The Four Boys’ Absorption
Translation of འཕགས་པ་ཁྱའ་བཞའ་ཏང་ང་འཛན་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད (འཕགས་པ་ཁྱེའུ་བཞིའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ)
- Language
- English
- Translators
- Ryan Damron, Nicholas Schmidt
- Extent
- 157 passages, 22,475 words
- Text
- complete digital text
- Source
- 84000 · Published by 84000 (v 1.0.3 2024). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha,… · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha). Shown whole and unaltered, with its notes, on a…
Contents
- intro 84000's introduction — 11 parts
- 1 — 23 parts
- 2 — 24 parts
- 3 — 23 parts
- notes Notes — 76 parts
Text
84000's introduction
intro.1
The Four Boys’ Absorption narrates the Buddha Śākyamuni’s passing away (or parinirvāṇa) in the Yamakaśāla Grove near Kuśinagara. Ānanda has a portentous dream that is confirmed by the Buddha to be an indication that he will soon die. Widespread panic spreads through the various realms of this world system, and as gods and other beings converge on the forest grove near Kuśinagara, tragic scenes of mourning ensue. Then, when the Buddha lies down, the narrative suddenly shifts to recount how four bodhisattvas from distant buddha fields in the four directions are reborn as four infants in prominent households in the major cities of the Gangetic Plain, announce their intention to see the Buddha Śākyamuni, and with expansive entourages proceed to the forest grove in the country of the Mallas where the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa will take place. Their appearance is marked by various miracles, whereupon the Buddha explains their arrival and consoles his grieving followers with teachings on the limitless numbers of buddhas. He confers responsibility on his attendant Ānanda and his son Rāhula, and then manifests a variety of spectacular miracles. Toward the end of the sūtra, while still appearing to lie upon the lion couch, the Buddha visits the various hells and some god realms, where he sets countless beings on the path to awakening. The text culminates in his final passing.
intro.2
The Four Boys’ Absorption is a Mahāyāna discourse that relates events surrounding the Buddha Śākyamuni’s passing away at the Yamakaśāla Grove near Kuśinagara in the country of the Mallas. It is much less well known than the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtras (Toh 119 and 120) or the classic account in the Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya literature,¹ and is unique in adding to the unfolding of those events the story of four young bodhisattvas who appear in the world at the same time and travel to the scene to witness the Buddha’s passing.
intro.3
The sūtra begins with Ānanda relating a disturbing and portentous dream, which the Buddha confirms as signifying that his parinirvāṇa is indeed imminent. Tremendous lamentation and grieving ensues, not just among the humans present but also among the gods, nāgas, and other beings, who depart their various abodes to converge on the grove and see the Buddha for one last time.
intro.4
The narrative then shifts away from scenes of intense mourning in the grove of śāla trees to four bodhisattvas who pass away in distant buddha fields in the four directions and are reborn in Jambudvīpa as the sons of prominent figures in four major cities of the Gangetic Plain. One appears in Rājagṛha as the son of King Ajātaśatru of Magadha, two as the sons of merchants in Śrāvastī and Vārāṇasī, and one as the son of a general in Vaiśālī. Each of the infants is able to speak as soon as they are born and announce their intention to hear the teachings of the Buddha Śākyamuni. They also deliver sermons on a variety of topics, in the case of Ajātaśatru’s son chastising the king for the terrible crime of having killed his own father. When the bodhisattva infants discover that the Buddha Śākyamuni is soon to pass away, they insist on going to him, and they set off with huge entourages toward Kuśinagara. Their spectacular arrival at the grove of śāla trees is accompanied by various miracles, whereupon the Buddha explains their arrival to his assembled followers, illustrating his knowledge of world systems far beyond our own, and he explains the liberating power of countless other buddhas.
intro.5
Throughout this text, Ānanda is the primary interlocutor and protagonist, whose grief at the impending loss of his teacher cannot be assuaged. Ānanda’s grief affords Śākyamuni and several śrāvaka and bodhisattva disciples (including the four boys of the title) the opportunity to deliver teachings, mostly in verse, on the transitory and illusory nature of compounded phenomena. Besides this general theme of impermanence, a further theme in the text is the importance of developing roots of virtue before a living buddha, and also receiving a prophecy from him, in order to achieve awakening. In this regard, the Buddha consoles his followers with teachings that emphasize the infinite multiplicity of buddhas, whom he sees in all directions.
intro.6
One of the literal meanings of the terms nirvāṇa and parinirvāṇa used throughout this text to refer to the Buddha’s death, are “extinguished.” In light of this, it is notable that on two occasions in this sūtra similes are used that liken the Buddha’s imminent passing to a fire going out once its fuel is used up,² and on one occasion to a fire being doused by water.³ The term nirvāṇa was translated into Tibetan as mya ngan ’das, the literal meaning of which is “passed beyond suffering,” so this connotation in the Sanskrit is otherwise lost.
intro.7
The “absorption” mentioned in the title of this sutra is not explicitly referred to or defined in the text itself. The term absorption (Skt. samādhi, Tib. ting nge ’dzin) normally refers to a peaceful meditative state wherein the senses are collected into a concentrated state of mind, but it can also at times signify a list of concepts and terms that together function as a literary unit.⁴ As Andrew Skilton has noted, absorption in the Mahāyāna context is also frequently associated with the magical powers obtained through familiarization with various meditative states.⁵ The “absorption” of the four boys, then, is perhaps best understood here as a general descriptor related to the four boys, whose miracles serve as evidence of their advanced spiritual realization, which the Buddha extols at length.
intro.8
No Sanskrit version or fragment of the text is to our knowledge extant, either independently or in the form of confirmable quotations. The text was translated into Chinese twice: the first translation was completed in 269 ce by Dharmarakṣa (Taishō 378),⁶ and the second (Taishō 379), a partial retranslation, was completed several centuries later during the Sui Dynasty (581–618 ce) in Gandhāra, possibly from the Gandhārī language, by Jñānagupta.⁷ As Hajime Nakamura has observed, The Four Boys’ Absorption appears to predate the more influential Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇasūtras (Toh 119 and 120),⁸ implying that it appeared in textual form no later than around 200 ce.
