CHAPTER XXI
Now not long after the young man was gone the venerable Ananda placed that glorious robe upon the Blessed One, and so placed it appeared to dim and lose its splendour, and Ananda said:
“Lord, it is marvellous that the colour of the skin of the Blessed One should now be so clear, so bright, beyond measure, for this robe of burnished gold has lost its splendour in the radiance.”
“It is even so, Ananda. For on the night that He who has thus Attained achieves supreme Enlightenment and also on the night in which he passes away for ever leaving no residue behind, the colour of his person becomes exceedingly bright and clear. And now this day at the third watch of the night at Kusinara, between the twin sala trees the utter passing away of Him who has thus Attained will take place. Come, let us go forward.”
And when he was come to the Mango Grove by the river, he said:
“Fold a robe for me, Kundaka, for I am forespent and would lie down.” And it was done and the Blessed One laid himself down on his right side, and meditated, calm and self-possessed, and finally, calling to Ananda the beloved, he said:
“Now it may happen that someone may grieve Chunda the smith, saying, ‘it is evil to you, Chunda, and loss, that the Blessed One died after he had eaten his last meal from your provision.’ But check this remorse, Ananda, by saying—‘It is good and gain to you, Chunda, that this should have been. For the very mouth of the Blessed One has told me this—There is laid up for Chunda the smith a good Karma of long life and good fortune and good fame and the inheritance of Heaven and sovereign power.’ In this manner check any remorse in Chunda the smith.”
Then once more rising, the World-Honoured began again his pilgrimage of pain, and he said:
“Come, let us go to the Sala Grove of the Malla people at Kusinara.”
And they went on.
So with the monks the Exalted One reached at last the Sala Grove of the Mallas, and he desired that Ananda the beloved would lay a couch for him with its head to the north between the twin sala trees that they knew. And this was done, and the sala trees shed their dropping blossoms on the body of the Blessed One, for so it must be with a departing Buddha.
And here, Ananda seeing that the time drew on, reverently besought the commands of the Lord as to the disposal of his mortal body. And he replied:
“Hinder not yourselves by honouring what remains of Him who has thus Attained. Be zealous, I beseech you, in your own behalf: be intent on good. There are wise men among the nobles who will do due honour to the body of the Tathagata.”
And when he heard this Ananda could no longer endure his grief, and that the Lord might not see his tears, he went into the monastery and stood leaning against the door and wept, for he thought:
“Alas! I still remain but a learner, one who has not yet attained perfection, and the Master is about to pass away from me—he who is so kind.”
But the Blessed One called the brethren and asked:
“Where then, monks, is Ananda?”
And they told him, and he said to a certain brother:
“Go, brother, and say ‘Brother Ananda, the Master calls you.’ ”
And it was done and the beloved Ananda returned, and the Blessed One said to him.
“Enough, Ananda. Do not let yourself be troubled. Do not weep. Have I not often told you that it is in the very nature of things most near and dear to us that we must divide ourselves from them and leave them? How then could it be possible that anything containing within itself the necessity of dissolution should not be dissolved? For a long time, Ananda, have you been very near to me by acts of love, kind and good, that never varies and is beyond all measure. And not only by acts but by words and thoughts of love. You have done well, Ananda. Be earnest in effort and you too shall soon be delivered and attain the perfect percipience.”
Then the Blessed One said to the others:
“He is a wise man, monks, is Ananda. Knowing what is right he has four marvellous qualities, for those who see him, who hear him speak or teach are filled with joy on beholding and hearing him, and the company of the Assembly are ill at ease when Ananda is silent.”
And later he said:
“Go now, Ananda, to the town of Kusinara and inform the people of the Mallas that in the last watch of the night He who has thus Attained will pass away. And say this—‘Be favourable herein, Mallas, and leave no occasion to reproach yourselves that you did not visit the World-Honoured in his last hours.’ ”
And Ananda the beloved went, robed and carrying his bowl and attended by a member of the Order.
And, as it chanced, the Mallas were assembled in the Council Hall and when they heard his words, they wept, they and their wives and children saying:
“Too soon will the Blessed One die!
Too soon will the Happy One pass away.
Too soon will the Light of the World be darkened!”
And trooping out with their wives and children, these Mallas came to the Grove of the sala trees, and Ananda considering their great number thought:
“There is not time that they should speak singly with the Lord. But I will present them by families.”
