CHAPTER XI: THE LAST DAYSTHE account of Buddha's last days is contained in three suttas.265 These are not properly speaking discourses, but portions of legend in which discourses have been inserted. The chief of them, the Great Discourse of the attainment of Nirvana, is known to have existed in several schools. It tells of the journey of Buddha from Rajagaha across the Ganges to Vesali, where he spent Retreat for the last time, and then by stages to Kusinara in the country of the Mallas, where he passed away. The references in it to the practice of pilgrimages, to later events mentioned in the form of prophecies, and allusions that show a developed form of the Canon, indicate that it is one of the very latest portions of the Scriptures.
The sutta opens with a visit to Buddha, who was staying at Rajagaha on Gijjhakuta hill, from a royal minister of king Ajatasattu. The minister informed him that the king was intending to make war on the Vajji tribes. Buddha told him of the discourse that he had once delivered to the Vajjis on the seven conditions of prosperity; and the minister admitted that the king's plan was impracticable, unless he could create dissension among them. Buddha thereupon assembled the monks, and gave them a discourse on the same seven conditions of their own prosperity, followed by four other lists, and a list of six.
Buddha then set out with a large attendance of monks to Ambalatthika and then to Nalanda, evidently going northwards, as his goal was Vesali. It was at Nalanda that Sariputta uttered his 'lion roar' (sihanada) of faith in Buddha. "Such, Lord, is my faith in the Lord, that there has not been, will not be, nor is there now another ascetic or brahmin greater or of more wisdom, that is to say, in enlightenment." On being questioned he admitted that his knowledge had not penetrated the mind of the Buddhas of the past, and future, or even of the Buddha of the present; but just as in a royal border fortress, which has but one gate, and no other entrance big enough even for a cat, the doorkeeper knows that all beings that enter it must do so by the gate, even so did Sariputta understand the drift of the doctrine. Like the Buddhas of the past and future, "The Lord, the arahat, the completely enlightened, having abandoned the five hindrances, having comprehended the defilements of the mind that weaken, having the mind well fixed on the four subjects of mindfulness, and having duly practised the seven constituents of enlightenment, is enlightened with the highest complete enlightenment."
Buddha then went on to Pataligama, a village on the south bank of the Ganges, and addressed the villagers in their hall on the five evil consequences of immorality and the advantages of morality. At this time the Magadha ministers were building a fortress there for repelling the Vajjis. Buddha with his divine vision saw the tutelary divinities266 of the houses that were being built; and as they were gods of high rank, and were influencing the minds of powerful persons to build there, he prophesied the future greatness of the place as the city Pataliputta. The next day he accepted a meal from the ministers, and when he left they said, "The gate by which the ascetic Gotama departs will be named the Gotama gate, and the ford by which he crosses the Ganges will be the Gotama ford." There can be little doubt that in the time of the compiler of the legend there were two places thus named. The Ganges however was in flood, and people were crossing it in boats and rafts, but Buddha, just as a strong man might stretch out or bend his arm, disappeared from one bank of the Ganges and stood on the other bank together with his monks. Then he uttered an udana:
They that cross the expanse of ocean,
Making a bridge across the pools,
While the people bind rafts--
They that have reached the other shore are the wise.
He then went on to Kotigama, and addressed the monks on the Four Truths, ending with the words:
Through not perceiving the Four Noble Truths,
One is reborn for long ages in birth after birth;
These truths are perceived; that which leads to existence is done away;
The root of pain is cut off; now there is rebirth no more.
His next stay was with the Nadikas of Nadika (or Natika), where Ananda mentioned to him the names of a number of monks, nuns, and lay people, who had died there; and Buddha told in which of the four stages each of them had died.267 But he declared that it was troublesome for him to do this, and gave Ananda the formula of the Mirror of the Doctrine, by which a disciple could tell for himself that he was free from rebirth in hell, as an animal, from the realm of ghosts (petas), from the lower states of suffering, that he had entered the stream, and that he was destined for enlightenment. The Mirror consists in having unwavering faith in Buddha, the Doctrine, and the Order. Such a one is possessed of the moral rules dear to the Noble Ones, the rules that are whole, unbroken, unspotted, unblemished, productive of freedom, extolled by the wise, unsullied, and tending to concentration.
Going on to VesaIi he stayed in the grove of Ambapali, where he gave a short discourse to the monks on being circumspect and mindful in their actions. Ambapali was a famous courtesan of Vesali, and on hearing of Buddha's arrival she drove out from the city to see him, and after hearing a discourse invited him with the monks to a meal for the next day. This he accepted, and had to refuse the Licchavis of Vesali, who came with a similar request. After the meal Ambapali took a low seat, and sitting on it said, "I give, Lord, this park to the Order of monks with Buddha at the head." Buddha accepted it, and after staying there some time went on to the village of Beluva. There he determined to keep Retreat, and told the monks to keep Retreat at Vesali. After entering on Retreat he became dangerously ill, but he repressed his sickness, saying, "It would not be fitting for me to attain Nirvana without having addressed my attendants, and without having taken leave of the Order of monks." Ananda was alarmed, but said that he had one consolation: "The Lord will not attain Nirvana before be has determined something about the Order." Buddha replied, "What does the Order expect of me? I have taught the Doctrine without making any inner and outer, and herein the Tathagata has not the closed fist of a teacher with regard to doctrines. It would be one who should say, 'I will lead the Order,' or 'the Order looks up to me', who would determine something about the Order. But the Tathagata does not think, 'I will lead the Order', or 'The Order looks up to me'. Why then should the Tathagata determine something about the Order? I am now old, advanced in age and years, and in my eightieth year. As an old cart keeps together fastened with thongs, even so does the body of the Tathagata keep together. At the time when the Tathagata not reflecting on any external sign (sensation), and with the cessation of each of the senses attains and abides in signless concentration of mind, then only, Ananda, is the body of the Tathagata well. Therefore, Ananda, dwell as having refuges in yourselves, resorts268 in yourselves and not elsewhere, as having refuges in the Doctrine, resorts in the Doctrine and not elsewhere". He concluded by propounding the four subjects of mindfulness, and declared, "Whoever now or after my decease shall dwell as having refuges in themselves, resorts in themselves and not elsewhere, as having refuges in the Doctrine, resorts in the Doctrine and not elsewhere, these my monks, Ananda, shall reach to the limit of darkness (rebirth), whoever are desirous of learning."