intro.9
According to the colophon to the Tibetan translation, the sūtra was translated into Tibetan by the Indian scholars Jinamitra and Prajñāvarman together with the Tibetan translator Bandé Yeshé Dé and others, indicating that the translation was made from Sanskrit during the height of Tibetan imperial sponsorship of Buddhism in the late eighth and or early ninth century. This dating is confirmed by the text’s inclusion in both the early ninth-century Phangthangma⁹ and Denkarma¹⁰ imperial catalogs.
intro.10
The text, with its emotive narrative of the parinirvāṇa and its eloquent teachings, has many interesting and idiosyncratic features, such as an unusual enumeration of eight buddhas of the past (nine including Śākyamuni).¹¹ However, its influence on later tradition has been limited, and it does not appear to have been widely remarked upon in either the Tibetan scholarly tradition or modern western scholarship.
intro.11
This translation, to our knowledge the first English translation to be published, was prepared from the Tibetan as found in the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the variants noted in the Comparative Edition (Tib. dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyur. Where variant readings have been preferred over the Degé edition, or where variants offer plausible alternatives, this has been recorded in the notes. The Chinese translations have not, as yet, been consulted.
1.1
Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Thus did I hear at one time. At the time of his parinirvāṇa, the Blessed One was resting between a pair of śāla trees in the Yamakaśāla Grove near Kuśinagara, in the country of the Mallas. At this time, Venerable Ānanda went to see the Blessed One. When he came into his presence, he joined his palms together and then stood there looking at the Blessed One with his eyes wide open. The Blessed One asked Venerable Ānanda, “Son of Gautama, why are you looking at the Thus-Gone One with your eyes wide open?”
Venerable Ānanda replied, “Blessed One, I had a terrifying dream last night, a premonition of the Thus-Gone One’s parinirvāṇa, so terrifying that it made the hairs of my body stand on end. Blessed One, ever since this dream I have been worried that the Blessed One may soon pass into parinirvāṇa, and because of this I have been miserable, unhappy, and pained by sorrow.”
The Blessed One said, “Son of Gautama, what was this terrifying dream of yours, portending the Thus-Gone One’s parinirvāṇa?”
The Blessed One also asked this to Venerable Ānanda in verse:
1.2
“Answer this question,
Here in this grove of śāla trees:
What was this dream of yours,
With its premonition about the world protector?”
Venerable Ānanda replied to the Blessed One in verse:
“This was my dream last night—
It was terrifying, it scared me,
It made my hairs stand on end.
Best of men, please listen.
“In this world grew a tree
Constantly bearing flowers and fruit,
A tree to gladden the heart,
Replete with all excellent qualities,
“An excellent tree
Casting its cooling shade on the world,
Delighting beings,
Dispelling their illnesses and sorrows.
“Wondrous, infinite in qualities,
Reaching as high as the summit of existence—
To behold it purifies the eye;
To hear of it purifies the ear.
“From it came a voice, pure and sure,
Delighting¹² all beings,
Soft and meaningful,
Noble and virtuous.
“From it shone rays of light
As numerous as the sands of the river Gaṅgā.
So that as many realms
Were illuminated¹³ by this great tree.
“Those humans in the worlds of the ten directions,
Endless, boundless in number,
Who were touched by this light
Benefited beings.
“Scent from this tree
Spread throughout the worlds of the ten directions,
And those who sensed it
Were not reborn in lower realms.
“They were not reborn in the hells,
Nor as brutish animals,
Nor among pretas and asuras.
They had only favorable rebirths.
“Then this great tree
That brought delight to all beings
Broke in pieces in the Malla country
And fell amidst a grove of śāla trees.
“When they saw the great tree break,
Thousands of creatures,
Unimaginable, limitless in number,
Wept and lamented.
“No longer would its sound be heard;
Its scent had stopped spreading.
1.3
Without any warning of illness,
I, too, immediately collapsed.
“Seer, please explain to me
This dream I had last night,
So terrifying
That it made my hairs stand on end.”
At that moment, the gods of the pure abodes; Brahmā, lord of the Sahā world; Māra’s son Sārthavāha; Śakra, lord of the gods; and the Four Great Kings all saw, in their respective realms, signs portending the parinirvāṇa of the Blessed One. Each escorted by retinues of more than eighty billion gods, they went to where the Blessed One was. When they arrived, they bowed their heads to the feet of the Blessed One, and in unison they cried out in despair—moaning, sobbing, and lamenting—and spoke these verses to Venerable Ānanda:
“Ah! What intense, unbearable suffering!
In this delightful grove of śāla trees, on this very day,
Our protector will pass into nirvāṇa.
Ānanda, do you not know—
“The lamp for those who live in the dark,
Our refuge and our last resort,
Without grasping at peace,
Will pass into nirvāṇa today.”
The Blessed One then spoke these verses to Venerable Ānanda and all the assembled gods:
“It is just as you have seen:
Today, in this grove of śāla trees,
I shall pass into nirvāṇa.
Do not suffer. Be steady.
“That marvelous, mighty tree,
Once lustrous beyond imagination,
Radiant and fragrant,
Has broken amidst this grove of śāla trees.
“The teacher, like that tree,
Will today, in this grove of śāla trees,
Pass without grasping into nirvāṇa,
Like fire extinguished by water.
“Upatiṣya and Kolita,
Perfect in knowledge and in miraculous power—¹⁴
These¹⁵ great men will also pass beyond.
Ānanda, do you not know—
“All composite things are impermanent;
1.4
By nature they form and disintegrate.
The teacher has thoroughly understood this
And explained it to his monks.
“Ānanda, come closer!
