Chapter 9 - The Passing Away Of The Buddha

From the age of thirty five, The Buddha went on preaching His Doctrine mainly discoursing on how to get rid of re birth, old age, disease and death. i.e. ultimately to become an Elect of the Highest Order (Arahat). It did not take long for him to establish a strong Congregation of Elects who were shortly joined by His aunt stepmother, His wife, His only son, and His cousins in great numbers most of whom became Elects of Highest Order. It was His aunt stepmother who took the lead among women disciples. Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses and hundreds of millions of people of all classes became His adherents. With hundreds of their followers, many teachers of other religions gave up their old faith and joined His Congregation. In fact countless number of people of His time became His followers and worshipped Him as the Blessed One, the Purest Saint, the All Enlightened One, the Omniscient of Highest Conduct, the Most Auspicious One, the Knower of the world, the Supreme Tamer of men and Teacher of gods and men and The Buddha.

When he was seventy nine years and nine months old He assembled His Monk disciples in the meeting hall of Vesali and said, For your advantage and the advantage of others, I have laid down the Disciplinary Rules and taught you the right way of life and high philosophy of the world and the philosophy that transcends it, to enable you to attain the Transcendental Summum Bonum, you should grasp, follow, practise and cultivate my Message: thus the Doctrine shall endure for long and shall be of advantage to many, bringing happiness to many and the blessing compassion to all. My Doctrine may be summed up as:

• The Four Kinds of Mindfulness,
• The Four Right Efforts,
• The Four Bases of Psychic Power,
• The Five Faculties,
• The Five Powers,
• The Seven Constituents of Supreme Knowledge and
• The Noble Eightfold Path.

The Buddha at the meeting also predicted that at the end of three months from then He would pass away and attain Nibbana (Transcendental Summum Bonum). The Four Kinds of Mindfulness, the Four Right Efforts and the Noble Eightfold Path have already been dealt with in Chapter IV. The Four Bases of Psychic Powers are desire, effort, mind and full I knowledge. ( The Five Faculties are the faculty of faith, the faculty of energy, the faculty of mindfulness, the faculty of concentration and the power of full knowledge. The five powers are the power of faith, the power of energy, the power of mindfulness, the powder of concentration and the power of full knowledge

The seven constituents of Supreme Knowledge are mindfulness, investigation of the Doctrine, effort, joy, composure, concentration and mental equanimity.

These thirty seven enumerations are in all called the thirty seven parts of Enlightenment.

On the following day. The Buddha attended by the Venerable Ananda, His cousin, went into Vesali City for alms and after he had come out of the City, He looked back at it and said, "This is my last look at this City".

Later on The Buddha called the Venerable Ananda and His assembly of monks and proceeded to Bandugama Village where He addressed the assembly of monks thus: "For not realising, Oh Bhikkhus, the virtue (sila) that is conducive to the attainment of Transcendental Summum Bonum and for not practising it; and, for not realising higher concentration (Samadhi) that is conducive to the attainment of Transcendental Summum Bonum and for not practising it; and, for not realising the full knowledge (Panna) and, for not practising according to it, and for not realising the emancipation (vimutta) from suffering, you all and I have passed from birth to birth again and again for countless world cycles. Now I have pointed out these four truths to you and you should be emancipated from attachment to the "becoming" that leads to existence in this world and you should attain the Highest Fruition and attain Nibbana!".

The Buddha preached this sermon on virtue, higher concentration, full wisdom and emancipation from suffering again and again at this village.

Then with the Venerable Ananda and the assembly of monks, the Buddha proceeded to Hatthigama Village, then to Zabugama Village and then Ambagama Village and then to Baganagara City and stayed at the Pagoda which was the abode of god Samanandra. There He instructed the monks that in case anyone came to them and said anything as the Buddhas Teachings, reference must be made to His Teachings and if what he said was not in His Teachings, he should be told calmly that what he said was not true.

From Baganagara City the Buddha proceeded to Pawa City with the Venerable Ananda and the assembly of monks and there stayed in the monastery built for him by Cunda, an Elect who invited Him, the Venerable Ananda and the assembly of monks to breakfast on the following morning. The Buddha took the meal which was His last meal.

