SUTRA: Final words of the Buddha (DN 16)

Sister Vajira and Francis Story (trans), Maha-Parinibbana Sutta: "Last Days of the Buddha" (DN 16 PTS: D ii 72), 1998; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Welfare of the Wandering Ascetic Order

6. Then, soon after Vassakara's departure, the Blessed One [the Buddha] addressed Venerable Ananda: "Go now, Ananda, and assemble in the main hall as many monastics as live around [the royal city of] Rajagaha."

"Very well, venerable sir." And Ven. Ananda did as requested and informed the Blessed One: "The monastic community is assembled, venerable sir. Let the Blessed One do as he wishes."

The Blessed One rose from his seat, went to the hall, took the seat prepared for him, and addressed those gathered:

"Seven conditions leading to welfare shall I set forth, meditators. Listen and pay heed to what I shall say."

"Indeed, venerable sir."

"The growth of the monastic community is to be expected, not its decline, meditators,

1. so long as they assemble frequently and in large numbers
2. [so long as they] meet and disperse peacefully and attend to the affairs of the Monastic Community (Sangha) in concord
3. so long as they appoint no new rules, and do not abolish the existing ones, but proceed in accordance with the Code of Training (Vinaya) laid down
4. so long as they show respect, honor, esteem, and veneration towards the elder meditators, those of long standing, long gone forth [as monastics], the fathers and leaders of the Monastic Community, and think it worthwhile to listen to them
5. so long as they do not come under the power of the craving that leads to fresh becoming [rebirth]
6. so long as they cherish the forest depths for their dwellings
7. so long as they establish themselves in mindfulness so that virtuous meditators of the Monastic Order who have not come yet might do so, and those already come might live in peace.

So long, meditators, as these seven conditions leading to welfare endure among the meditators and the meditators are known for it, their growth is to be expected, not their decline.

Siddhartha dwelled in the forest to awaken.

7. "Seven further conditions leading to welfare shall I set forth, meditators. Listen and pay heed to what I shall say."

"Indeed, venerable sir."

"The growth of the Monastic Community to be expected, not its decline, meditators,

1. so long as they do not delight in, are not pleased with, and are not fond of activities,
2. talk,
3. sleep, and
4. company [socializing]
5. so long as they do not harbor and do not come under the spell of harmful desires
6. have no bad friends, associates, or companions
7. and so long as they do not stop halfway on account of some trifling achievement,

So long, meditators, as these seven conditions leading to welfare endure among the meditators and the meditators are known for it, their growth is to be expected, not their decline.

Seven Good Qualities [6]

8. "Seven further conditions leading to welfare shall I set forth, meditators. Listen and pay heed to what I shall say."

"Indeed, venerable sir."

"The growth of the Monastic Community is to be expected, not their decline, meditators,

1. so long as they have faith [confidence, saddha]
2. so long as they have moral dread
3. and fear of misconduct,
4. are proficient in learning,
5. resolute,
6. mindful,
7. and wise.

"So long, meditators, as these seven conditions leading to welfare endure among the meditators, and the meditators are known for it, their growth is to be expected, not their decline.

Seven Factors of Enlightenment [7]

9. "Seven further conditions leading to welfare shall I set forth, medtiators. Listen and pay heed to what I shall say."

"Indeed, venerable sir."

"The growth of the Monastic Community is to be expected, not their decline, meditators, so long as they cultivate the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, that is:

1. mindfulness,
2. investigation of phenomena,
3. energy,
4. bliss,
5. tranquility,
6. concentration, and
7. equanimity.

"So long, meditators, as these seven conditions leading to welfare endure among the meditators, and the meditators are known for it, their growth is to be expected, not their decline.

Seven Perceptions

10. "Seven further conditions leading to welfare shall I set forth, meditators. Listen and pay heed to what I shall say."

"Indeed, venerable sir."

"The growth of the Monastic Community is to be expected, not their decline, meditators, so long as they cultivate the

1. perception of impermanence,
2. of egolessness [the impersonal nature of all things, particularly the Five Aggregates clung to as self],
3. of (the body's) impurity,
4. of (the body's) wretchedness,
5. of relinquishment,
6. of dispassion,
7. and of cessation.

"So long, meditators, as these seven conditions leading to welfare endure among the meditators, and the meditators are known for it, their growth is to be expected, not their decline.

Six Conditions to be Remembered [8]

11. "Six further conditions leading to welfare shall I set forth, meditators. Listen and pay heed to what I shall say."

"Indeed, venerable sir."