Go and tell my disciples—
The great elder Aniruddha,
Who has perfected divine sight,
“The great elder Kātyāyana,
The great elders Pūrṇa and Subhūti,
The great Kauṣṭhila,
Gavāmpati, Nandika,
“Śroṇa, and Amogharāja,
Wearer of tattered robes,¹⁶
Nanda and Rāhula,
And my other disciples,
“The elders still in training, those beyond training,
And all other ordinary people—
That I shall pass into nirvāṇa.
Quickly, call everyone!
“Those in training and ordinary people
Who are upset by what has not been experienced before
Should not be pierced with pain and suffering
After I have passed into nirvāṇa.
“Do not grieve. Composite things
Are impermanent and dream-like.
This true nature of phenomena
Should bring them relief.”
Thus he spoke, and Venerable Ānanda again addressed the Blessed One in verse:
“Protector! Awakened One!
When I heard you will pass into nirvāṇa,
I fainted and hurt myself.
I am utterly crestfallen—¹⁷
“Both my body and mind are distressed,
My mind is not composed,
I am unsettled by attachment.
Seer, what will become of me?
“You are my refuge and last resort.
You are the guide for this world.
How can I tell the elders
That today you are here but soon will be gone?
“How can such sorrow be told
By one bearing such sorrow and pain?
How can the elders listen to this,
Our great fear?¹⁸
“When those in training and ordinary monks
Are pierced by grief, completely run through,
How can they survive?
Best of men, please stay for an eon!
“How can I go, best of men,
Among the four communities
And announce that the teacher will pass away?
1.5
Great sage, please remain for an eon!
“The great lamp of this world
Is quickly fading,
And all the worlds will soon
Fall into darkness.
“Best of men, please, do not send me,
So crestfallen, to speak to the monks!
I beg you, entrust this to someone else
Who is not so crestfallen!”
The Blessed One replied, “Son of Gautama, all composite things are impermanent, so do not be upset, let them go!”
The Blessed One then spoke these verses for the sake of Venerable Ānanda:
“Hearing that the Buddha will pass away today,
Millions upon millions of gods
Have left their palaces,
Grieving and lamenting.
“After I have passed,
Do not let monks be upset at not having seen me—
This is the service I request.
Go, and summon all the monks!”
At that time, Venerable Aniruddha was at the summit of Sumeru teaching the Dharma to the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. Venerable Aniruddha, who possessed pure divine sight that far surpassed that of a human, could see that the gods, renowned as the mightiest of the mighty, were disappearing from their palaces. He could hear, too, the gods’ powerful cries of lament, and he watched as his own audience thinned. Venerable Aniruddha focused his mind, and with his divine sight he looked closely at the world. The gods and their entourages were in a state of anxiety, giving up on their sense pleasures and departing somewhere in great haste. Venerable Aniruddha saw those who had reached farther and farther away from the summit of the king of mountains—some who were one hundred leagues distant, some two hundred leagues, some three hundred leagues, some four hundred leagues, and some five hundred leagues away—and some who had fallen into the ocean, though such beings could not be harmed nor injured, let alone killed.
1.6
Like those at the summit of Sumeru, all those beings living on Sumeru, the king of mountains—gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas—were struck with grief when they heard of the Blessed One’s parinirvāṇa. “Blessed Śākyamuni,” they cried, “king among lords of the Śākyas, who reached perfection countless millions of eons ago, whose roots of virtue are utterly pure, will today, in the country of the Mallas, before a pair of śāla trees, pass without grasping, into parinirvāṇa. Today, the eye of this world with its gods, shall close!” they cried, and they journeyed toward Kuśinagara, traveling with such haste that the peaks of Sumeru, the king of mountains, shook and trembled; traveling with such haste that Sumeru, the king of mountains, along with its oceans, quaked and roiled so violently that those at the summit of Sumeru, the king of mountains, fell into the ocean.
Then Venerable Aniruddha, still seated at the summit of Sumeru, let out a great cry and spoke these verses:¹⁹
“The leader of worlds,
Who bestows joy on those worlds,
Who is worthy of beings’ offerings,
The sage, will pass into nirvāṇa today.
“The source of wisdom, conqueror of darkness and gloom,
Father and mother to all living creatures,
Our refuge and our last resort,
The sage, will pass into nirvāṇa today.
“The remover of pain, free from wrongdoing and affliction,
The sublime sustainer, the great physician
Who removes the thorns of nonvirtuous behavior,
The sage, will pass into nirvāṇa today.
“Seeing beings overpowered by attachment and aversion,
Crushed by ignorance, caught up in old age and death,
Stuck, and following mistaken paths,
He developed compassion for the world and taught the Dharma.
“He to whom appeared the hordes of Māra, fierce in form,
In various guises and brandishing adamantine weapons,²⁰
Some flaunting many frightful features,
1.7
Others wielding rocks and boulders—
“Though beholding such diverse terrifying forms,
He remained unmoved, unperturbed.
The protector of the world, who defeated those hordes of Māra,
Will pass today into nirvāṇa, in the grove of śāla trees.
“He who by merely extending his right arm
Can make this summit of Sumeru and its celestial cities tremble,
The guide and seer who has mastered all phenomena,
Will pass today into nirvāṇa, in the grove of śāla trees.
“He whose words resound boundlessly in the ten directions,
Who has crossed to the far shore of knowledge,
The teacher, the heart of every being,
Will pass today into nirvāṇa, in the grove of śāla trees.
“He who strikes fear in mighty hordes
Has discovered the unshakeable, the absence of sorrow, the uncompounded.
The sage, setting the wheel in motion for the benefit of living beings,
Clearly set forth the four truths.
“He whose miraculous powers are inconceivable,
Who can lay out many realms on the tip of a hair,
Whose body is beyond any notion of physical form,
The protector, will pass into nirvāṇa today.
“The teacher has gone to the Malla kingdom.
He has taken up residence in a nearby grove
And immersed himself in the calm of concentration.²¹
He will pass into nirvāṇa, like a fire going out when the wood has been used up.”
