Dialogues of the Buddha, Part II — trans. T. W. and C. A. F. Rhys Davids (1910)
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The translator’s English as printed (T. W. and C. A. F. Rhys Davids). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
door, and weeping at the thought : — ' Alas ! I remain still but a learner, one who has yet to work out his own perfection 1. And the Master is about to pass away from me — he who is so kind ! '
Now the Exalted One called the brethren, and said : — ' Where thenx brethren, is Ananda ? '
' The venerable Ananda, lord, has gone into the Vihara, and stands leaning against the lintel of the door, and weeping at the thought : — " Alas ! I remain still but a learner, one who has yet to work out his own perfection. And the Master is about to pass away from me — he who is so kind ! " '
And the Exalted One called ascertain brother, and said : — ' Go now, brother, and call Ananda in my name, and say : — " Brother Ananda, the Master calls for thee "
[144].
4 Even so, lord ! ' said that brother, in assent, to the Exalted One. And he went up to the place where the Exalted One was : and when he had come there, he said to the venerable Ananda : — ' Brother Ananda, the Master calls for thee.'
4 Very well, brother,' said the venerable Ananda, in assent, to that brother. And he went up to the place where the Exalted One was, and when he had come there, he bowed down before the Exalted One, and took his seat respectfully on one side.
14. Then the Exalted One said to the venerable Ananda, as he sat there by his side : — ' Enough, Ananda ! Do not let yourself be troubled ; do not weep ! Have I not already, on former occasions, told you that it is in the very nature of all things would seem to point to the fact that this episode originally stood in some other connexion. Buddhaghosa attempts to explain away the discrepancy by saying that Vihara here means Ma;/<7ala. As the spot was the place for the performance of the communal ceremonies of the clan there was most likely a Ma;/^ala there, and there must, from the context below, § 25, have been also some small closed-in building, a hut or cottage. It is only this latter that could have been called a Vihara.
1 Ananda had entered the Noble Path, but had not yet reached the end of it. He had not attained to Nirvana.
1). ii . 145. THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. 1 59
most near and dear unto us that we must divide ourselves from them, leave them, sever ourselves from them ? How, then, Ananda, can this be possible — Avhereas anything whatever born, brought into being, and organized, contains within itself the inherent necessity of dissolution — how, then, can this be possible, that such a being should not be dissolved ? No such condition can exist ! For a long time, Ananda, have you been very near to me by acts of love, kind and good, that never varies1, and is beyond all measure. For a long time, Ananda, have you been very near to me by words of love, kind and good, that never varies, and is beyond all measure. For a longtime, Ananda, have you been very near to me by thoughts of love, kind and good, that never varies, and is beyond all measure. You have done well, Ananda ! Be earnest in effort, and you too shall soon be free from the Intoxications — [of sensuality, and individuality, and delusion, and ignorance.]2!'
15. Then the Exalted One addressed the brethren,
and said : — ' Whosoever, brethren, have been Able
Awakened Ones through the long ages of the past,
they also had servitors just as devoted to those Exalted
Ones as Ananda has been to me.
'He is a clever man, brethren, is Ananda, and wise3. He knows when it is the right time for the brethren or for the sisters of the Order, for devout men [145] and devout women, for a king, or for a king's ministers, or for other teachers or for their disciples, to come and visit the Tathagata.