This research examines the records about Devadatta’s attempts to murder the Buddha in the Pāli Vinaya and Chinese Vinayas, namely Mahīśasaka Vinaya, Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, Sarvāstivāda Vinaya and Mūla-Sarvāstivāda Vinaya, and does a comparative study with a reference to the Chinese Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya.
By so doing, in addition to contributing to presenting the first clear comparison of the narratives of different Buddhist Vinaya texts in Pāli and Chinese about Devadatta’s attempts to murder the Buddha, this paper also puts forwards a few interesting opinions as a departure for further studies. First, the rationality and the veracity of these three attempts are questioned for two reasons. One is that it seems, these records were just passed down from the Sthavira tradition. Next, it seems irrational that after these three attempts, Devadatta still had the chance and ability to create a big schism as recorded in the five Vinayas. Second, the passages in the Pāli Vinaya were suggested as the earliest among those five, while those in the Mūla -Sarvāstivāda Vinaya the latest. Third, several signs of later influence in the other four Vinayas, except the Pāli Vinaya, were pointed out and discussed. For example, the emphasis of Karma in Sarvāstivāda’s Vinayas; the especial place held by Ananda in the Mahīśāsaka and Sarvāstivāda Vinayas; and the emphasis on the five precepts in the Dharmaguptaka and Mahīśāsaka Vinayas. Additionally, some historical facts are put into question, and some textual differences are also explained in this paper.