At the very moment Venerable Aniruddha finished speaking these verses, through the Buddha’s power, all the monks and nuns and male and female lay devotees in the world, the four communities who revered the Blessed One—except for Mahākāśyapa and his entourage, and 224 monks²²—exclaimed, “This is our last chance to see the Blessed One!” and departed for that grove of śāla trees in the country of the Mallas.
Also at the very moment Venerable Aniruddha finished speaking these verses, all beings throughout this great trichiliocosm, the prescient gods and goddesses; the nāgas, elderly nāgas, and nāginīs; the yakṣas, the yakṣīs, and their young;
1.8
the piśācas, old piśācas, and young piśācas, male and female; beings as numerous as the stars—asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans, and nonhumans—all with their eyes filled with tears, in grief, sobbed and lamented, crying out over and over again. Suffering and distraught, pierced by grief, they threw their arms in the air and sobbed.
Some wrung their hands as they wept. Some bumped their heads together, gazing into each other’s faces as they wept. Some, mouths agape, emitted wretched roars of anguish and, losing their senses, their faces pale, their arms and legs flailing, wept. Some just gazed at one another as they wept. Some banged their heads. Some struck their heads with both hands, hurting themselves physically. Some rolled their eyes and heaved with sobs, howling and crying out in pain, their knees shaking, as if the palms of their hands had been scorched. “Alas, Buddha! Alas, Buddha!” they cried, woeful and destitute, tears streaming down their faces. Rubbing their eyes with the palms of their hands and clawing at their faces, they howled in anguish. Stricken by grief, they cried out in pain.
Many millions of other beings let out great cries as they read aloud while choked with tears. Some, with their palms pressed together, moaned as they read aloud in tears. Some, scorched by the fire of grief, held their heads in their right hands as they moaned. Others, physically ravaged, likewise held their heads in their left hands as they groaned. Some beat their arms, their faces pallid,²³ drained of color, and miserable with grief as they cried out.
1.9
Then the gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, and their entourages, grieving and lamenting, proceeded to where the Blessed one was and, entering the presence of the Blessed One, threw themselves on the ground like trees being felled. Some bowed to the Blessed One’s two feet. Some let out great roars of anguish. Some rolled on the ground while crying out in pain. Some, on entering the presence of the Blessed One, threw their arms in the air and exclaimed, “Alas, Buddha! Alas, Buddha! Alas, protector! Alas, compassionate one, who loves and protects all beings! Alas, refuge and last resort of the three realms, who watches over all beings! Alas, supporter of the unsupported! This world will be barren, all beings will be blind! The rare and precious Buddha will be no more!”
Joining hands, they lovingly grieved together as if mourning the death of their mother. They grieved as if mourning the death of their father, the death of their brother, or the death of their son, crying out over and over, “Alas, protector! Alas, virtuous friend, your speech is so gentle to hear, with the strength of a lion, of an elephant, of the greatest bull! Alas, nectar-like teacher!”
Some leapt into the air, struck themselves, and, falling back to the ground, rolled back and forth on the ground, crying out pitifully from the core of their beings.
Venerable Ānanda then fainted and crashed to the ground like a felled tree. Regaining consciousness, he placed both his hands on the ground in front of the Blessed One and, gazing into his face, spoke these verses:
“To see beings in such misery,
Weeping and lamenting,
1.10
Pierced through with grief,
Is to relive my dream again.
“Like travelers²⁴ assailed by robbers
In some remote and empty place,
When they see in front of them
A great heap of fire,²⁵
“They look everywhere for an escape.
Overcome with fear,
They run in all directions
But find no refuge and no assistance.
“The pain I see in so many beings,
On hearing of the Buddha’s passing, is like that—
The suffering of beings without refuge,
Pierced through with grief.
“How can we look upon the Buddha
As just any important person who has passed?
Let others pass away,
But, Blessed One, please stay for an eon!
“How can we look upon the perfect Buddha,
Passing into nirvāṇa in the Malla kingdom,
Like a once blazing fire
That goes out once its fuel is used up?
“From today, Awakened One, I shall never see you again
At the Bamboo Grove.
Nor, guide, shall I ever see you again
Teaching the Dharma at Jetavana Grove.
“How can I enter Vaiśālī,
The great city of the Licchavis,
And tell those Licchavis
‘The best of men has passed’?
“How, in Kapilavastu,
The great city of the Śākyas,
Can I, in my misery, announce
‘The greatest of persons has passed’?
“How, in Magadha,
In Ajātaśatru’s great city,
Can I utter the words,
‘The great sage is in perfect peace’?
“When many thousands of beings
Shed tears again and again,
How can I respond,
‘The lion of the Śākyas has passed’?
“When the lion of the Śākyas has passed,
Best of men, how will I console
All the monks, the nuns,
And the householders?
“Supreme being, what am I to say
When elders ask me,
‘Ānanda! Where has His Eminence,
The object of our offerings, the perfect Buddha, gone?’
“Sage, what if gods and nāgas ask me,
‘Has he entered a deep concentration,
Or has he gone for a walk?’
1.11
How will I muster the courage to tell them?
“For whom have I, again and again,
Arranged the lion couch?
Hero, from this moment onward,
For whom will I arrange the lion throne?
“Who, like a lion,
Will fearlessly profess the Dharma to the assemblies?
From whom will I hear the Dharma
Of the profound state, so hard to comprehend?
“Greatest of persons, if you pass on,
At whose feet will I offer water?
Whose clothes and Dharma robes will I bring?
Whose alms bowl will I bear?
“Best of men, in the midst of the saṅgha,
Who will praise me, saying,
‘Ānanda! Ocean of learning!’?
Henceforth, who will be there for me?
“Wise one, infinite in eloquence,
Whose gentle speech brings delight
And the greatest happiness,
To whom will I really listen?
“After all the crying and lamenting
Of all the victor’s heirs who uphold the teachings,
It was I who fainted and fell to the ground
At the feet of the great sage.”
The Blessed One then said to Venerable Ānanda, “Ānanda, son of Gautama, have I not taught you from the very beginning that everything dear and pleasing is in no way permanent? Son of Gautama, all composite things are deceptive, like dreams, illusions, mirages, or drops of dew. All composite things are impermanent, son of Gautama, so do not grieve over what happens. Do not cry and wail. Son of Gautama, in the final hours of this night,²⁶ the Thus-Gone One will pass into final and complete nirvāṇa, and with this parinirvāṇa that defeats all imputations, this parinirvāṇa that equals the unequaled, he will pass completely beyond suffering.²⁷ So, Son of Gautama, go and set out the Thus-Gone One’s lion couch between a pair of śāla trees, with its head to the east so that he shall face north, with his back to the south while lying on his right side.”
1.12
Then Venerable Ānanda, crying and weeping, choked with sobs, with tears streaming down his face, set out the Blessed One’s lion couch between a pair of śāla trees. And when he had finished preparing the Blessed One’s lion couch, he spoke these verses:
“Great sage, this is the last time
I set out your lion couch.
Eminence, in the future,
Your lion couch will not be set up again.
“Best of men, protector of the world,
Once you have passed into nirvāṇa,
How will I be able to look into the midst
Of this empty beautiful grove of śāla trees?
“The gods who have lived naturally so long
In this grove of śāla trees—
When they no longer see their guide,
How will they stay?
“Alas! Composite things are impermanent,
Like illusions and dreams.
So, too, is the teacher, the hero—
He will pass away right here.”
Then Venerable Aniruddha spoke to Venerable Ānanda in verse:
“The Buddha has already taught
That all composite things are impermanent.
There is no point lamenting
What is not under anyone’s control.
“Wailing again and again,
Even sobbing,
Will not make this truth easier to accept.
So, learned one, do not suffer!”
Venerable Ānanda replied to Venerable Aniruddha in verse:
“The best of men will pass into nirvāṇa.
Since you are also suffering,
Aniruddha, how can you say this
So boldly?”
Aniruddha replied:
“When I see beings suffering and destitute,
Tormented by grief,
My eyes, too, well up with tears—
The tears come in waves.
“When, with my divine sight,
I see so many beings weeping,
1.13
I, too, weep uncontrollably
On their behalf.
“But there is no benefit whatsoever
To be found in wailing.
So I say to you, Ānanda—
Reflect upon the Dharma, and do not grieve!”
Then the Blessed One rose from his seat and, escorted by an entourage of many trillions of gods, humans, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, kinnaras, mahoragas, asuras, and garuḍas, went to that pair of śāla trees, and when he arrived, he lay down upon the lion couch, on the right side of his body. As soon as the Blessed One had lain down upon the lion couch, the gods made all kinds of divine flowers rain from the sky, scattered many celestial powders, and played hundreds of thousands of heavenly instruments. Humans, too, saying this was the last time they would look upon the blessed Thus-Gone One, made offerings of flowers, fragrant powders, perfumes, ointments, and music from the human world.
As soon as the Blessed One had lain down on his right side upon the lion couch, between the pair of śāla trees, at that moment, right then, at that very instant, a hundred million buddha fields away to the east, in the world called Precious and Melodious, the buddha field of the thus-gone, worthy, perfect buddha Siṃhanādeśvara, a bodhisattva great being called Sucintitārtha passed away and was reborn in the city of Rājagṛha, miraculously appearing in the lap of Vaidehī’s son, King Ajātaśatru of Magadha, as his son. As soon as he was born, he spoke up, and he spoke with purpose:
“From the presence of Siṃhanāda,
I have come here with a purpose.²⁸
Is the lion of the Śākyas, the best of men,
The perfect Buddha, still here?”
A god replied in verse to the bodhisattva great being Sucintitārtha:
1.14
“O great speaker!
Our refuge, the lion of the Śākyas,
Will today, between two śāla trees,
Pass without grasping into nirvāṇa.”
The bodhisattva great being Sucintitārtha replied to the god:
“The Dharma of the lion of the Śākyas
Is very hard to find.
From billions of buddha fields away,
I have come here to listen to it.
“Now I hear he will pass into nirvāṇa today,
In a grove of śāla trees.
It was pointless then, for me to come here
To this buddha field!
“The very day I arrive,
The sage will pass away,
So I must grieve
Along with the world and its gods.
“If I do not see the Buddha,
My journey here will have been pointless.
It shall not be so—I must not leave this a mere aspiration.
I must go before the Buddha!”
And so, there and then,²⁹
He addressed the royal lord of Magadha.
Speaking gently, calmly,
And cheerfully, he said:
“King, listen to me now.
He is a rare, sublime being,
So have no hesitation!
Go before the Thus-Gone One!
“Over millions upon millions of eons,
Only very rarely does a victor appear.
If you meet with such a conjunction of circumstances,
Learned one, you should not be despondent!
“For that would be the attitude of an unschooled child.
What do you think, great king?
It is not I, great king, who am the child—
It is you, lord of men, who are a child.
“Under the sway of desire,
You have committed a heinous crime³⁰
That will propel you to the lower realms—
This is the foolishness of a child!³¹
“The evil deed you committed
Is a terrible crime of immediate retribution
For which you will plummet into the terrible hells
Of unbearable and unceasing torment.
“Have faith in the Buddha!
For through it you will attain liberation.
Lord of men, such conditions will then lead you
To the attainment of perfect awakening.
“You have relied on evil companions;
Devadatta is deeply harmful.
1.15
Under his influence
You killed your own father.
“Your father practiced the Dharma;
He was the Buddha’s heir, his heart son.
In your arrogance
You murdered this wise man.
“If you cannot see the perfect Buddha
Before he passes into nirvāṇa,
Then at least make extensive offerings
To his sacred remains.
“I did not come to this realm
For its sense pleasures;
I came here to see the Buddha.
Great king, have patience.
“While in the presence of the Buddha Siṃhanāda,
I heard that the lion of the Śākyas,
The great sage,
Will pass away today.
“It is in order to see him
That I am here in this realm,
So let us go, accompanied by
All the royal kinsmen and their people.”