"The growth of the Monastic Community is to be expected, not their decline, meditators,

1. so long as they attend on each other with loving kindness in deed,
2. word,
3. and thought, both openly and in private
4. so long as in respect of what they receive as due offerings, even the contents of their alms bowls they do not make use of without sharing them with virtuous fellow members of the community
5. so long as, in company with their companions, they train themselves, openly and in private, in the rules of conduct (Patimokkha and Vinaya), which are complete and perfect, spotless and pure, liberating, praised by the wise, uninfluenced (by mundane concerns), and favorable to concentration [coherence] of mind
6. and in company with their companions, preserve, openly and in private, the insight [vipassana] that is noble and liberating, and leads one who acts upon it to the utter destruction of suffering.

"So long, meditators, as these six conditions leading to welfare endure among the meditators, and the meditators are known for it, their growth is to be expected, not their decline.

Counsel to the Wandering Ascetics

12. And the Blessed One, dwelling in Rajagaha, on the hill called Vultures' Peak, often gave counsel to the meditators:

"Such and such is virtue; such and such is concentration; and such and such is wisdom. [9]

"Great becomes the fruit, great is the gain of concentration [coherence, samadhi] when it is fully developed by virtuous conduct (sila); great becomes the fruit, great is the gain of wisdom when it is fully developed by concentration (samma-samadhi).

"Utterly freed from the taints [10] of lust, becoming, and ignorance is the mind (heart) that is fully developed in wisdom." More

Int'l Women's Day + Buddhism (Ajahn Brahm)

Ajahn Brham (BWSA; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Women in Buddhism: Originally equal, demoted by monks, blamed on the Buddha

Theravada female monastic ordination

(Buddhist Society of Western Australia) What about women on International Women's Day? Streamed live on March 8, 2019. The Buddha said that there would be no successor after his passing into final nirvana. Instead, let the Dharma, the Teaching, be the leader of the monastic community, the Sangha.

Ajahn Brahm explains how an organization can function autonomously, that is, make decisions without having an absolute authority.

• Women in Buddhism
• Ordination of women
• Community of Nuns (Bhikkhuni Sangha)

Support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.com/BuddhistSociety... Recorded at Dhammaloka Buddhist Centre, Perth, Western Australia. Copyright Buddhist Society of Western Australia (bswa.org).

Walking for Peace in India: Buddhist Circuit

Berkeley, USA, Buddha Carika Archives - LBDFI; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

ANNUAL REPORT 2015

The Light of Buddhadharma Foundation (LBDFI) has a four-part strategy to fulfill its mission to develop the Buddhadharma (Teachings of the Buddha) in India.

• The Buddhist Circuit Train (Mahaparinirvan Express)
• Buddhist Pilgrimage – Cetiya Carika

Its first goal has been the support of international chanting ceremonies within the motherland of the Dharma, bringing the International Sangha [Community] back to India and creating meritorious circumstances for the Dharma to flourish.

Its second goal has been to work on the pilgrimage [walking tour] circuit, beautifying the ancient places of pilgrimage and encouraging pilgrims to spend more time in these wonderful places.

Its third goal has been to create training programs for Indian monks, so a fully trained Indian Sangha can blossom again.

Its fourth goal has been to print Dharma materials and encourage conferences and education for the Indian public... Read report

• Volunteer - LBDFI
• PHOTOS: Beloved Rajgir
• CONTACT INFO:
• Address: 2018 Allston Way
• Berkeley California 94704
• Phone: (510) 809-1025
• Email: lbdfio@lbdfi.org

No person is an island... But be one (sutra)

Maurice O'Connell Walshe (trans.), Attadipa Sutra: "An Island to Oneself" (SN 22.43, PTS: S iii 42, CDB i 882), 2007, title based on the Pali Text Society (Feer) edition; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Let the Dharma be your guide.

"Meditators, be lamps/islands unto yourselves [1], be your own guide/refuge, having no other; let the Dharma be an island and a guide to you, having no other.

"Those who are islands/lamps unto themselves... should investigate to the very heart of things [2]: 'What is the source of disappointment, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair? How do they arise?' [What is their cause and origin?]

"Here, meditators, the uninstructed ordinary worldling [continued as in SN 22.7]. Change occurs in this person's body, and it becomes different. On account of this change and difference, disappointment, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair arise.

• [The same is said with regard to "feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness."]

"But seeing [3] the body's impermanence, its changeability, its wasting away [4], its ceasing, one says, 'Formerly, as now, all bodies were impermanent, disappointing (unsatisfactory), and subject to change.'