After this meal, He had diarrhoea and in spite of it, He went to Kusinara City After he had covered fourteen and half miles, on the way. He said to the Venerable Ananda that He was tired and asked him to spread out his big robe and laid down himself on that robe. He then asked the Venerable Ananda to fetch drinking water. When the Venerable Ananda went to the river nearby, he found only muddy water in it. He therefore came back to the Buddha without water and said, "My Lord, Mallas just went across the river in five hundred carts and caused the water muddy. Let us proceed little further where there is the River Kakuddha with clear water". The Buddha however, insisted that the venerable Ananda should fetch water from that river. The Venerable Ananda went to the same place in that river and to his surprise he found the water clear, brought it and gave it to the Buddha. Soon after He had quenched His thirst, He was approached by Pakkusa, one of the Malla Princes, who in the course of his conversation said, "Oh Lord, once upon a time, my teacher Hermit Alara went on a long journey and on the way he sat down under a roadside tree. Then five hundreds carts passed by him. A man who came after the carts, went to him and asked him if he saw the carts, then the hermit replied in the negative. Then the man asked him if he heard their noise and if he was asleep and if he were in his senses. This the hermit replied in the negative. He then asked the hermit replied in the affirmative. The man then said, "You are awake, you are in your senses. Why did you not take notice of the five hundred carts that passed by you?"

The Buddha then addressed Prince Pakkusa, "Long ago, while I was staying in a hut on a thrashing floor, there was heavy rain with lightning and thunder and four bullocks were killed by lighting near the hut. This attracted a crowd of people. When the rain was over, I went out of the hut and walked up and down. I asked a man who happened to come there as to why there was a crowd of people at that place. The man asked me back if I did not notice that there was rain, lightning and thunder. The Buddha then explained how those who has entered into Trance of cessation of perception and sensation would not have any perception and sensation. Prince Pakkusa was so pleased with the explanation that he took refuge in the Buddha, His Doctrine and His Congregation.

After the departure of Prince Pakkusa from the Buddhas presence the Venerable Ananda noticed that the Buddhas body was cleaner and purer and more perfect than usual. His complexion also was more bright than usual. On enquiry about the cause of it. he learned from The Buddha that His body was like that when He first attained Buddhahood and that such a state of body repeated as He would attain Nibbana (Transcendental Summum Bonum) that very night during the last watch in the Sal forest of Princes of Mallas.

The Buddha then proceeded to the River Kakudha with the great assembly of monks and had His bath there. There was a mango grove nearby and He took rest in that grove.

Then He spoke to the Venerable Ananda, "Ananda, someone may cause embarrassment to Cunda by saying that the most Auspicious One (The Buddha) entered Nibbana after eating his meal and because of that there will be no merit accrued to Cunda for that meal. You must tell him that you heard from me that the meal he gave me was my last and therefore he gains great merit for it. It is certainly as meritorious as the meal that was given to Me by Sujata when I was about to attain Buddhahood. These two meals are equal in merit and more meritorious than the other meals that were given to me. By giving me this last meal, Cunda has acquired the merit of long life, bodily beauty and great wealth. Charity brings merit, guarding deeds and words bring friendliness and one who gains Supreme Wisdom attains Nibbana (the Transcendental Summum Bonum).

With the assembly of monks and the Venerable Ananda, the Buddha proceeded to the further Bank of the River Haranna where there was the Sal tree grove of Mallas. When He got into that grove, the Buddha asked the Venerable Ananda to spread a couch with its head to the north between two Sal Trees as He wished to lie down. The Venerable Ananda complied with and the Buddha laid down on his right side and remained mindful and comprehensive.

Then there was worship of the Buddha with flowers, scents and music on a most lavish scale at which the Buddha said to the Venerable Ananda, "It is not by all this, Ananda, that the Tathagata (the Buddha) is honoured, esteemed, revered, worshipped or venerated, but the monk, Ananda, or the nun or the male lay disciple or the female lay disciple, who practises the highest virtues in accordance with the Doctrine, by him, or her the Tathagata is honoured, esteemed, revered and worshipped with the best of worship. Accordingly Ananda, train yourselves and practise the highest virtues in accordance with the Doctrine".

