What were the Buddha's last words?

Sister Vajira, Francis Story (trans.), Maha-Parinibbana Sutra: "Last Days of the Buddha" (accesstoinsight.org, DN 16) edited by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

Part VI: Passing Away: The Buddha's final words

1. Now the Blessed One said, "Ananda, it may be that to some among you the thought will come: 'Ended is the word of the Teacher; we have a Teacher no longer.'

"But, Ananda, it should not be considered in this way. For what I have proclaimed and made known as the Doctrine and Discipline (Dhamma-Vinaya), that shall be your Teacher when I am gone [beyond].

2. "And, Ananda, though now the monastics address one another as 'friend,' let it not be so when I am not here. The senior monastics, Ananda, may address the junior ones by their name, their family name, or as 'friend,' but the junior ones should address the senior ones as 'venerable sir' or 'your reverence ' [Note 55].

3. "Ananda, when I am no longer here, if it is desired, the Sangha (Monastic Community) may abolish the lesser and minor rules [56].

4. "And, Ananda, when I am gone [beyond], let the higher punishment be imposed on the monk Channa" [57].

"But, venerable sir, what is the 'higher punishment'?"

"The monk Channa, Ananda, may say what he will, but the monastics should neither converse with him nor exhort him nor admonish him."

There were monastics and many more devas.

5. Then the Blessed One addressed the monastics, saying: "It may be, monastics, that one of you is in doubt or perplexity as to the Buddha, the Dharma, or the Sangha, the path or the practice. If that is so then raise a question, monastics! Do not feel remorse later with the thought, 'The Teacher was with us face to face, yet we failed to ask him.'"

6. But when this was said, the monastics were silent. And a second and a third time the Blessed One said to them, "It may be, monastics, that one of you is in doubt or perplexity as to the Buddha, the Dharma, or the Sangha, the path or the practice. If that is so then raise a question, monks! Do not feel remorse later on with the thought, 'The Teacher was with us face to face, yet we failed to ask him.'"

And for a second and a third time the monastics were silent. Then the Blessed One said to them, "Monastics, it may be out of respect for the Teacher that you ask no questions. Then, monastics, let friend communicate it to friend." Yet still the monastics were silent.

7. Then Ananda said to the Blessed One, "O, venerable sir, it is marvelous and most wonderful! This confidence I have in the community of monastics, that not even one monastic is in doubt or perplexity as to the Buddha, the Dharma, or the Sangha, the path or the practice."

"You speak out of confidence (faith), Ananda, but here the Tathagata knows for certain that among this community of monastics there is not even one monastic who is in doubt or perplexity as to the Buddha, the Dharma, or the Sangha, the path or the practice. For, Ananda, among this large number (500) even the lowest is a stream-enterer, secure from downfall, assured, and bound for enlightenment."

8. And the Blessed One addressed them, saying: "Behold now, monastics, I exhort you: All compounded things are hurtling toward destruction. Strive with earnestness!" [58]

This was the last word of the Tathagata (the Wayfarer, the One Arrived at Suchness, the Thus Come/Thus Gone One, the Buddha).

How the Buddha passed into final-nirvana

9. And the Blessed One entered the first absorption (jhana). Rising from the first absorption, he entered the second absorption. Rising from the second absorption, he entered the third absorption. Rising from the third absorption, he entered the fourth absorption. And rising out of the fourth absorption, he entered the sphere of boundless space (the fifth absorption). Rising from the attainment of the sphere of boundless space, he entered the sphere of boundless consciousness (sixth absorption). Rising from the attainment of the sphere of boundless consciousness, he entered the sphere of nothingness (seventh absorption). Rising from the attainment of the sphere of nothingness, he entered the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception (eighth absorption). And rising out of the attainment of the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, he attained to the extinction of perception and feeling.

10. Then Ananda commented, "Venerable Anuruddha, the Blessed One has passed away."

"No, friend Ananda, the Blessed One has not passed away. He has entered the state of the extinction of perception and feeling" [59].

Dimensional travel: all across the universe

11. Then the Blessed One, rising from the extinction of perception and feeling, entered the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. Rising from the attainment of the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, he entered the sphere of nothingness. Rising from the attainment of the sphere of nothingness, he entered the sphere of boundless consciousness. Rising from the attainment of the sphere of boundless consciousness, he entered the sphere of boundless space. Rising from the attainment of the sphere of boundless space, he entered the fourth absorption. Rising from the fourth absorption, he entered the third absorption. Rising from the third absorption, he entered the second absorption. Rising from the second absorption, he entered the first absorption (jhana).

Rising from the first absorption, he entered the second absorption. Rising from the second absorption, he entered the third absorption. Rising from the third absorption, he entered the fourth absorption. And, rising from the fourth absorption, the Blessed One immediately passed into final nirvana.

The World's Echo

12. And when the Blessed One had passed into final nirvana, simultaneously there came a tremendous earthquake, hair raising and astounding, and thunder rolled across the skies. More

NOTES: 55. In Pali, "friend" is avuso, "venerable sir" = bhante, "your reverence" = ayasma.

56. Because Ananda, at this point, neglected to ask what the "minor" rules were, the Sangha decided not to abolish any of the rules of the Monastic Disciplinary Code (Vinaya).
57. Channa had been the Buddha's charioteer when he was still Prince Siddhartha in the palace in Shakya Land [Scythia]. Because of his prior connection with the Buddha, he was obstinate and refused to submit to discipline. This imposition of the "higher punishment" (brahmadanda, "supreme stick or cudgel") humbled him into a cooperative and unhaughty monastic.
58. Handa dani bhikkhave amantayami vo: Vayadhamma sankhara appamadena sampadetha. Earnestness (appamada) is explained as "presence of mindfulness." The Commentary explains, "'You should accomplish all your duties without allowing mindfulness to lapse!' Thus did the Blessed One, while on the bed of his final nirvana, summarize in that one word earnestness the advice he had given through 45 years [of his teaching ministry]."
59. Ven. Anuruddha, the elder brother of Ananda, knew this through the super-normal ability to read the minds of others he possessed.

News of the Day: It's Fun to WORRY!

(planadviser.com)
(Unless You Can't Stop)
By Seven Jaini

We are coming to the end of an age (2012). Or are we? Upheaval and change are life, inextricably entwined. If it were not so, there would be little impetus to seek an escape from our conditioned woe. Nirvana stands in contrast to the impermanent, unsatisfactory, and impersonal state of things. The Buddha's final advice was:

"All conditioned-things are hurtling towards destruction, so work out your own salvation with diligence"

(Mahaparinirvana Sutra)

.

"Earthquake rocks Los Angeles"

LOS ANGELES (Robert Jablon, AP, July 29, 2008) - A strong earthquake shook Southern California on Tuesday, causing buildings to sway and triggering some precautionary evacuations. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The jolt was felt from Los Angeles to San Diego, and slightly in Las Vegas.

The 11:42 a.m. quake was initially estimated at 5.8 but was revised downward to magnitude-5.4, said seismologist Kate Hutton of the U.S. Geological Survey office at Cal Tech in Pasadena. More than a dozen aftershocks quickly followed, the largest estimated at magnitude-3.8. The quake was centered 29 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles near the San Bernardino County city of Chino Hills, and the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the quake was about 8 miles below the earth's surface.... "It was dramatic. The whole building moved and it lasted for a while," said Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore, who was in the sheriff's suburban Monterey Park headquarters east of Los Angeles.... California is one of the world's most seismically active regions. More than 300 faults crisscross the state, which sits atop two of Earth's major tectonic plates, the Pacific and North American plates. About 10,000 quakes each year rattle Southern California alone, although most of them are too small to be felt.

"Israel Has Uneventful Day!"

JERUSALEM (WQ, date unknown, still waiting) - In an odd lull, no US-armed Israeli soldiers killed protesting Palestinian rock throwers; no self-styled martyrs bombed marketplaces in retaliation; no homes were destroyed by paramilitary bulldozers; no homes erected on disputed lands; no massive East Berlin style wall ("security fence") was put up; Knesset meets and concludes its business amiably; Hamas vacations in Jordan as joyful preparations are made for pilgrimage to Mecca; and no territory was usurped or disputed. Olives ripened in ancient groves, water flowed plentifully from wells, and celebrants prayed to a compassionate, forbearing, omnipotent deity. Of course, everyday can be like this even before an accord is reached (see livingthefield.com*).

