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The Birth of the Buddha figure 9 Previous The Birth of the Buddha
The Birth of the Buddha
10. The Great Passing
There is a majestic and poignant account of the Buddha's last days preserved in
the ancient canon under the title of "the great discourse of the final passing."
As the old canon describes, at age 80 the Buddha was weary and not in a good
condition:
I am now grown old, and full of years; my journey is done and I have reached my
sum of days; I am turning eighty years of age. And just as a worn out cart is
kept going with the help of repairs, so it seems is the Tathagata's body kept
going with repairs.
With an untiring zeal for teaching, however, the Buddha decided to embark on
another long preaching journey. After passing through a number of villages, the
Buddha proceeded to a place called Pava where he and his disciples were invited
to dinner by a lowly blacksmith, Chunda. After the meal, however, the Buddha,
who was already in a weakened condition, became seriously ill. In spite of the
sever pains, the Buddha insisted upon continuing his preaching tour, and soon
ended up in a small village called Kushinagara. By this time the Buddha was too
exhausted to go on and wanted to lie down. The monk Ananda prepared a
resting-place for him between two blossoming sala trees. Then Ananda, who was
struck by grief, lent against a door and wept. Then the Buddha asked for him:
Enough, Ananda, do not sorrow, do not lament. Have I not formerly explained that
it is the nature of things that we must be divided, separated, and parted from
all that is beloved and dear? How could it be, Ananda, that what has been born
and come into being, that what is compounded and subject to decay, should not
decay? It is not possible. (Gethin, p. 26)
The Buddha told Anana to make his impending death known to the people in Kushinagara so that they could prepare his funeral. At that time, a wandering ascetic named Subhadda came to see the Buddha but was sent away by Ananda who tried to prevent the exhausted old master from being disturbed. But the Buddha, who overheard the conversation, asked the ascetic to approach his side and, after answering his questions on the Law, accepted him into the Order. Thereby Subhadda became the last person to be accepted to the Order in the Buddha's lifetime. And then the Buddha gave the surrounding monks a last opportunity to question him about the Law:
Ask, monks, lest you afterwards feel remorse, thinking: "We sat face to face
with the Master, and yet we failed to ask him personally."
The Buddha asked three times but the monks remained silent. Then the Buddha gave
them one more chance: if they did not dare to speak out of respect for him, they
should ask through a fellow-monk. Again the monks remained silent. There was no
unclearness anywhere. The night was far advanced, and it was quiet between the
trees when the dying teacher gave the monks his last words:
Now, monks, I declare to you: all elements of personality are subject to decay. Strive on untiringly!
The Birth of Confucius The Birth of Jesus Christ
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