At that time, one Subhadda, an ascetic, hearing the report that the Buddha would pass away that very night in the last watch, came to the Buddha, who allowed him an audience in spite of the Venerable Anandas initial refusal. He said to The Buddha, O Gautama, there are monks and brahmans, namely Purana Kassapa, Makkhali Gosala, and Ajita, who wear clothes made of human hair, and also others, namely Pakutha of Haccayana family, Sanjuya, son of Belattha and Nigandha, son of Nadha. All of these are distinguished and renowned leaders of sects and highly esteemed by the multitudes. They maintain that they have discovered the truth. Have they discovered the truth or not, or have some of the discovered the truth"?

The Buddha replied, "Your questions are not proper and let us leave them. Subbadda, if in any Doctrine and Disciplinary Rules no Noble Eightfold Path is found, that Doctrine and the Disciplinary Rules will not lead any one to Fruition even of the first order.

If there is no Fruition of the first order, there will be no Fruition of the second order. If there is no Fruition of the second order, there will be no Fruition of the third order. And if there is no Fruition of the third order there will be no Fruition of the fourth order which is the highest. O Subhadda, if in any Doctrine and the Disciplinary Rules, the Noble Eightfold Path is found, the Doctrine and the Disciplinary Rules will lead one to the Fruition of the first order. If there is Fruition of the First order there will be Fruition of he second order. If there is fruition of the second order there will be Fruition of the third order. And if there is Fruition of the third order, there will be Fruition of the fourth order, which is the highest. All creeds devoid of the Noble Eightfold Path are devoid of Saints of any order. Let my disciples live rightly and the world will not be devoid of Saints.

"At the age of twenty nine, O Subhadda, I renounced the household life and became a monk to find the Transcendental Summum Bonum. For the last fifty years I conducted myself entirely in such a way that all the beings ready to receive my teachings may attain fruition. Outside the pale of my Doctrine there is none who attains Fruition. So long as the monks within the pale or my Doctrine, practise my Doctrine, the world will not be devoid of Saints". Subhadda was so pleased with what the Buddha said that he asked for his ordination as a monk and was ordained accordingly.

Then the Buddha addressed the Venerable Ananda as follows: -

"After my death, Ananda, you may think that my words are those of a past Buddha and you have no Teacher. You must not think so. I have taught you the Doctrine and the Disciplinary Rules. You must regard the Doctrine and the Disciplinary Rules as your Teacher".

Then The Buddha allowed the monks to ask Him questions if they had any doubt regarding The Buddha, the Doctrine, the Congregation, the Noble Eightfold Path and the course of conduct. No one put any question to Him. Then the Venerable Ananda declared that neither he nor any of the monks had any doubt regarding the Three Gems, viz. "The Buddha, The Doctrine and The Congregation" and in the Noble Eightfold Path and the course of conduct.

Then the Buddha uttered His last words to the assembly of monks, "Now I address you, monks, All things are transitory. WORK OUT YOUR SALVATION WITH DILIGENCE".

Then The Buddha entered the first stage of trance. Ring from this, He entered the second stage. Rising from this second, He entered the third Rising from the third, He entered the fourth. Rising from the fourth, He entered the realm of the infinity of space. Rising from this, He entered the realm of infinity of consciousness. Rising from this, He entered the realm of nothingness. Rising from this, He entered the realm of neither perception nor yet non perception. And rising from this, He arrived at the cessation of perception and sensation.

Then the Venerable Ananda asked the Venerable Anuruddha if the Buddha had passed away. The Venerable Anuruddha who possessed supernatural psychic powers replied that the Buddha had arrived at the cessation of perception and sensation. Then the Buddha rose from the cessation of perception and entered the sensation and stages mentioned above in the reverse order until He entered the first stage of trance. Again He rose from the first stage and entered the second stage: rose from the second stage and entered the third stage: rose from the third stage and entered the fourth stage. Rising from the fourth stage, instead of entering the realm of infinity of space, He entered Nibbana (the Transcendental Summum Bonum) which, alone, is eternal. It was on the full moon day of the second month of Burmese Calendar, in the year 544 B.C.