The next day he went into Vesali to beg, and on returning sat with Ananda by the Capala shrine. There he told Ananda that one who has practised the four magic powers could remain alive for a cycle269 or for what remains of a cycle, and that he had practised these powers himself. But though he gave such a clear hint, Ananda was not able to see it, and did not ask him to remain, so much was Ananda's heart possessed by Mara. A second and a third time Buddha repeated his statement without effect. He then dismissed Ananda, who went and sat down at the foot of a tree not far away, and Mara approaching Buddha said: "May the Lord now attain Nirvana, may the Sugata attain Nirvana. It is now time for the Lord to attain Nirvana." Buddha replied that he would not do so as long as his monks were not skilled and learned and able to expound, teach, and explain. Mara said that all this was now done, and repeated his request, and the same reply was made about the nuns, and also in the same formal language about laymen and lay women. Then Buddha said that he would not do so until his religious system should be prosperous, flourishing, extended, held by many, widely spread, and well proclaimed by gods and men. Mara replied declaring that the whole of this had come to pass, and Buddha having ingeniously obtained this testimony from the enemy said, "Trouble not, evil one, in no long time the Tathagata will attain Nirvana. The Tathagata will attain Nirvana in three months from now." Then he shook off the sum of his remaining life, and as he did so there was a great earthquake and thunder. Ananda marvelled, and came and asked Buddha the cause. Buddha gave him a discourse on the eight causes of earthquakes. (1) The first is owing to the earth standing on water, the water on winds, and the winds on space. When the winds blow, they shake the water, and the water shakes the earth. (2) When an ascetic or brahmin acquiring magic power (iddhi), or a divinity of great power practises limited earth-perception or unlimited water-perception, then he shakes the earth. The other six cases are (3) when a Bodhisatta is conceived, (4) is born, (5) attains enlightenment, (6) as Buddha turns the Wheel of the Doctrine, (7) shakes off his sum of life, (8) attains Nirvana without a remainder of upadi.
Then follow lists of the eight assemblies and Buddha's conduct therein, the eight stages of mastery, and the eight stages of release. The two latter lists are classifications of states of mind attained by concentration. Buddha then told how just after his enlightenment Mara tempted him with exactly the same words as he had used on the present occasion, and repeated the whole conversation with Mara that had just taken place. Thereupon it struck Ananda to ask Buddha to stay for a cycle, but Buddha blamed him for not asking before, and mentioned sixteen places where he might have done so. "If, Ananda, you had asked the Tathagata, he might have refused twice, but he would have assented the third time. Therefore, Ananda, this was herein a fault of yours, this was an offence."
The harshness of this reproof we may be sure was not due to Buddha, but to the feelings which arose in the community after the origination of this legend. It appears also in the story of the first Council, according to which Ananda was made to confess his fault before the Order.
Ananda was then sent to assemble the Vesali monks in the hall, and Buddha exhorted them on practising the doctrines he had taught them in order that the religious life might last long. Then he added, "Come now, monks, I address you: subject to decay are compound things, strive with earnestness. In no long time the Tathagata will attain Nirvana. The Tathagata will attain Nirvana in three months from now."
The next day on returning from begging in Vesali, he looked back at the city for the last time, and then went to the village of Bhandagama. There he preached on the four things which being understood destroy rebirth -- morality, concentration, insight, release. He then passed through the villages of Hatthigama, Ambagama, and Jambugama,270 and stayed at Bhoganagara. There he addressed the monks on the four Great Authorities. This is a method for determining what is actually the doctrine. It shows the arrangement of the Master's teaching not only as Dhamma and Vinaya, but also as Miitika, the 'lists' forming the systematic treatment of the Dhamma known as the Abhidhamma. It is no invention of the compiler's, but he found it in another part of the Scriptures, probably in the same place where we find it now, Anguttara, ii 167ff. It is a kind of test that we should expect to be drawn up by the Community in order to settle doubts about the authorised teaching before the Scriptures were committed to writing. The four possibilities are (1) when a monk declares that he has heard anything directly from the Lord as being Dhamma or Vinaya, and the Lord's teaching, the monks are to examine the Sutta or Vinaya to find out if it is there. Similarly, (2) if he claims to have heard it from an assembly of the Order at a certain place, (3) from a number of learned elders, who have learnt the Dhamma, Vinaya, and Matikii, or (4)from a single learned elder.
