Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c8.s2.6

c8.s2.6

From Râjagaha, the chief town in the Magadha territory, Buddha goes northward. He crosses the Ganges at the place where the new capital, Pâtaliputta (Παλίβοθρα), is then being built, the chief city of India in the following centuries. Buddha foretells the coming greatness of this town. Then he journeys on to the opulent and brilliant free-town Vesâlî. Near Vesâlî, in the village of Beluva, he dismissed the disciples who were with him, to pass in solitary retirement the three months at the damp period of the year, the last rainy season of his life. At Beluva he was attacked by a severe illness; violent pains seized him, he was near dying. He then bethought him of his disciples. "It becomes me not to enter into Nirvâna, without having addressed those who cared for me, without speaking to the community of my followers. I shall conquer this illness by my power, and hold life fast within me." Then the Exalted One subdued the sickness by his power and held the life fast within him. And the illness of the Exalted One vanished. And the Exalted One recovered from his sickness and soon after, when he had recovered from his sickness, he went out of the house and sat down in the shade of the house, on the seat which was prepared for him. Thereupon the venerable Ânanda went to the Exalted One: when he was near him and had made his salutations to the Exalted One, he sat down beside him; sitting by his side, the worthy Ânanda spake to the Exalted One thus: "Sire, I see that the Exalted One is well; I see, sire, that the Exalted One is better. All nerve had left me, sire; I was faint; my senses failed me because of the sickness of the Exalted One. But still I had one consolation, sire: the Exalted One will not enter Nirvâna, until he has declared his purpose concerning the body of his followers." "What need hath the body of my followers of me now, Ânanda? I have declared the Doctrine, Ânanda, and I have made no distinction between within and without; the Perfect One has not, Ânanda, been a forgetful teacher of the Doctrine. He, Ânanda, who says: I will rule over the Church, or let the Church be subject to me, he, O Ânanda, might declare his will in the Church. The Perfect One, however, O Ânanda, does not say: I will rule over the Church, or let the Church be subject to me. What shall the Perfect One declare, Ânanda, to be his purpose regarding the Church? I am now frail, Ânanda, I am aged, I am an old man, who has finished his pilgrimage and reached old age; eighty years old am I. . . . Be ye to yourselves, Ânanda, your own light, your own refuge; seek no other refuge. Let the truth be your light and your refuge, seek no other refuge . . . . . whosoever now, Ânanda, or after my departure shall be his own light, his own refuge, and shall seek no other refuge, whosoever taketh the truth as his light and his refuge and shall seek no other refuge, such will henceforth Ânanda, be my true disciples, who walk in the right path.”