"Thus, seeing this as it really is, with deep insight, one abandons all disappointment, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair. One is not worried at their abandonment but, unworried, lives at ease. And thus living at ease one is said to be 'assuredly delivered' [5]."

• [The same is said with regard to "feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness."]

NOTES

1. Atta-dipa: Dipa in Pali means both "island" (Sanskrit dvipa) and "lamp" (Sanskrit dipa), but the meaning "island" is well established here. The "self" referred to is, of course, the unmetaphysical pronoun "oneself": cf. SN 3.8, n. 1.

2. It is necessary to withdraw, to be "an island unto oneself," at least for a time (as any meditator knows), not for "selfish" reasons but precisely in order to make this profound introspective investigation and breakthrough in insight. In another sense, Buddhism would of course agree with John Donne who said, "No man is an island."

3. As Woodward remarks in KS [The Book of the Kindred Sayings, translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, Vol. III, PTS 1924], one would expect to find here the words that he inserts in the text: "The well-taught Ariyan disciple," as in many passages. If one, in fact, sees these things and reflects as is said in the text, one will cease to be an ordinary "worldling." [Instead, there will be a "change of lineage" (gotrabhu), making one a "noble one," someone who has gained at least the first stage of enlightenment that culminates in full enlightenment or arhatship.]

4. Viraga is elsewhere translated as "dispassion" (SN 12.16, n. 2) and also has this meaning.

5. Tadanganibbuto means rather more than Woodward's "one who is rid of all that."

• See "The Last Days of the Buddha" sutra (DN 16)

Fruits of a moral and immoral life (sutra)

German Sister Vajira and Francis Story (trans.), portion of the Maha Parinibbana Sutra: "Last Days of the Buddha" (DN 16); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha reclining into final nirvana, ancient stone statue Sri Lanka

.

23. Thereupon the Blessed One addressed devotees in [the city of] Pataligama [the capital of Magadha, ancient Pataliputra, modern Patna, India]: "Householders, the immoral person by falling away from virtue encounters five perils:

1. great loss of wealth through heedlessness;
2. a bad reputation;
3. a timid and troubled demeanor in the company of others, be it nobles, Brahmins, householders, or wandering ascetics;
4. death in bewilderment; and
5. at the breaking up of the body after death, rebirth in a realm of misery, in an unhappy state, in a nether world, [even] in a hell.

24. "Householders, five benefits accrue to a virtuous person through the practice of morality:

• great increase of wealth through diligence;
• a good reputation;
• a confident deportment free of timidity in the company of others, be it nobles, Brahmins, householders, or wandering ascetics;
• a serene death; and
• at the breaking up of the body after death, rebirth in a happy state, [even] in a heavenly world."

This will be for your good for a long time.

25. And the Blessed One spent much of the night instructing devotees in Pataligama in the Dharma, rousing, edifying, and gladdening them, after which he said, "The night is far advanced, householders, and you may go at your convenience.

"So be it, venerable sir," said the devotees in Pataligama, who rose from their seats, respectfully saluted the Blessed One, and keeping their right sides towards him, departed.

And the Blessed One, soon after they departed, retired into privacy.

26. At that time the Chief Ministers Sunidha and Vassakara in [the kingdom of] Magadha were building a fortress in Pataligama to defend against the Vajjis. And [angelic] devas in large numbers, counted in the thousands, had taken possession of sites in Pataligama.

In the region where devas of great power prevailed, officials of great power were bent on constructing edifices. Where devas of medium power and lesser power prevailed, officials of medium and lesser power were bent on constructing edifices.

27. The Blessed One saw thousands of devas -- with his divine faculty, pure and transcending the capacity of humans -- where they had taken possession of sites in Pataligama. And rising before the night was spent, towards dawn, the Blessed One addressed Venerable Ananda: "Who is erecting a city at Pataligama?"

"Sunidha and Vassakara, venerable sir, the chief ministers of Magadha. They are building a fortress in Pataligama, in defense against the Vajjis."

28. "It is, Ananda, as if Sunidha and Vassakara had taken counsel with the devas of the Thirty-Three. For I beheld, Ananda, with the divine eye pure and transcending the capacity of humans, thousands of devas, that have taken possession of sites in Pataligama.

Be blessed by the fruits of a good long life. - Thank you.

"In the region where devas of great power prevail, officials of great power are bent on constructing edifices, and where devas of medium and lesser power prevail, officials of medium and lesser power are bent on constructing edifices. Truly, Ananda, as far as the Aryans extend and trade routes spread, this Pataliputta will be the foremost city, a trade-center [16].