After leaving Bhoganagara Buddha went to Pava,271 and stayed in the mango grove of Cunda, the smith. There Cunda provided a meal272 with excellent food, hard and soft, and a large amount of sukaramaddava.273 Before the meal Buddha said, "Serve me, Cunda, with the sukaramaddava that you have prepared, and serve the Order with the other hard and soft food." Cunda did so, and after the meal Buddha told him to throw the remainder of the sukaramaddava into a hole, as he saw no one in the world who could digest it other than the Tathagata. Then sharp sickness arose, with flow of blood, and violent deadly pains. but Buddha mindful and conscious controlled them without complaining, and set out with Ananda for Kusinara.
On the way he came to a tree, and told Ananda to spread a robe fourfold for him to sit on, as he was suffering. There he asked for water to drink from the stream, but Ananda said that five hundred carts had just passed over, and the water was flowing muddy and turbid. Not far away was the river Kakuttha (or Kukuttha), where the Lord could drink and bathe his limbs.274 Three times Buddha asked, and when Ananda went to the stream, he found the water flowing clear and pure, which he took in a bowl, marvelling at the wondrous power of the Tathagata.
While Buddha rested there, Pukkusa, a Malla and pupil of Alara Kalama, came and told how Alara was once sitting in the open air, and did not see or hear five hundred passing carts, though he was conscious and awake. Buddha replied that when he himself was at Atuma, it rained, poured, and lightened, and two farmers were struck and four oxen. When a great crowd collected, Buddha inquired why, and was told what had happened, but although awake in the open air, he had seen and heard nothing. Pukkusa was so much impressed that he became a lay disciple, and presented Buddha with a pair of gold-coloured robes. Buddha accepted them, and said, "Clothe me with one, Pukkusa, and Ananda with the other." When Pukkusa had gone, Ananda brought the pair of robes near to the body of the Lord,275 and they seemed to have lost their glow. This was by contrast with the marvellous brightness and clearness of skin of Buddha, and he told Ananda that this takes place on two occasions: on the night when the Tathagata attains enlightenment, and on the night when he attains Nirvana without a remainder of upadi,276 and this would take place in the last watch of the night at Kusinara.
On arriving at the river Kakuttha he bathed and drank, and going to a mango grove lay down on his right side in the attitude of a lion with one foot on the other, thinking of the right time to get up. He then told Ananda that Cunda might be blamed for the meal that he had given, but his remorse was to be dispelled, and he was to be told thus:
It was gain to thee, friend Cunda, great gain to thee, that the Tathagata received his last alms from thee and attained Nirvana. Face to face with the Lord, friend Cunda have I heard, face to face have I received, that these two alms are of equal fruit and equal result, far surpassing in fruit and blessing other alms. What are the two? The alms that a Tathagata receives when he attains supreme complete enlightenment, and the alms that he receives when he attains Nirvana with the element of Nirvana that is without upadi. Cunda the smith has done a deed (lit. heaped up karma) tending to long life, to good birth, to happiness, to fame, to heaven, to lordship. Thus is the remorse of Cunda to be dispelled.
After crossing the river Hirannavati Buddha reached the grove of sal trees at Kusinara,277 and said, "Come, Ananda, arrange a bed with the head to the north, I am suffering, and would lie down." He then lay down in the lion attitude on his right side, and though it was out of season, flowers fell from the sal trees in full bloom, and covered his body. Divine mandarava flowers and sandalwood powder fell from the sky, and divine music and singing sounded through the air in his honour. But Buddha said that it was not merely so that he was honoured. "The monk, nun, layman, or lay woman who dwells devoted to the greater and lesser doctrines, who is intent on doing right, and acts according to the doctrines, he it is who reveres, honours, venerates, and worships the Tathagata with the highest worship."
At that time the elder Upavana was standing in front of Buddha fanning him. Buddha said, "Go away, monk, do not stand in front of me." Ananda wondered why Buddha should speak severely to Upavana, who had been attendant for so long, but Buddha explained that there were gods of the ten world-systems assembled to see him, that there was not a place the size of the point of a hair for twelve leagues round that was not filled with them, and they were complaining that the monk obstructed their view.
Ananda then asked for instruction on several points. It had been the custom for the monks to come after Retreat to see and attend on Buddha, but what was to be done after the Lord's decease? There are four places, said Buddha, worthy to be seen by a faithful disciple, places that will rouse his devotion: the place where the Tathagata was born, the place where he attained enlightenment, where he began to turn the Wheel of the Doctrine, and where he attained complete Nirvana. All those who make pilgrimages to these shrines and die in faith will after death be reborn in heaven.
"How are we to act, Lord, with regard to women?"
"Not seeing them, Ananda." "If we see them, how are we to act?" "No speaking, Ananda." "What must be done by one who speaks?" "Mindfulness must be exercised, Ananda."
On being asked how the burial was to be carried out Buddha said that believing laymen, kshatriyas and others would see to it. It was to be like that of a universal king, and the cairn or stupa was to be at four cross roads. He further gave a list of persons who were worthy of a stupa.
Ananda then went into the monastery,278 and taking hold of the lintel stood weeping, " Alas, I am a learner with still much to do, and my Master is going to attain Nirvana, who was so kind to me." Buddha sent for him and consoled him, pointing out how all things must change, how he had attended Buddha with singlehearted and unbounded love of deed, word, and thought, and exhorted him to strive earnestly and soon be free from the asavas. He went on to point out to the monks four wonderful qualities in Ananda.
Ananda tried to persuade him not to pass away at a small insignificant place like Kusinara, but Buddha told him that it was once Kusavati, the royal city of the universal king Mahasudassana, and prosperous like a city of the gods279 and straightway sent Ananda to announce to the Mallas of Kusinara that he would pass away at the third watch in the night, and to invite them to come and see him for the last time. They came with their whole families, and so many were they that Ananda was unable to announce each individually to Buddha, but presented them by families.
