法苑珠林 12.37

12.37

At that time Ānanda raised his voice and proclaimed: 'Thus have I heard. At one time...' and stated the place where the Buddha resided. Kāśyapa and all the holy assembly shed tears and wept in grief, unable to contain themselves: 'Alas! Old age and death are like illusions and apparitions. Yesterday we saw the Buddha; today it is already proclaimed, "I have heard"!'
Also, according to the *Dharmaguptaka-vinaya*, at that time the World-Honoured One passed into parinirvāṇa in the śāla grove of the Mallas in the city of Kuśīnagara. The Mallas, having washed the Buddha's relics, prepared the cremation. When Mahākāśyapa had burned the relics, on that account he assembled the monks and said: 'We should now together discuss the Dharma and Vinaya, lest non-Buddhists express further criticisms and revile Śramaṇa Gautama's Dharma and Vinaya as being submerged and lost, saying that when the World-Honoured One was present all studied the precepts together, but now after his extinction none study the precepts. Elders, you should now appoint monks of vast learning and wisdom who are arhats.' At that time four hundred and ninety-nine persons were appointed, all of whom were arhats of vast learning and wisdom. At that time the monks said: 'Ānanda should be appointed among the number.' Mahākāśyapa said: 'Do not include Ānanda in the number. Why? Ānanda has attachment, hatred, fear, and delusion; therefore he should not be included in the number.' At that time the monks said again: 'Ānanda is one who served the Buddha; he accompanied the Buddha on his travels and personally received the taught Dharma from the World-Honoured One, certainly asking the World-Honoured One questions in various places. Therefore he should now be included in the number.' So they immediately included him in the number. The monks all thought: 'Where should we assemble to discuss the Dharma and Vinaya so that food, drink, and bedding are plentiful without shortage?' They all said: 'Only in Rājagṛha are dwellings, food, drink, and bedding abundant. We should now go together to assemble there to discuss the Dharma and Vinaya.' Mahākāśyapa then made the announcement ordering them to assemble at Rājagṛha. At that time Ānanda was walking alone in a quiet place along the road, and thought to himself: 'Just as a newborn calf still nursing walks together with five hundred large oxen, so am I now: a trainee, one with things yet to do, walking together with five hundred arhats.' At that time the elders all went to Vaiśālī, and Ānanda stayed in Vaiśālī. At that time monastics and laypeople all came to pay their respects to Ānanda, and a great crowd gathered. There was then a Vṛjiputra monk who possessed great supernatural power, had attained the divine eye, and knew the minds of others. He now observed Ānanda: 'Is he a person with desire, or without desire?' Upon observing, [he saw] that he had desire and was not without desire. 'I should now cause him to give rise to a mind of revulsion.' He then spoke in verse: