1 In ^Tulla Vagga XI, 1, 9, 10, is related how the brotherhood formally considered the permission thus accorded to them, and resolved to adhere to all the precepts as laid down in the Buddha's lifetime. In his comment on this passage Buddhaghosa incident- ally refers to a conversation on the subject between Nagasena and Milinda Ra^a, but makes no mention of the work known as Milinda Pa«ha. Compare Trenckner's edition of that work, p. 142.
mahA-parinibbAna-sutta.
' Let A^anna say whatever he may like, Ananda,
the brethren should neither speak to him, nor exhort
him, nor admonish him V
5. Then the Blessed One addressed the brethren,
and said : 4 It may be, brethren, that there may be
doubt or misgiving in the mind of some brother as
to the Buddha, or the truth, or the path, or the
way. Enquire, brethren, freely. Do not have to
reproach yourselves afterwards with the thought,
" Our teacher was face to face with us, and we
could not bring ourselves to enquire of the Blessed
One when we were face to face with him." '
And when he had thus spoken the brethren were silent.
6. And again the second and the third time the
Blessed One addressed the brethren, and said : ' It
may be, brethren, that there may be doubt or mis-
giving in the mind of some brother as to the Buddha,
or the truth, or the path, or the way. Enquire,
brethren, freely. Do not have to reproach your-
selves afterwards with the thought, " Our teacher
was face to face with us, and we could not bring
ourselves to enquire of the Blessed One when we
were face to face with him." '
And even the third time the brethren were silent.
1 Compare ^Tulla Vagga I, 25-31 : IV, 14, 1 : XI, 1, 12-14. .fftanna is represented as an obstinate, perverse man ; so destitute of the proper 'esprit de corps' that he dared to take part with the sisterhood, and against the brotherhood, in a dispute which had arisen between them. But after the social penalty here re- ferred to had been duly imposed upon him, even his proud and independent spirit was tamed ; he became humble : his eyes were opened; and he, also, attained to the 'supreme goal 1 of the CBuddhist faith.
114 THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. CH.
7. Then the Blessed One addressed the brethren,
and said : ' It may be, brethren, that you put no
questions out of reverence for the teacher. Let
one friend communicate to another/
And when he had thus spoken the brethren were silent.
8. And the venerable Ananda said to the Blessed
One : ' How wonderful a thing is it, Lord, and how
marvellous ! Verily, I believe that in this whole
assembly of the brethren there is not one brother
who has any doubt or misgiving as to the Buddha,
or the truth, or the path, or the way ! '
9. * It is out of the fulness of faith that thou hast
A a
spoken, Ananda! But, Ananda, the TatMgata
knows for certain that in this whole assembly of the
brethren there is not one brother who has any
doubt or misgiving as to the Buddha, or the truth,
or the path, or the way ! For even the most back-
ward, Ananda, of all these five hundred brethren
has become converted, and is no longer liable to be
born in a state of suffering, and is assured of final
salvation V
10. Then the Blessed One addressed the brethren,
and said, ' Behold now, brethren, I exhort you,
saying, " Decay is inherent in all component things !
Work out your salvation with diligence ! " '
This was the last word of the Tathagata !
11. Then the Blessed One entered into the first
1 Compare above, Chap. II, § 7. By 'the most backward/
according to Buddhaghosa, the Blessed One referred to Ananda,
and he said this to encourage him.
vi. mahA-parinibbana-sutta. 115 •
stage of deep meditation \ And rising out of the
first stage he passed into the second. And rising
out of the second he passed into the third. And
rising out of the third stage he passed into the
fourth. And rising out of the fourth stage of
deep meditation he entered into the state of mind
to which the infinity of space is alone present 2 . And
passing out of the mere consciousness of the in-
finity of space he entered into the state of mind to
which the infinity of thought is alone present. And
passing out of the mere consciousness of the infi-
nity of thought he entered into a state of mind to
which nothing at all was specially present. And
passing out of the consciousness of no special object
he fell into a state between consciousness and
unconsciousness. And passing out of the state
between consciousness and unconsciousness he fell
into a state in which the consciousness both of
sensations and of ideas had wholly passed away.
12. Then the venerable Ananda said to the
venerable Anuruddha : ' O my Lord, O Anuruddha,
the Blessed One is dead ! '
' Nay ! brother Ananda, the Blessed One is not
dead. He has entered into that state in which both
sensations and ideas have ceased to be ! '
13. Then the Blessed One passing out of the
state in which both sensations and ideas have
ceased to be, entered into the state between con-
sciousness and unconsciousness. And passing out
of the state between consciousness and uncon-
sciousness he entered into the state of mind to
1 CrMna, the full text and an explanation of which will be found in the translator's 'Buddhism,' pp. 174-176.
2 Compare above, Chap. Ill, §§ 37-42.
Il6 THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. CH.
which nothing at all is specially present. And
passing out of the consciousness of no special
object he entered into the state of mind to which
the infinity of thought is alone present And
passing out of the mere consciousness of the infi-
nity of thought he entered into the state of mind
to which the infinity of space is alone present.
And passing out of the mere consciousness of the
infinity of space he entered into the fourth stage of
deep meditation. And passing out of the fourth stage
he entered into the third. And passing out of the
third stage he entered into the second. And passing
out of the second he entered into the first And
passing out of the first stage of deep meditation he
entered into the second. And passing out of the
second stage he entered into the third. And passing
out of the third stage he entered into the fourth
stage of deep meditation. And passing out of the
last stage of deep meditation he immediately ex-
pired.