An ascetic of the place named Subhadda had heard the news, and thinking that Buddha might resolve his doubts came to see him. Ananda tried to repel him, but Buddha overhearing allowed him to enter, and converted him. He was admitted, and in no long time became an arahat.
Several minor rules of discipline are said to have been decided on this occasion: the mode in which the younger and elder monks are to be addressed, the permission to abolish some lesser precepts, and the infliction of the brahma-punishment on the monk Channa.280 Finally Buddha asked the assembled monks to speak if anyone had any doubt. All were silent, and Ananda expressed his astonishment. and declared his faith that there was not a single monk who had any doubt. Buddha said, "Through faith you spoke, Ananda, but the Tathagata has the actual knowledge that in this Order there is not a single monk who has any doubt or uncertainty either about the Buddha, the Doctrine. the Order, the Path, or the Way. Of these five hundred even the latest monk has entered the stream, is not liable to birth in a state of suffering, and is certainly destined for enlightenment." Then addressing the monks he said, "Now then, monks, I address you; subject to decay are compound things: strive with earnestness." These were the last words of the Tathagata.
Then passing into the first trance, up to the second, third. and fourth, and into the five stages of attainments he reached the stage of the cessation of consciousness and feeling. Ananda said, "Reverend Anuruddha, the Lord has attained Nirvana." "No, Ananda, the Lord has not attained Nirvana, he has reached the stage of the cessation of consciousness and feeling." He then passed back through the stages to the first trance, and again up to the fourth, and from this stage he attained Nirvana.281
There was a great earthquake and terrifying thunder. and Brahma Sahampati uttered these verses:
All beings in the universe
Shall lay aside their compound state.
Even so a Teacher such as he,
The man unrivalled in the world,
Tathagata with the powers endowed,
The Enlightened, has Nirvana reached.
Sakka, king of the gods, said:
Impermanent, alas! are compounds;
They rise up and they pass away;
Having arisen then they cease,
And their extinguishing is bliss.
The elder Anuruddha uttered these verses:
No breathing in or out was there
Of him with firm-established heart,
When the great sage attaining peace
Free from all passion passed away;
Then he with heart released from clinging
Controlled and bore his suffering.
As the extinction of a flame.
Even so was his heart's release.
The elder Ananda uttered this verse:
Then was a terrifying awe,
Then was a horrifying dread,
When he of all the marks possessed,
The Enlightened, had Nirvana reached.
Amid the lamentation of all except those of the brethren who were free from passion, Anuruddha consoled them with the Master's teaching that there is change and separation from all pleasant things and that everything having an origin must decay.
The next day Anuruddha sent Ananda into Kusinara to inform the Mallas, and they came with scents, garlands, all kinds of music, and five hundred sets of robes to do honour to the body of the Lord with dancing, singing, music, garlands, and scents. For six days this continued, and on the seventh they decided to take the body by the south to cremate it. Eight chief men of the Mallas prepared to do so, but they could not raise the body. Anuruddha explained to them that it was the purpose of the gods that they should go by the north, take it to the middle of the city by the north gate, out by the east gate to the Makuta-bandhana shrine, and there perform the ceremonies. Immediately they had assented to this, the whole of the town was covered knee-deep with mandarava flowers that fell from the sky. Then Ananda told the Mallas how to prepare the body for cremation, according to the instructions that he had received from Buddha.
At this point the narrative is interrupted by two incidents. Kassapa the Great with a company of monks arrived from Pava. While on the way he had met an ajivika ascetic with one of the mandarava flowers that had fallen from the sky, and from him he learned of Buddha's death. Among the company was a certain Subhadda,282 who had entered the Order in his old age, and he said, "Enough, friends, do not grieve or lament; we are well freed from the great ascetic. We have been troubled by being told, 'This is befitting to you, this is not befitting to you.' Now we can do what we wish, and refrain from doing what we do not wish." But Kassapa consoled the company with the Master's teaching that there is change and separation from all pleasant things.
Meanwhile four chiefs of the Mallas tried to light the funeral pyre, but were unable. Anuruddha explained to them that it was the purpose of the gods that the pyre should not light until Kassapa the Great had come and saluted it. When he arrived with his company of five hundred and had done reverence to the pyre, it caught fire of itself. It burned without leaving behind any of the skin, flesh, sinews, or fluid of the joints, or any ash and soot. Streams of water came from the sky and extinguished it, and the Mallas extinguished it with scented water. Then they put a fence of spears round, and continued the celebration for seven days.
Ajatasattu, king of the Magadhas, heard the news, and sent a messenger to say, "The Lord was a kshatriya. I too am a kshatriya; I am worthy of a share of the relics of the Lord. I will erect a stupa over the relics of the Lord and make a feast." The Licchavis also of Vesali, the Sakyas of Kapilavatthu, the Bulis of Allakappa, the Koliyas of Ramagama, a brahmin of Vethadipa, and the Mallas of Pava asked for a share. But the Mallas of Kusinara in their assembly refused to make a division, as the Lord had attained Nirvana in their domain. Then the brahmin Dona counselled concord, and proposed to divide the relics into eight equal parts for each of the eight claimants. Having done so he asked for himself the measuring vessel, over which he erected a stupa and made a feast. The Moriyas of Pipphalivana came too late for a share and received the ashes. Two lists then follow, one of the ten divisions as given above, and another in verse giving an extended list of the places where the measures (dona)283 of Buddha's relics are worshipped. These passages are discussed below.
