"
Ananda, hearing the instruction of Buddha, was moved with pity and the
tears flowed down his face, even as when an elephant of mighty strength
shakes the sandal-wood tree. Thus was Ananda shaken and his mind
perturbed, whilst down his cheeks the tears, like drops of perfume,
flowed; so much he loved the lord his master, so full of kindness was
he, and, as yet, not freed from earthly thoughts. Thinking then on these
four things alone, he gave his grief full liberty, nor could he master
it, but said, "Now I hear the lord declare that he has fixed for good
his time to die, my body fails, my strength is gone, my mind is dazed,
my soul is all discordant, and all the words of truth forgotten; a wild
deserted waste seems heaven and earth. Have pity! save me, master!
perish not so soon! Perished with bitter cold, I chanced upon a
fire--forthwith it disappeared. Wandering amid the wilds of grief and
pain, deceived, confused, I lost my way--suddenly a wise and prudent
guide encountered me, but hardly saved from my bewilderment, he once
more vanished. Like some poor man treading through endless mud, weary
and parched with thirst, longs for the water, suddenly he lights upon a
cool refreshing lake, he hastens to it--lo! it dries before him. The
deep blue, bright, refulgent eye, piercing through all the worlds, with
wisdom brightens the dark gloom, the darkness for a moment is dispelled.
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