14. When the Blessed One died there arose, at the
moment of his passing out of existence, a mighty
earthquake, terrible and awe-inspiring : and the
thunders of heaven burst forth.
15. When the Blessed One died, Brahm& Saham-
pati, at the moment of his passing away from exist-
ence, uttered this stanza :
' They all, all beings that have life, shall lay
Aside their complex form — that aggregation
Of mental and material qualities,
That gives them, or in heaven or on earth,
Their fleeting individuality !
E'en as the teacher — being such a one,
mahA-parinibbAna-sutta.
Unequalled among all the men that are,
Successor of the prophets of old time,
Mighty by wisdom, and in insight clear —
Hath died 1 !'
16. When the Blessed One died, Sakka, the king
of the gods, at the moment of his passing away
from existence, uttered this stanza:
' They're transient all, each being's parts and powers,
Growth is their nature, and decay.
They are produced, they are dissolved again :
And then is best, when they have sunk to rest 2 ! '
1 Brahmd, the first cause, the highest result of Indian theo- logical speculation, the one God of the Indian Pantheists, is repre- sented as using expressions full of deep allusions to the most characteristic Buddhist doctrines. The Samussaya is the result of the temporary collocation of the 'aggregations' (khandha) of mental and material qualities which give to each being (bhuto, that is, man, animal, god, ghost, fairy, or what not) its outward and visible shape, its individuality. L ok a is here not the world in our sense, but the ' locality ' in the Buddhist universe which such an individual occupies until it is dissolved. (Comp. Chap. II, §§ 14, 34.) Brahma appears therefore as a veritable Vibha^av&di.
2 On this celebrated verse see below the Introduction to Mah&- Sudassana Sutta. It must be the original of the first verse in the Chinese work, Fa Kheu Pi Hu (Beal, Dhammapada, p. 32), though it is there so changed that every clause has lost its point.
'Whatever exists is without endurance.
And hence the terms 44 flourishing " and "decaying."
A man is born, and then he dies.
Oh, the happiness of escaping from this condition!' The very meaning which is here the most essential connotation of sahkhari is lost in the phrase 'whatever exists/ By a misap- prehension of the, no doubt, difficult word D ha mm a, which, however, never means 4 term/ the second clause has lost its point. And by a grammatical blunder the third clause in the Chinese con- fines the doctrine, erroneously, to man. In a Chinese tale, called
Il8 THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. CH.
17. When the Blessed One died, the venerable
Anuruddha, at the moment of his passing away from
existence, uttered these stanzas :
' When he who from all craving want was free,
Who to NirvS^as tranquil state had reached,
When the great sage finished his span of life,
No gasping struggle vexed that steadfast heart !
All resolute, and with unshaken mind,
He calmly triumphed o'er the pain of death.
E'en as a bright flame dies away, so was
His last deliverance from the bonds of life 1 ! '
18. When the Blessed One died, the venerable
Ananda, at the moment of his passing away from
existence, uttered this stanza :
' Then was there terror !
Then stood the hair on end !
When he endowed with every grace —
The supreme Buddha — died 2 ! '
Ngan shih niu, translated by Mr. Beal, in the Indian Antiquary for May, 1880, the following verses occur; and they are possibly another reflection of this stanza :
'All things that exist are transitory.
They must of necessity perish and disappear;
Though joined together, there must be separation;
Where there is life there must be death.'
1 Aetaso Vimokho. Kena£i dhammena an£vara»a-vimo- kho sabbaso apa##atti-bha*vupagamo, says Buddhaghosa; that is, 'the deliverance which is free from the restraint of each and every mental quality completely vanishing away* (dhamm£ being here = sa««a and vedana and sankhdra 4 ; see 'Bud- dhism/ pp. 91, 92). See also below, p. 153.
2 In these four stanzas we seem to have the way in which the death of the Buddha would be regarded, as the early Buddhist thought, by four representative persons — the exalted God of the theologians ; the Jupiter of the multitude (allowing in the case of
mahA-parinibbAna-sutta.
19 \ When the Blessed One died, of those of the
brethren who were not yet free from the passions,
some stretched out their arms and wept, and
some fell headlong on the ground, rolling to and
fro in anguish at the thought : ' Too soon has the
Blessed One died ! Too soon has the Happy One
passed away from existence ! Too soon has the
Light gone out in the world ! '
But those of the brethren who were free from
the passions (the Arahats) bore their grief collected
and composed at the thought : * Impermanent are all
component things! How is it possible that [they
should not be dissolved]?'
20. Then the venerable Anuruddha exhorted the
brethren, and said : * Enough, my brethren ! Weep
not, neither lament! Has not the Blessed One
formerly declared this to us, that it is in the very
nature of all things near and dear unto us, that we
must divide ourselves from them, leave them, sever
ourselves from them ? How then, brethren, can this
be possible — that whereas anything whatever born,
brought into being, and organised, 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 !
Even the spirits, brethren, will reproach us 2 .
each of these for the change in character resulting from their con- version to Buddhism) ; the holy, thoughtful Arahat ; and the loving, childlike disciple.
1 Nearly = V, 11-14; and below, VI, 39.