The Mahaparinibbana-sutta was once held to be one of the earliest in the Pali Canon, but Rhys Davids' analysis of it,284 which shows that most of it occurs in other parts of the Scriptures, makes it at first sight appear doubtful whether we have anything that may be called a whole. A closer examination however makes it clear that these passages are not strung together to make a sutta. They are separate discourses inserted in a continuous narrative. The narrative itself is a late legend, as the references to shrines and to methods of determining what are Buddha's utterances show. Some of the discourses may even be Buddha's words, but we have only the testimony of the narrator for holding that they were uttered on these particular occasions. We have good reasons to believe from their characteristic form that they were taken directly from the other parts of the Canon where they are still found. These parts are chiefly the Anguttara and the Udana. The former work arranges all its matters according to the number of subjects discussed, and the Anguttara passages found in this sutta have exactly the same feature -- such as seven conditions of welfare, five consequences of wrong doing, eight causes of earthquake, etc. The first of these passages is indeed stated to be one which Buddha had delivered at a previous time. Similarly the passages that occur in the Udana all end in this sutta with the fervent utterance, the actual udana, as in the collection of that name.
It is clear also that the narrative portion of the sutta was enlarged. Parallel narrative portions are found in the Samyutta. Three of the incidents have been made so extensive that in the Pali they are treated as separate suttas. These are the Mahasudassana-sutta, the Janavasabha-sutta, and the Sampasadaniya-sutta. The first of these in both the Tibetan and the Chinese recensions is incorporated in the sutta. The last of these (an enlargement of the 'lion-roar' of Sariputta) is shown to be an addition from its absence in the Tibetan, and its omission is not a mere accident, but because Sariputta's death is there said to have taken place at an earlier date. The nucleus of the whole, the account of Buddha's death from his last words down to the lamentations of the monks, also occurs as a separate sutta.285
As compared with the stories in the commentaries of Buddha's youth, the story of his death is an earlier document, but from its references to Buddha's conception and birth and to the legends of his being destined for universal kingship or Buddhahood it is clear that the legendary story of his birth was already in existence. The difference between them as historical documents is that the stories of the birth and infancy refer to an earlier time, of which details of biography and even the very basis are not likely to have been known or remembered. But at the time of Buddha's death there was a community which was interested in preserving a record of him, and which must have possessed many unwritten accounts. What his contemporaries actually knew and remembered we cannot tell, because what we possess is the tradition recorded in a formal manner at a much later date, but earlier than the time of Asoka.286 There is at least the attempt to give the record as a contemporary document, shown in the greatness of Pataliputta being stated in the form of a prophecy. Except to the eye of faith this is evidence of a late date to be classed with the references to pilgrimages to shrines, the worship of Buddha, the threefold division of the Scriptures, and the numerous miracles, all of which show the essential facts mingled inextricably with the dogmatic beliefs about the person of a Buddha.
The implied chronology of events in the sutta is vague, but sufficient to show that it is not consistent with later tradition. After Retreat, i.e. about the end of September, Buddha met the monks, and told them that he would attain Nirvana in three months. This implies in the following December or January, and harmonises with the statement that the sal trees (Shorea robusta) were in bloom out of season when he passed away.287 But the date given in the later Pali tradition is three months later than this, full-moon day of Visakha (April-May),288 and the fact that this is also the traditional date of the birth and of the Enlightenment is sufficient to suggest how it arose.
Hiuen Tsiang289 also gives this date as the general tradition, but says that the Sarvastivadins give the day of Buddha's death as on the eighth of the last half of the month Karttika (Oct.-Nov.), i.e. a week before full moon in this month. This cannot be made to fit the sutta, as it implies less than three months, but it is the date which Fleet has tried to establish as historical, and which he made 13 Oct. 483 B.C.290 His argument consisted in assuming that the year was 483 B.C., that Retreat would suitably begin 25 June, and that the prediction of his death uttered to Mara may be reasonably referred to the end of the first three weeks of Retreat. But the identical prediction was made also to the monks, and the very next day Buddha resumed his journey, which shows that the prediction is to be put at the end of the period of Retreat. The Sarvastivadin tradition may he old, but there is nothing to show that it was canonical, and even if a precise canonical date should ever be found, it would remain more probable that it was an addition to the legend, rather than that a really old tradition had been lost by the compilers of our present sutta.
The sutta closes with two lists of relics, and we can quite well believe with the Pali commentator that they are later additions. The first repeats the ten divisions as described above, over each of which a stupa was raised, and concludes with the words, 'even so was it in the past.' This is evidently intended to describe what the compiler understood to be the primitive distribution. The commentator says that these words (and he appears to mean the whole list) were added at the third Council, i.e. in the time of Asoka. Another list then follows in verse:
Eight are the measures of the Buddha's relics.
Seven measures do they honour in Jambudipa;
And one of the Incomparable Being
In Ramagama the Naga-rajas honour.
One tooth by the Tidiva gods is worshipped,
And in Gandhara city one is honoured;
In the Kalinga-raja's realm one also.
Another still the Naga-rajas honour.