And this he did, causing the Mallas to stand in groups and so presented them, saying:
“Lord, a Malla of such and such a name, with his wives, his children his retinue and his friends, humbly bows down at the feet of the Blessed One.” And that family with its retinue then advanced, weeping.
And after this manner were all presented during the first watch of the night, and when it was done they retired in heavy grief.
But there was yet one work of mercy left unto the Lord. For at this time a mendicant named Subaddha was dwelling at Kusinara, and he heard the news that the Blessed One was about to pass away and his religious doubts rushed into his mind and he thought:
“Seldom indeed in this world do the authentic Buddhas appear. I have faith in the monk Gotama that he may be able to remove my uncertainty. I will go to him.”
And he went and told his case to Ananda and he replied:
“Enough, friend Subaddha. Do not trouble Him who has thus Attained. The Lord is weary.”
And three times he refused. But the Lord heard and he said:
“Let him come to me. He will ask from a true desire of knowledge and will quickly understand my replies.”
So Ananda said:
“Enter in, friend Subaddha. The Blessed One gives you leave.”
And speaking respectfully that mendicant put his questions, awaiting the answer with anxiety. And it was this: “Is the Way of the Law the only path possible for a saint? Can that way alone produce sainthood of the first order?”
And the Lord replied:
“Perfect saints from the first to the fourth degree are found only in the Noble Eightfold Path.”
And when he had given the reason why only under such discipline is perception perfected, Subaddha, hailing his words with gladness, every doubt lost in light, besought admission as a disciple and it was granted and the probation of four months remitted, though Subaddha himself willingly undertook that probation. But the Lord said:
“In this case I acknowledge the difference in persons.”
And this was the last man the Lord himself received. And because it could not be otherwise Subaddha attained light and percipience, and became conscious that for him birth was at an end, and he became a great Arhat. And he sat beside the Blessed One until the end.
And now the time drew on swiftly and knowing this, the Blessed One said, while they all stood in great grief surrounding him:
“It may be, Ananda, that in some of you the thought may arise—‘Now that the word of the Master is ended we have no Teacher.’ But this is not so. The truths and the rules of the Order—let them be your Teacher when I am gone. And when I am gone, Ananda, let the Order if it will, abolish the Lesser Precepts.”
And after awhile the Blessed One spoke again, and he said:
“It may be, brethren, that there is doubt or misgiving in the mind of some brother as to the Buddha, the Truth, the Way. Enquire freely, monks! Do not reproach yourself afterwards with the thought,—‘We were face to face with the Blessed One, and yet could not bring ourselves to enquire.’ ”
But the brethren were silent. And again and a third time the Lord repeated this. And in his care for them he said:
“It may be that the brethren will not question out of reverence for the Teacher. Let one friend then communicate with another.”
And still they were silent, and the venerable Ananda said:
“It is wonderful, Lord. I have faith to believe that in this whole Assembly of the brethren there is not one who has any doubt or misgiving as to the Buddha, the Truth, or the Way.”
And the Blessed One, sinking yet lower into weakness, answered:
“From the fulness of faith do you speak, Ananda. But He who has thus Attained knows of certain knowledge that in this whole Assembly there is not one brother who has any doubt or misgiving. For even the most backward of all these brethren knows and has seen and will be born no more in a state of suffering and is assured of final peace.”
And by these words did the World-Honoured reassure Ananda the beloved in whom as yet the tenderness of love crippled its wings, restraining it from the eagle-flight of the perfected Arhat.
And Ananda knelt, hiding his face beside the sala trees where lay the Blessed One, for he knew that the parting drew very near. And there was a deep silence, and it was as though all the spirits of earth and air, and the Divine Beings and the Three Worlds, the earth, the heavens, and hells waited with them nor would lose a breath that remained. And He who has thus Attained lay with closed eyes, submerged in calm as in a great ocean.
And after awhile his eyelids opened and for the last time he looked upon them and for the last time his disciples heard his voice, strong in death.
“Behold now, brethren, I exhort you, saying—‘Decay is inherent in all component things. Work out your own salvation with diligence.’ ”
And they trembled, kneeling about him.
Then the Blessed One entered into the first state of ecstasy, and, rising from this, into the second, and so passed into the third and into the fourth and rising from that realm of ecstasy he entered the realm of the infinity of space, and from this he entered the realm of the infinity of consciousness and rising from this he entered the realm of nothingness, and beyond this the realm of neither perception nor non-perception, and from this he arrived at the cessation of sensation and idea.