"Bennigan's Files for Bankruptcy!"
Bennigan's, Steak & Ale; Mervyns file for bankruptcy
LOS ANGELES (Reuters, July 29, 2008) - The company that runs Bennigan's and Steak & Ale chains filed for one of the largest restaurant bankruptcies ever on Tuesday and closed several hundred restaurants, costing thousands of workers their jobs. Mervyns says files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Department store chain Mervyns said on Tuesday that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection "due to the state of the economy and difficult operating environment for our industry."

"Oil hits 7-week low on demand worries, dollar gain"
Oil prices tumble to 7-week low as demand worries grow, US dollar strengthens
NEW YORK (Stevenson Jacobs, AP Business, July 29, 2008) -- Oil prices tumbled more than $2 a barrel Tuesday, finishing at their lowest level in seven weeks as a stronger dollar and beliefs that record prices are eroding the world's thirst for energy sparked another dramatic sell-off. The drop -- which surpassed $4 a barrel at one point during the day -- was a throwback to oil's nosedive over the past two weeks and outweighed supply concerns touched off by a militant attack Monday on two Nigerian crude pipelines. It was oil's seventh decline in the last 10 sessions.

"Experts: Indian police struggle to halt bombings"
AHMADABAD, India (Matthew Rosenberg, AP, July 29, 2008) - It's a cycle India has seen repeated 13 times in nearly three years: Bombs are planted where they can kill as many people as possible. Investigations follow, memories fade and months later, bombs explode in another city. But with 552 people dead since October 2005, security forces remain chronically undermanned and ill-equipped, and the political elite appears unwilling to take the sweeping action experts say is needed to stop the bloodshed. "What has been done between the last attack and the latest atrocity to augment our ability to stop terrorists, to root them out? Nothing," said Ajai Sahni, a former chief of India's domestic Intelligence Bureau. He called India's police forces and its intelligence agencies "hideous and hidebound" and noted that in a country where hundreds of millions of people worry every day about finding enough food to eat, "every politician knows that security issues don't win or lose elections." On Saturday, 22 explosions tore through the centuries-old city...

"Giant chunks break off Canadian ice shelf"
OTTAWA (David Ljunggren, Reuters, July 29, 2008) — Giant sheets of ice totaling almost eight square miles broke off an ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic last week and more could follow later this year, scientists said on Tuesday. Temperatures in large parts of the Arctic have risen far faster than the global average in recent decades, a development that experts say is linked to global warming. The ice broke away from the shelf on Ward Hunt Island, an small island just off giant Ellesmere Island in one of the northernmost parts of Canada. "Antarctic Ice Shelf ‘Hanging by Thread’: European Scientists" PARIS (July 11, 2008) - New evidence has emerged that a large plate of floating ice shelf attached to Antarctica is breaking up, in a troubling sign of global warming, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Thursday. “Since the connection to the island… helps stabilize the ice shelf, it is likely the breakup of the bridge will put the remainder of the ice shelf at risk,” it said.... Read more

"Ten Things Not to Worry About"

NEW YORK TIMES (John Tierny, NYT Science, July 29, 2008) - For most of the year, it is the duty of the press to scour the known universe looking for ways to ruin your day. The more fear, guilt or angst a news story induces, the better. But with August upon us, perhaps you’re in the mood for a break, so I’ve rounded up a list of 10 things not to worry about on your vacation. Now, I can’t guarantee you that any of these worries is groundless, because I can’t guarantee you that anything is absolutely safe, including the act of reading... Killer hot dogs, cellphones, plastic bags, plastic drinking bottles, global warming's missing ice, missing mass in space... Read full story

Of course, we are a Judeo-Christian society. And the Bible's injunction is slightly different from the Buddha's final advice to be mindful of impermanence and diligent in uprooting the mental hindrances that obstruct compassion, insight, and liberation. Instead, as Westerners, we're more apt to be influenced by the current zeitgeist arising from this biblical quote. (John Wesley explains as "fear and trembling" as "with the utmost care and diligence").

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling"

(Philippians 2:12-13 NKJV)

*The Intention Experiment (livingthefield.com)

• Dharma talk: Carol Wilson on "Buddhist Impermanence"

Jill Calder (jillustration.blogspot)