This list, says the commentator, was spoken by the elders in Ceylon. It may be that the Ceylon elders added it to the Pali Canon, but they did not compose it, as it is found also in the Tibetan form of the sutta. It is evidently intended to describe a later arrangement of the relics than that in the first list describing how it was in the past. The reference to Gandhara shows that it is late, for it was only in Asoka's time that missionaries were being sent there to preach the Doctrine.291 It is also implied here that Ramagama was not in India. This is explained by a legend in the Mahavamsa which says that Ramagama was overwhelmed by a flood and the urn of relics carried out to sea. There it was found by the Nagas and preserved in their abode, Ramagama of the Nagas.292 Some story of this kind is evidently implied by the reference to the Nagas in the verses, and the disappearance from Ramagama of the Mallas of one measure of relics is likely to be historical.
The commentary then gives the story of the fate of the eight relic-shrines down to the time of Asoka.293 Mahakassapa fearing danger to the relics persuaded Ajatasattu to have one shrine made for them at Rajagaha. The elder collected them, but left enough at each of the places for the purpose of worship, and took none of those at Ramagama, as the Nagas had taken them, and he knew that in the future they would be deposited in a great shrine in the Great Monastery of Ceylon. Those which he collected were elaborately stored by Ajatasattu in the ground, and a stone stupa built above them. The elder in due time attained Nirvana, and the king and people died. This appears to imply that the place was forgotten.
When Asoka had come to the throne, he built 84,000 monasteries and wished to distribute relics among them. At Rajagaha he opened a shrine but found no relics, and also examined the other places in vain except Ramagama, which the Nagas did not allow him to touch. On returning to Rajagaha he summoned the four assemblies, and asked if they had heard of any relic-treasury. An old elder told how his father had deposited a casket in a certain stone shrine, and told him to remember it. The king with the help of Sakka then had this shrine opened and found the relics deposited by Ajatasattu, He left enough there for the purpose of worship, and had the rest distributed among the 84,000 monasteries.
This scarcely looks like trustworthy tradition. The story of the 84,000 shrines means that at a time when many shrines existed throughout India, their foundation was .attributed to Asoka, but evidently we cannot proceed on the assumption that we have in the sutta a contemporary account of the building of the eight relic-shrines, and that one of these remained untouched until the end of the 19th century. The legend would scarcely have arisen unless there had been actual changes in the locality of the relics. The question has become actual through the discovery of shrines containing relics in the region of Kapilavatthu and also in Gandhara.
In 1898 Mr. W. C. Peppe, according to the report by Dr. Buhler,294 excavated a stupa now called Pipravakot, situated on his estate half a mile from the Nepalese frontier and fourteen miles south east of the ruins of Kapilavatthu. In its interior stone chamber he found a number of relic vessels-two stone vases, one small stone casket, one large stone Iota, and a crystal bowl with a fish handle -- containing bones, cut stones, stars and square pieces of gold leaf with impressions of a lion. Round the rim of the lid of one of the stone vessels runs an inscription in characters like those of Asoka's inscriptions but without long vowels. Every word is clear, but great diversity of opinion arose about the translation, and hence about the significance of the whole, and without some discussion it is impossible even to transcribe it. The inscription forms a complete circle. Unfortunately Dr. Buhler's first readings were made from an eye-copy forwarded by the notorious Dr. Fuhrer, who omitted every final m, as well as the first letter of the word iyam, which consists of three dots, and which he apparently took for the end of the inscription. All the earlier interpreters were thus misled. It was not till seven years later that J. F. Fleet pointed out that in one place the letters yanam are above the line, and evidently the last inscribed. They are the end of the inscription, and the engraver had no room for them in the circle. Still later it was shown by Dr. F. W. Thomas that the inscription is in arya verse. Yet most of the discussion concerning it went on before these significant facts were discovered. The inscription according to Peppe's reading with Fleet's changes then becomes:
sukitibhatinam sabhaginikanam saputadalanam
iyam salilanidhane budhasa bhagavate sakiyanam
"Of the Sukiti-brothers with their sisters, children, and wives: this is the relic-treasury of the Lord Buddha of the Sakyas."295
But this is not a solution of all the difficulties. The first word was taken to mean 'Sukiti's brothers', or 'Sukiti and his brothers', or 'pious brothers', or again as 'brothers of the well-famed one'. Pischel held that it was to be read sukiti not sukiti, and means 'pious foundation (fromme Stiftung) of the brothers'. The last word sakiyanam, 'of the Sakyas,' may also be scanned sakiyanam in which case it might mean 'own, relatives of'. Fleet held that this was the meaning, and translated it, "this is a deposit of relics; (namely) of the kinsmen of Buddha the Blessed One."296 On this view it is a relic shrine, not of Buddha, but of certain persons who claimed to be his relatives, and the shrine was erected by survivors of the Sakyas massacred by Vidudabha several years before Buddha's death.297
The various explanations have been most fully discussed by Barth.298 Those which rest on the early misreading can be put aside. Another misconception was to assume that if the inscription is not a forgery, it must be contemporary with the death of Buddha. But all the positive evidence is in favour of its being of the period of Asoka -- the metre, and the fact that the letters are identical with those on the Asokan inscriptions. It omits long vowels, but there are others of the Asokan period that do so. In fact the only reason for putting it two centuries earlier was the hope of identifying it with the share of the relics received by the Sakyas. It was supposed that the inscription stated that Sakyas were the depositors, but this was only due to the words being read in the wrong order, and through interpreting the first word as 'brothers of the Well-famed One', i.e. Buddha. This epithet sukiti has never been found as a term to describe Buddha, nor is it likely that he would be described in two different ways in a short inscription. It is best understood as the personal name of one of the family that deposited the relics. The other interpretations as 'pious brothers' or as 'pious foundation of the brothers', apart from grammatical difficulties, would leave the brothers entirely unspecified.
