འཕགས་པ་ཁྱའ་བཞའ་ཏང་ང་འཛན་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 1.10

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?’