King Ajātaśatru then replied to the child in verse:³²
“The road from here to the Malla kingdom is long;
One cannot possibly go by foot, only by carriage.
Child, you will stay here tonight,
And we will travel in comfort with a large army.”
The child then replied to King Ajātaśatru:
“Lord of men, I am not lazy like you!
I have inconceivable miraculous powers.
If I so wish, I could travel unhindered
Throughout the many eastern realms.
“Between here and the world from which I have come,
There are so many buddha fields,
Boundless and immeasurable,
So reaching the Malla kingdom will be all right!”
The boy then jumped down from King Ajātaśatru’s lap and left Rājagṛha on foot, and as he left, he spoke this³³ verse:
“Anyone who does no wrong, who is free of affliction
And longs to see the mighty one, supreme in speech, the lord of men,
Come now, and follow me!
We will see Śākyamuni before he passes away!”
As soon as the child departed the city of Rājagṛha,
1.16
at that moment, right then, at that very instant, in addition to gods and humans, seventy-two thousand creatures of all kinds gathered around as the child, escorted by an entourage of billions upon billions of gods who pay homage at the feet of the Blessed One, proceeded to where the Blessed One was.
As soon as the Blessed One had lain down on his right side upon the lion couch, between a pair of śāla trees, at that moment, right then, at that very instant, five trillion buddha fields away to the south in the world called Ratnavyūha, the buddha field of the thus-gone, worthy, perfect buddha Beautiful Heap of Jewels, a bodhisattva great being called Thoroughly at Peace passed away and was reborn in this buddha field of Jambudvīpa, in the great city of Śrāvastī, in the household of the eminent merchant called Leonine. The moment he was born, he spoke up, and he spoke with purpose:
“Over so many eons,
Again and again, he severed his limbs.³⁴
He gave away his own eyes, his own flesh,
Even his own head.
“In his wish to attain buddhahood,
He gave away queens, princes, and princesses.
He gave away all his possessions, again and again,
For ten billion eons.
“He who gave so expansively
Over so many billions of eons
For the sake of liberating beings—
Is that seer still here?”
The eminent merchant Leonine replied to the child in verse:
“How is it you speak such excellent words
As soon as you are born?
Are you a god, or else a nāga?
Are you a yakṣa, or a rākṣasa?
“My relatives have taken fright,
Running here and there in fear,
But, child, the voice of a buddha
Does not make me flee.”
Then the child said to the merchant:
“I am not just a god, nor a nāga,
Not just a yakṣa or a rākṣasa.
1.17
For they are ordinary worldly beings!
Why, merchant, do you not know?
“Called ‘god of gods,’
I am god, nāga, yakṣa,
Kinnara, and mahoraga!
I am bound by my promise, like a bull.”
The merchant Leonine then said to the child in verse:
“Wise one, I have heard
The words you have spoken,
But I have doubts about what they mean.
I would speak further of it to you, child.
“Tell me, child:
How is it you are god and nāga?
How are you yakṣa and kinnara?
How are you god of gods?”
The child replied to the merchant Leonine in verse:
“In the south
Lives the lord of speech
Beautiful Heap of Jewels.
It is from there that I have come.
“But a hundred times I have been Śakra;
I have reigned.
A hundred times I have been Brahmā;
I have been a universal monarch.
“If I had to describe those births in detail,
Millions upon millions of eons would pass,
And still it would not be over.
And, learned one, I must go.”
“However, great merchant, you should henceforth rely on the following teaching. Rely on it with confidence and contemplate it many times over. Great merchant, what is this teaching? Great merchant, the blessed, thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha Beautiful Heap of Jewels has said, ‘When bodhisattva great beings have three qualities, they will be irreversible on the path to unsurpassed, completely perfect awakening, and they will swiftly awaken to complete, unsurpassed buddhahood.’ What are the three? They are being immersed in the limitless mind, being immersed in profound wisdom, and cultivating the sāravatī absorption.³⁵ Eminent merchant, if bodhisattva great beings have these three qualities, they will be irreversible on the path to unsurpassed, completely perfect awakening
1.18
and they will swiftly awaken to unsurpassed, completely perfect awakening.”
Then the child spoke these verses:
“Apart from pure illustrious buddhas,
Who understand all things caused and uncaused,
The profound wisdom, so difficult to realize,
Creates doubt³⁶ for all types of beings, including gods.
“Since awakening is groundless, all there is is not.
Genuine wisdom is beyond attachment.
It is by becoming familiar with the wisdom that has abandoned all forms of attachment
And is devoid of pain that one becomes a buddha.
“In the limitless mind, the mind does not exist;
To be immersed in such a mind is complete peace.
This mind is called mind because even when turned away from all things,
It remains thoroughly immersed in them.³⁷
“That which can be cut or broken does not endure.
This absorption, indivisible from the qualities taught by the well-gone ones,
In which all entities are like the vault of the sky,³⁸
Is indestructible.³⁹
“Those who meditate on the ephemerality of all entities,
Understanding their empty nature in this way,
Will loosen the web of afflictions
And become buddhas who have conquered worldly desire.
“Everything is understood, yet there is no understanding.
Everything is cultivated, yet there is no cultivation.
Everything is realized, yet there is no realization.
Everything is explained, yet there is nothing there at all.
“The profound Dharma lacks any notion of Dharma.
Though beings are liberated, there is no notion of beings.
In peaceful disengagement, there is no notion of peace.
Though awakening is realized, there is no notion of awakening.
“The courageous who abandon the thorns of views
Surpass all unreliable beings.
They understand the entire process of death and rebirth,
And by renouncing it they reach buddhahood.”
As soon as the child had spoken these verses, right then, at that very instant, the eminent merchant Leonine, his entire entourage,
1.19
and two thousand other beings developed the mind set on unsurpassed, completely perfect awakening, and with their minds thus fully committed, they reached the acceptance of the unborn nature of phenomena. Eighty million gods also generated the mind set on unsurpassed, completely perfect awakening and became certain of irreversibility on the path to unsurpassed, completely perfect awakening. And forty quadrillion⁴⁰ living beings were able to see phenomena with Dharma eyes, free of dust, pure, undefiled, and immaculate.