We thus have an inscription recording simply the name of the donors, the nature of the deposit, and the name of the person to whom the relics are attributed. It is possible that in the time of Asoka they were held to be the share of relics traditionally given to the Sakyas. The evidence is in favour of their being placed in the third century in the shrine where they were found, but the relics themselves may be much earlier, and criticism has nothing to say against the claim that they are authentic.
The second list of relics mentions four teeth, two of them in India, and both of the latter are mentioned in later accounts. That in Gandhara may be the one recorded by Hiuen Tsiang, who speaks of a stupa outside the capital of the kingdom of Kashmir, containing a tooth of Buddha. The tooth of the Kalinga-raja was at Dantapura in south India. According to the Mahavamsa it was taken to Ceylon in the reign of Meghavanna in the fourth century A.D., and met with many changes of fortune. It is this which is held by the Buddhists to be that now preserved at Kandy.299
Other stupas in Gandhara are mentioned by the Chinese pilgrims, and relics have been found there. Though they have no direct relation with those of the ancient lists, they have an interest in connexion with the question of the depositing of relics.
The stupa at Shah-ji-ki-dheri outside Peshawar was excavated by Dr. Spooner, and in March 1909 a relic-casket was found therein. He says, "The relic-casket itself ... is a round metal vessel, 5 inches in diameter and 4 inches in height from the base to the edge of the lid. This lid originally supported three metal figures in the round, a seated Buddha figure in the centre (which was still in position), with a standing Bodhisattva figure on either side. These two figures, as well as the halo from behind the Buddha's head, had become detached . . . The same shock apparently which dislodged the Bodhisattvas loosed the bottom of the casket also . . . On this bottom was found a six-sided crystal reliquary measuring about 2-1/2 x 1-1/2 inches, and beside it a round clay scaling ... This seal had originally closed the small orifice which had been hollowed out to a depth of about an inch in one end of the six-sided crystal, and within which the sacred relics were still tightly packed. These consist of three small fragments of bone, and arc undoubtedly the original relics deposited in the stupa by Kanishka which Hiuen-Thsang tells us were the relics of Gautama Buddha."300
The name of Kanishka is found on the casket, which thus belongs to the end of the first century A.D.
In 1913-14 Sir John Marshall discovered at Taxila301 relics of a still earlier date. Some of these have been presented to the Buddhists of Ceylon, and were thus described by their discoverer, when he made the presentation at Kandy, 3rd February, 1917. "The relic chamber was square and of small dimensions, and was placed not in the body of the dagaba, as is usually the case, but at a depth of six feet below its foundations. In it there were four small earthenware lamps -- one in each corner of the chamber -- four coins of the Scythian Kings Maues and Azes I, and a vase of steatite. The vase contained a miniature casket of gold together with three safety pins of gold and some small beads of ruby, garnet, amethyst, and crystal; and inside the miniature gold casket again, were some beads of bone and ruby with some pieces of silver leaf, coral and stone, and with them the bone relic. All of these articles except the lamps, which are of no particular interest, are enclosed within this casket of silver and gold, which itself is a replica of one of the small dagabas of ancient Taxila. The two kings Maues and Azes I, to whom the coins appertain, belong to the Scythic or Baka dynasty, and are known to have been reigning in the first century before our era. The presence of their coins, taken in conjunction with the structural character of the dagaba and other collateral evidence, leaves no room for doubt that the relics were enshrined before the beginning of the Christian era."302
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Notes:265 Mahaparinibbana-s., analyzed in this chapter, Mahasudassana-s., a discourse delivered by Buddha on his death bed, and Janavasabha-s., Buddha's story of the visit of Bimbisara after death to this world, told at Nadika; the 'lion-roar' of Sariputta also exists in separate suttas. and is here probably an insertion.
266 The idea of tutelary divinities of a house is common Indian belief, and is found in the Vedas. (Hymn to Vastoshpati, Rigveda, VII 34.) The Jataka (i 226) tells of such a divinity that lived in the fourth story of Anathapindika's house, and tried to persuade him to give up his services to Buddha.
267 It was on this occasion that he is said to have told the story recorded as the Janavasabha-sutta.
268 Attadipa, not 'lights to yourselves'; the word dipa (dvipa), 'island,' is only a synonym for sarana, 'refuge.'
269 This is the natural meaning of kappa, and Mvastu, iii 225 evidently takes it in this sense, but Buddhaghosa says it means the full life of a man at that time, 100 years.
270 These names mean Elephant-village. Mango-village, and Roseapple-village. They are unknown. but there is no reason why they should be inventions. They were evidently on the road northwards to the Malla country, and were probably known to the compilers of the legends. It is noteworthy that Anupiya, although it is in the Malla country is not mentioned. This indicates that the route to Kusinara went further to the east.
271 Mahavira, the Jain leader, is said to have died at Pava. (Skt. Papa.). but this is a place identified by the Jains with the modern village of Pawapuri in the Patna District. The Pava of Buddha was within a day's journey of Kusinara.