And Ananda cried out to the great Anuruddha in an agony:
“O my Lord—O Anuruddha, the Blessed One is dead!”
And he, leaning above that Peace, said with calm:
“Nay, brother Ananda. He has entered that state where sensation and ideas have ceased to be.”
And all veiled their faces.
And the mind of Him who has thus Attained retraced its way downward again and passing through all the stages entered into the fourth stage of deep meditation and passing out of this he immediately entered the Great Peace.
And at the moment of his expiring the thunders of Heaven broke forth roaring about them and there was a loud and terrible trembling of the earth and the voice of Him who is the First uttered this:
“All beings in the world must lose their compound selves and individuality, and even such a Master as this, he, unrivalled and endued with all the powers, even he has passed into the Nirvana.”
And the voice of Indra, King of Gods, took up the tale.
“Transient are all component things.
They being born must die, and being
dead are glad to be at rest.”
And Anuruddha the Great said these words:
“When he, the Desireless, lay in peace, so ending his span of life, resolute and with unshaken mind did he endure the pains of death, attaining his final deliverance from the Fetters.”
But Ananda cried aloud:
“Then there was terror, then the hair rose on the head, when he who possessed all grace—the supreme Buddha died.”
Thus spoke the Four Loves, from the highest to the lowest,—and these of the brethren who were not yet enfranchised from the passions wept and wailed in anguish, crying aloud:
“Too soon has the Blessed One died. Too soon has the Happy One departed. Too soon is the World’s Light darkened.”
But the great Arhats bore their sorrow calm and self-possessed, saying:
“Transient are all earth’s things. How is it possible they should not be dissolved?”
And all that night did the great Sariputta and Anuruddha spend in high discourse but Ananda wept nor could be comforted.
And in the morning the great Anuruddha addressed the sorrowing Assembly.
“Enough, my brethren. Weep not nor lament. Has not the Blessed One declared to us that it is in the very nature of things near and dear to us that we and they must part? How then can it be possible that anything born and thus containing within itself the necessity of dissolution should not dissolve? Weep no more. Even the spirits would reproach us. For they who have attained wisdom say ‘Transient indeed are all component things. How is it possible they should not be dispersed? This cannot be.’ ”
And calling to Ananda he sent him into the town of Kusinara that he might tell the faithful Mallas that their Lord was departed and that in their true hands should be the burning.
And they came out lamenting, having made great and costly preparation, and they encased the body of the Lord in new cloth and folded sheets of wool and lastly in a vessel of iron for the burning, and having clad themselves in new garments eight chieftains of the Mallas lifted the body, and they bore it through their little town to their own shrine, and there in the presence of the Order with devotion and spices and flowers and perfumes they did what was needful, and the body of the Lord passed into grey ash, fulfilling all even to the uttermost.
“Bow down with clasped hands.
“Hard, hard is it to meet with a Buddha through hundreds of ages.”
But they knew in whose presence they had stood.
This also have I heard.
The great Ananda, casting aside the fetters of love and retaining only its radiance, became a mighty Arhat and laid aside all sorrow.
After these things, one day it so chanced that one of the brothers sat with Pingiya the aged Brahman, the disciple of the Lord, and Pingiya from the fulness of his heart spoke of the Blessed One, saying:
“As he saw the Way, so he taught it, he, the very wise, the passionless, the desireless Lord, and how should he do otherwise, for in him was no shadow nor turning of untruth. I will praise the voice of him who was without folly, who had left arrogance far behind. It is he only, the Dispeller of darkness, the high Deliverer, who giveth light.”
And seeing his love, the other said:
“How then can you stay away from him even one instant, O Pingiya?”
And the old man replied:
“Not even for one instant do I stay away from him, my brother. Vigilant day and night I see him in my mind. In reverencing him do I spend the night, and verily I think I am not far from him.”
And he mused awhile and added this:
“I am worn out and feeble, but my heart, venerable brother, is joined to him for ever.”
And lo, as Pingiya sat and said this word, there shone about them a great light and Pingiya beheld the Blessed One stand there in majesty that cannot be uttered. And he said these words:
“Strong is thy faith, O Pingiya, and it shall be made glad. Fear not. You too shall reach that further shore, the haven of the realm of death.”