journal of Asian Studies, Volume 33, Issue 2, February 1974, pp. 239 – 254. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2052186 
  1. Saraniya Dhamma Meditation Centre. Buddhist Council. Available at https://saraniya.com/buddhism/knowledge/buddhist-council/  
  1. Vredeveld P., nd. Blog – The Buddhist Councils. Original Buddhas. Available at https://www.originalbuddhas.com/blog/the-buddhist-council/ 

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