The child then spoke these verses:
“The reason I came here
Was to enter the presence of the lion of the Śākyas,
Who has freed millions upon millions of beings
From the terrors of saṃsāra.
“Many millions among them,
With the mind set on unsurpassed awakening,
A re now well established
At the level of acceptance.
“My own parents, siblings, and relatives
Are also settled in acceptance,
And all eighty million gods
Have embarked upon awakening.
“In the teachings of the Buddha,
I have found a great heap of precious jewels
Inestimable and beyond imagination,
So I am far from want.”
Then the child Thoroughly at Peace summoned his parents, siblings, and relatives, and escorted by his parents, siblings, relatives, kinsmen, and an entourage of many hundreds of thousands of beings who pay homage at the feet of the Blessed One, he left the great city of Śrāvastī and journeyed to the Yamakaśāla Grove in the country of the Mallas.
As soon as the Blessed One had lain down on his right side upon the lion couch, at that very moment, right then, at that very instant, eight trillion buddha fields away to the west,
1.20
in the world called Joy, the buddha field of the thus-gone, worthy, perfect buddha Lord of Joy, a bodhisattva great being called Without Reference passed away and was reborn here in this buddha field of Jambudvīpa, in the great city of Vārāṇasī, in the household of the eminent merchant called Excellent Flower. As soon as the child was born, he spoke up, and he spoke with purpose:
“The Buddha, our guide,
The teacher of the Dharma of unwavering selflessness,
Will pass into nirvāṇa today
Amidst a grove of śāla trees.
“If all phenomena are beyond reference points,⁴¹
The unlearned who make reference points
Will not be freed from suffering—
Their suffering will only increase.
“All phenomena are ephemeral;
There is no place where they abide.
Neither that which is already exhausted nor that which is yet to be exhausted
Is to be found.
“Emptiness is never destroyed;
Emptiness does not disintegrate.
It neither has conditions,
Nor is it without conditions.
“He who revealed peace, so hard to see,
Through this profound doctrine—
The lion of the Śākyas, the best of men,
The perfect Buddha—is he still here?
“The great lion, the elephant
Who has become pure,
Whose vision has become flawless,
Will today pass away between the śāla trees.
“He who, like a full moon,
Gave teachings for so long
Before the community of monks
Henceforth shall be seen no more.
“He who glorified the monastic assembly
Like a wealth deity atop a mountain peak,⁴²
The protector, the eloquent teacher,
Henceforth shall visit the city no more.
“Before gods and humans,
The roar of the protector’s unsurpassed doctrine,
The melodious speech that brings delight,
Henceforth shall be heard no more.”
As soon as the bodhisattva great being Without Reference had uttered these verses, a hundred thousand people in the great city Vārāṇasī exclaimed, “How is it that this child can remember his past lives as soon as he is born?
1.21
The eloquence of insight, the fearlessness of insight, and the extraordinary insight with which he has spoken these verses, with their various expressions—with such power of understanding and such fearlessness— is truly amazing! We, too, must surely strive to fully achieve such insight!”
Then the child declared to the amassed crowd of people, “Acceptance that all is infinite and boundless, invisible, without reference points, and unborn is to reach irreversibility on the path. It is no ordinary thing; it is equal to the unequaled.”
They replied, “All of us gathered here will set our minds on unsurpassed, completely perfect awakening!”
The child said to them, “All of you, who have set your minds on unsurpassed, completely perfect awakening, come this way! We have gathered together, now let us travel together to see, pay homage, and serve the Blessed One, the thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Without Reference, escorted by an entourage of two hundred thousand creatures, left the great city of Vārāṇasī and journeyed to where the Blessed One was, to pay homage at the feet of the Blessed One.
As soon as the Blessed One had lain down on his right side upon the lion couch, at that moment, right then, at that very instant, sixty-four trillion buddha fields away to the north in the world called Puṣpavatī, the buddha field of the thus-gone, worthy, perfect buddha called Resting in the Branches of Awakening, the bodhisattva great being
1.22
called Flower of Clairvoyance passed away and was reborn in this buddha field of Jambudvīpa, in the great city of Vaiśālī, into the household of the general Siṃha. As soon as the bodhisattva great being Flower of Clairvoyance was born, he spoke up, and he spoke with purpose:
“He who liberates
Millions of afflicted beings,
Who delights the Śākya clan—
The perfect Buddha—is he still here?
“He who through exertion has crossed to the far shore,
Who has mastered wisdom, activity, and equipoise,
That infinite ocean of knowledge—
The perfect Buddha—is he still here?
“He whose mind is at peace, who has found acceptance,
The Thus-Gone remover of painful thorns
Who teaches the Dharma to beings
But does not do so with conceit—
The perfect Buddha—is he still here?
“He who does not abide in the three worlds
But in his wisdom comprehends
The desire, form, and formless realms in their entirety—
The one who sees—is he still here?”
Then the thus-gone one called Resting in the Branches of Awakening manifested in the form of a god, and he spoke to the boy in verse:
“Since perfect buddhas live for an eon,
Or perhaps even more,
You will see the perfect buddha again,
So enjoy yourself, child!
“This is a royal household,
So enjoy the greatest of luxuries.
From the moment you wake,
Let lutes and drums, large and small, resound!”
Then the child, though he understood that this was none other than the Thus-Gone One, for the sake of generating roots of virtue in those other beings who perceived him as a god, spoke these verses:
“Those under the sway of desires
Are foolish and deluded.
They know neither the perfect Buddha
Nor the Buddha’s teachings.
“Since the objects of desire are without essence,
I have no desire to indulge them.
Desire is like the edge of a razor—
Who can trust their desires?
1.23
“Dogs, pigs, and foxes,
Oxen, asses, and mules,
Rely on their desires,
But they do not become buddhas, nor their disciples.