272 This was Buddha's last meal. All that follows took place within the same day.
273 The word means pig's soft food, but does not indicate whether it means food made of pigs' flesh, or food eaten by pigs. The word however is not the obvious sukaramamsa, 'pigs' flesh,' which we should expect, if this were meant. Buddhaghosa definitely takes it as meaning the flesh of a pig, and so did the Great Commentary according to the Udana commentator, who quotes from it, and says: "sukaramaddava in the Great Commentary is said to be the flesh of a pig made soft and oily; but some say it was not pigs' flesh (sukaramamsa) but the sprout of a plant trodden by pigs; others that it was a mushroom (ahicchattaka) growing in a place trodden by pigs; others again have taken it in the sense of a flavouring substance"; Udana com. i 399. Rhys Davids, Dial. ii 137 translates 'a quantity of truffles'. K. E. Neumann Majjhima tr., Vorrede, p. xx, says 'Eberlust ... der Name irgend einer essbaren Pilzart'. J. F. Fleet is still more precise, 'The succulent parts, the titbits, of a young wild boar.' JRAS. 1909, p. 21. Those are unprovable theories. All we know is that the oldest commentators held it to be pigs' flesh.
274 In the Tibetan the turbid stream appears to be the Kakuttha and the river where he bathed the Hirannavati mentioned below.
275 Putting one on as an undergarment and one as an upper, says Buddhaghosa.
276 Those constituents of the self, which remain until finally dispersed at the death of one who attains Nirvana.
277 This place was identified by Cunningham with Kasia in the Gorakhpur District. V. A. Smith thought it was in a still undiscovered place in Nepal, some 30 miles cast of Kathmandu. JRAS. 1902, p. 139.
278 Vihara; the compiler appears to have introduced an account not in harmony with the previous details.
279 This has been expanded into the story of this king, which immediately follows this sutta as the Mahasudassana-sutta.
280 These are Vinaya rules, and arc probably taken and inserted here from the Vinaya legends.
281 The reason of this order of the stages is probably that the attaining of Nirvana from the fourth stage of trance was the original form of the legend, and that when the other stages were added this circumstance of the fourth' trance coming last was still preserved in the above way. The following verses differ in number and order in the Sanskrit and in versions preserved in the Tibetan and Chinese. They have been discussed by Oldenberg, Studien zur Gesch. des buddh. Kanon, p. 169 (K. Gos. d. Wiss. Gott., Phil. hist. Kl., 1912); M. Przyluski, Le Parinirvana et les funerailles du Buddha, JA. mai-juin, 1918, p. 485 ff.
282 This monk has been without reason identified with the Subhadda mentioned above. But the latter was not in the company of Kassapa; he was at Kusinara. and was converted on the day of Buddha's death, of which this unruly Subhadda had heard nothing. According to the Tibetan he obtained permission from Buddha to pass away first.
283 Divy. 380 speaks of a dronastupa, 'measure-stupa,' or stupa of Drona; this suggests an origin of the name of the brahmin as Drona or Dona.
284 Dial. ii 72.
285 Samy. i 157; the most extensive comparison with other recensions is by Przyluski, JA., 1918, 85 If., 401 ff.; 1919, 365 ff.
286 The final recension may be still later, for even the commentary admits that there are late additions, as will be seen below.
287 They could scarcely be said to be out of season in May. "Never quite leafless, the young foliage appears in March with the flowers. The seed ripens in June." D. Brandis, Indian Trees, p. 69, London, 1906; cf. Roxburgh, Flora Indica, p. 440, Calcutta, 1874.
288 Mhvm. iii 2; Vin. com. i 4 (Vin. iii 383).
289 Beal, ii 33.
290 The day on which Buddha died, JRAS. 1909, p. 1 ff.
291 Mhvm. xii; this is borne out by Asoka's inscriptions.
292 Buddha on his deathbed prophesied that these relics would be taken to the Naga world, and afterwards preserved in the great stupa in Ceylon. This stupa was built by Dutthagamani, king of Ceylon 101-77 B.C. and the monks sent Sonuttara, who obtained these relics for it from the Nagas. Mhvm. xxx 17 ff.
293 The account of the relics in Bigandet ii 91 ff., 134 ff., is directly taken from this commentary. There is a similar story about them in Divy. 380.
294 JRAS. 1898, 387; later discussions by W. C. Peppe, 573; by V. A. Smith. 868; by T. Bloch, 1899,425; by Rhys Davids. 1901, 397; by J. F. Fleet, 1905, 679; 1906, 149, 655, 881; by F. W. Thomas, 1906, 452; by R. Pischel in ZDMG. 1902, 157; by A. Barth in Journal des Savants, 1906, 541. transl. in Ind. Ant. 1907, 117.
295 Luders following Fuhrer's order translates: "This receptacle of the relics of Budha (Buddha), the Holy One (bhagavat), of the Sakiyas (Sakyas), (is the gift) of the brothers of Sukiti (Sukirti), jointly with their sisters, with their sons and their wives." App. to Epigr. Ind. x, No. 931.
296 His reasons for this translation were (1) the order of the words, but his reasons never appear to have convinced other scholars, and (2) the curious nature of the relics, which are more likely to belong to a family than to a. Buddha, but it is a question of what may have been thought likely by the Buddhists of the third century B.C.
297 According to the Dhammapada form of the legend; see p. 140.
298 A. Barth, loc. cit., where the minutiae of the grammatical difficulties will be found.
299 Mhvm. continuation of xxxvii; Dathavamsa. JPTS. 1884, English translation by Sir M. Coomaraswamy, 1874; text and translation by Dr. B. C. Law, Calcutta, 1925. J. Gerson da Cunha, Memoir on the history of the Tooth-relic of Ceylon, London, 1875.
300 Arch. Surv., Report 1908-9, p. 49.
301 Identified with ruins east and north-east of Saraikula, a junction 20 miles north-west of Rawalpindi.
302 The Pioneer, March 16, 1917; full report in Arch. Surv. Report 1912-13, p. 18 ff.; JRAS. 1914, 973 ff.