Dialogues of the Buddha, Part II — trans. T. W. and C. A. F. Rhys Davids (1910)

8. ' And now, lord, the brethren and sisters of the order and the lay-disciples of either sex have become [all this], are able to do [all this]. [105] Pass away now therefore, lord ; let the Exalted One now die ! The time has come for the Exalted One to pass away —

1 The words here quoted were spoken by the Buddha, after he had been enjoying the first bliss of Nirvana, under the goatherd's Nigrodha tree (see below, ch. Ill, § 34).

2 The whole paragraph is repeated, here and below, § 35, for each of these classes of persons.

3 Sappa/ihariya?« dhammam. (Comp. the opposite idea appa/ihfra-kataw bhasitaw, D. [, 193, 239.) The two ideas are contrasted at KV. 561.

D. ii. 107. THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. II3

even according to the word which he spake when he said, " I shall not die, O Evil One ! until this pure religion of mine shall have become successful, prosperous, wide-spread, and popular in all its full extent— until, in a word, it shall have been well proclaimed among men." And now, lord, this pure religion of thine has become [all this]. Pass away now therefore, lord ; let the Exalted One now die ! The time has come for the Exalted One to pass away ! '

9. [106] And when he had thus spoken, the Exalted One addressed Mara, the Evil One, and said : — ' O Evil One ! make thyself happy, the death of the Tathagata shall take place before long. At the end of three months from this time the Tathagata will pass away.'

10. Thus the Exalted One while at the Shrine of Chapala deliberately and consciously rejected the rest of his natural term of life *. And on his so rejecting it there arose a mighty earthquake, awful and terrible, and the thunders of heaven burst forth. [107] And when the Exalted One beheld this, he broke out at that time into this hymn of exultation : —

' His sum of life the sagfe renounced,
The cause of life immeasurable or small ;
With inward joy and calm, he broke,
Like coat of mail, his life's own cause ! 2 '

ii.3 Now the following thought occurred to the

A. A.

1 Ayu-sawkharaw ossaji. The difficult term Ayu-sawzkhara must here have the meaning in which it is used at Majjhima I, pp. 295, 296 ; Sawyutta II, 266 ; Jataka IV, 215. He renounced those tendencies, potentialities, which in the ordinary course of things, would otherwise have led to the putting together of, the building up of, more life (that is, of course, in this birth. Any more life in a future birth he had already renounced when, under the Wisdom Tree, he attained Nirvana).

2 This verse is obscure and possibly corrupt. See Windisch,
' Mara und Buddha/ pp. 37, 72 ; Ud. VI, 1 ; S. V, 263; Div. 203.

The narrative is now interrupted by the insertion of paragraphs which at first sight seem to be quite out of place. But the connexion, or want of connexion, between them and the main story is very III. I

114 XVI« mahA PARINIBBANA SUTTANTA. D. ii. 107.

venerable Ananda : — ' Wonderful indeed and marvellous is it that this mighty earthquake should arise, awful and terrible, and that the thunders of heaven should burst forth ! What may be the proximate, what the remote cause of the appearance of this earthquake ? '

12. Then the venerable Ananda went up to the place where the Blessed One was, and did obeisance to the Exalted One, and seated himself respectfully at one side, and said :— ' Wonderful indeed and marvellous is it that this mighty earthquake should arise, awful and terrible, and that the thunders of heaven should burst forth ! What may be the proximate, what the remote cause of the appearance of this earthquake ? '

13. 'Eight are the proximate, eight the remote causes, Ananda, for the appearance of a mighty earthquake. What are the eight ? This great earth, Ananda, is established on water, the water on wind, and the wind rests upon space. And at such a time, Ananda, as the mighty winds blow, the waters are shaken by the mighty winds as they blow, and by the moving water the earth is shaken. These are the first causes, proximate and remote, of the appearance of a mighty earthquake \

14. [108] 'Again, Ananda, a recluse or a brahmin of great [intellectual] power, and who has the feelings