“The crippled, the lame, and the blind,
Idiots, hunchbacks, and dwarves,
Rely on their desires,
But they do not become buddhas, nor their disciples.
“Bees, beetles, and butterflies,
Peacocks and cuckoos, too,
Rely on their desires,
So I would be no different from them.
“Victor,⁴³ desire is like
A raging inferno
That engulfs the entire world,
Into which the blind do fall.
“Desires are ephemeral and painful,
So who can rely on them?
Those who follow their desires
Do not understand the Dharma.
“The buddhas know me
As one with no interest in desire.
I know that this being in the form of a god
Who tests me is a buddha.
“I heard the gods of Sumeru talking
About the Buddha, the protector.
‘In the last watch of the night,’ they said,
‘The Buddha will pass away.’
“All those who wish to behold the sage,
He who has exhausted all fetters, come along!
Alas! The teacher is passing into nirvāṇa!
Let us go and see the Buddha.
“Those who are able to see and hear
The protector, the lion of the Śākyas,
As he passes into nirvāṇa
Will reap tremendous virtue.
“ ‘Such virtue cannot be accrued
Over a billion eons.’
This, Resting in the Branches of Awakening,
Is what the well-gone, the best of men has said.
“Those who find joy in the teachings—
Gods, yakṣas, and humans—
Come quickly with me now,
To see the renowned and perfect Buddha!”
Then the bodhisattva great being Flower of Clairvoyance, escorted by an entourage of many hundreds of thousands of beings who pay homage at the feet of the Blessed One, left the great city of Vaiśālī and journeyed to where the Blessed One was.
2.1
As soon as the Blessed One had lain down on his right side upon the lion couch, the four boys—neither the same nor not the same, possessed of qualities without a hair’s breadth of difference—arrived from the four directions into the presence of the Blessed One, each escorted by a multitude of beings paying homage with folded hands to the Blessed One.
As the four boys came before the Blessed One, a crowd of many hundreds of thousands of people gathered from the villages, cities, markets, surrounding countryside, and royal palaces and welcomed them with folded hands. As they approached, a thick rain of flowers fell over the whole area for about a league in all four directions. As they approached, divine music resounded as the gods played hundreds and thousands of celestial instruments and sang melodious songs.
At that moment, four more well-prepared lion couches sprang up in the four cardinal directions around the thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha. Venerable Ānanda then asked the Blessed One in verse:
“Why, Blessed One,
Have beautiful and well-prepared lion couches
Sprung up in the four directions
Around the omniscient one?”
The Blessed One replied to Ānanda, “Ānanda, the boys who have arrived from the four directions—whose faces are like the moon, whose radiance surpasses the sun in suffusing the four continents with light—shine with brilliance in form and majesty. They possess the light of insight, they are diligent, they have realized profound wisdom, they are glorious, intelligent, and well behaved, they are conscientious, modest, realized, discerning, mindful, stable, and insightful, they are skilled in expounding virtuous teachings,
2.2
and they have fostered roots of virtue with many hundreds of buddhas. They have heard, while in the presence of other blessed buddhas, in other buddha fields, that tonight in the last watch of the night, in the country of the Mallas, between a pair of śāla trees, I, the thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha, will pass into complete nirvāṇa that is beyond all limits, the parinirvāṇa that is beyond conception, the parinirvāṇa that is unlike anything in all worlds, the parinirvāṇa that outshines anything in all worlds, the parinirvāṇa that brings benefit and wellness to all worlds, the parinirvāṇa that is hard to comprehend in all worlds, the parinirvāṇa that quells imputations in all worlds. They have heard that I will pass into parinirvāṇa, so they have taken rebirth here, in this world.
“Have you seen these four boys who have come here from the four directions to hear my Dharma teachings, whose good qualities are praised and proclaimed in this way?
“Ānanda, the child who came from the east has a good complexion and is bright and handsome. He shines with light and blazes with glory. He is accompanied by many hundreds of thousands of beings and is venerated by a hundred thousand gods. Ānanda, this child who was showered with divine flowers as he came into the presence of the Thus-Gone One was previously a king in the buddha field of the thus-gone, worthy, perfect buddha Siṃhanādeśvara. He was a universal monarch, venerated by gods and humans, who ruled over a thousand worlds. During his reign, he taught gods and humans of the desire realm and propagated the Dharma. When teaching the Dharma to many hundreds of thousands of beings, he caused their roots of virtue to mature, and he was skilled in clairvoyance.
2.3
He was a master of the Dharma, penetrating in realization and with an eloquence that was infinitely noble, fluent, diverse, fearless, and meaningful. Expert in his knowledge of the Dharma and possessed of perfect wisdom, he served continuously as Dharma king for one hundred eighty million⁴⁴ years, without the need for weapons and without harming anyone. Not driven by desire, and not hankering for power, he ruled for the benefit of all beings who were open to liberation. He tamed and trained them so that they were tamed and trained. For one hundred eighty million years, he established eighteen hundred billion beings at the level of irreversibility on the path to awakening. He firmly established both those with the qualities of bodhisattvas and those noble sons who had for the first time generated the mind set on awakening at the level of irreversibility from the certain attainment of unsurpassed, completely perfect awakening.
“On another occasion, he shaved his head and facial hair, donned saffron robes, and left his home to live the life of a homeless renunciate. Having thus gone forth, he lived the life of a dedicated, celibate renunciate for eight hundred ten million⁴⁵ years, never even lying on a bed, let alone succumbing to dullness or sleep. For the duration of those eight hundred ten million years, he never had a single desirous thought, a single malicious thought, or a single harmful thought. During that whole time, he had no notion of attractiveness or repulsiveness, no notion of being in a monastery or not being in a monastery, and without having a single other unvirtuous thought, he remained focused on just two endeavors. What were the two? To perfect the physical eye with regard to the imperfection of the eye, and to realize the basic reality of the Dharma teachings with no attachment whatsoever.
“Moreover, for the duration of those eight hundred ten million years, he never entertained the notion of earth,
First 37 of 162 passages. Read on