" Ananda listening to the bidding of his master, weeping went
along the road. And then he told those Mallas all--"The lord is near to
death." The Mallas hearing it, were filled with great, excessive grief.
The men and women hurrying forth, bewailing as they went, came to the
spot where Buddha was; with garments torn and hair dishevelled, covered
with dust and sweat they came. With piteous cries they reached the
grove, as when a Deva's day of merit comes to an end, so did they bow
weeping and adoring at the feet of Buddha, grieving to behold his
failing strength. Tathagata, composed and quiet, spake: "Grieve not! the
time is one for joy; no call for sorrow or for anguish here; that which
for ages I have aimed at, now am I just about to obtain; delivered now
from the narrow bounds of sense, I go to the place of never-ending rest
and peace. I leave these things, earth, water, fire, and air, to rest
secure where neither birth nor death can come. Eternally delivered there
from grief, oh! tell me! why should I be sorrowful? Of yore on Sirsha's
mount, I longed to rid me of this body, but to fulfil my destiny I have
remained till now with men in the world; I have kept this sickly,
crumbling body, as dwelling with a poisonous snake; but now I am come to
the great resting-place, all springs of sorrow now forever stopped. No
more shall I receive a body, all future sorrow now forever done away; it
is not meet for you, on my account, for evermore, to encourage any
anxious fear.
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