"But Pataliputta, Ananda, will be assailed by three perils: fire, water, and dissent."

29. Then Sunidha and Vassakara came to the Blessed One, and after courteous greetings and the exchanging of many pleasant words, they stood respectfully to one side and addressed him:

"May Venerable Gautama please accept our invitation for tomorrow's alms meal, together with the community of monastics." The Blessed One consented by his silence.

30. Knowing the Blessed One's consent, Sunidha and Vassakara departed for their own abodes, where they had choice food, both hard and soft, prepared. And when it was time, they announced to the Blessed One: "It is time, Venerable Gautama; the meal is ready."

Thereupon the Blessed One got ready in the forenoon and, taking bowl and [outer] robe, he went together with the community of monastics to the abode of Sunidha and Vassakara, where he took the seat prepared for him.

Sunidha and Vassakara themselves attended on the community of monastics headed by the Buddha, serving them with choice food, hard and soft, [with their own hands]. When the Blessed One finished his meal and removed his hand from his bowl, taking low seats, they sat down to one side.

31. And the Blessed One thanked them with these stanzas:

Wherever one may dwell, the prudent person

Ministers to the virtuous and chaste;

And having to these worthy ones made gifts,

One shares the merits with local devas.

And so revered, in turn, they honor one and

Are gracious to that person even as a mother

Is towards her own child, her only son;

And one who thus enjoys the devas' good graces,

And is by them beloved, good fortune sees.

After this, the Blessed One rose
from his seat and departed. More

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.

The Buddha's last words (video)

Dhr. Seven, Eliza Darcey (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Richard Gere (PBS); Maha-parinibbana Sutta: "Last Days of the Buddha" (DN 16), Chapters 1-6 trans. Sister Vajira and Francis Story

The Buddha reclining into final nirvana between sal trees in Kusinara (Yangon, Burmese)

"All conditioned phenomena are hurtling toward destruction; work out your liberation with diligence!" the Buddha said.

This short clip of a wonderful PBS movie on the Buddha and Buddhism twists and distorts many little details, but the story is good and strong. What did the historical Buddha actually say before passing into final nirvana? (The Buddha did not "die" because another "death" is always followed by another rebirth, and liberation from rebirth by full enlightenment is liberation or moksha, release, emancipation, deliverance, salvation, final freedom).
 

His last words and final instructions are recorded in a very long sutra called the "Great Final-Nirvana Discourse" (DN 16, Mahaparinibbana Sutra):

Massive statue of the Buddha reclining (not sleeping) between sal trees in Kusinara.

.

61. Thereupon the Blessed One entered the hall of audience, and taking the seat prepared for him exhorted the monastics, saying: "Now, O monastics, I say to you that these teachings of which I have direct knowledge and which I have made known to you -- these thoroughly learn, cultivate, develop, and frequently practice that the purified-life [of a left-home renunciate] be established and long endure for the welfare and happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world, for the benefit, well-being, and happiness of devas and human beings.

Part 3: Final teachings
62. "And what, monastics, are these teachings [these "things relating to enlightenment" or 37 Requisites of Enlightenment, the bodhipakkhiya-dhamma]? They are the:

• Four Foundations of Mindfulness
• Four Right Efforts
• Four Constituents of Psychic Power
• Five Faculties
• Five Powers
• Seven Factors of Enlightenment
• Noble Eightfold Path.

"These, monastics, are the teachings of which I have direct knowledge, which I have made known...for the benefit, well being, and happiness of devas and human beings."

63. Then the Blessed One said to them: "So, monastics, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to passing away. Strive with earnestness. The time of the Tathagata's final nirvana is near. Three months hence the Tathagata will utterly pass away."
 
64. And having spoken these words, the Happy One, the Teacher, spoke again, saying:

"My years are now full ripe;

The life span [kappa, kalpa] left is short.

Departing, I go hence from you,

relying on myself alone.

Be earnest, then, O monastics,
mindful, and of virtue pure!

With firm resolve, guard your heart/mind!

Whosoever untiringly pursues
this Dharma-and-Discipline

shall go beyond the Round of Rebirths

and thereby make an end of all suffering.
 

Part 5: Who honors the Buddha best?
5. And the Blessed One spoke to Venerable Ananda, saying: "Ananda, the twin sala trees are in full bloom even though it is not the flowering season. The blossoms rain upon the body of the Tathagata [the Wayfarer, the Buddha] and drop and scatter and are strewn upon it in honor of the Tathagata. Celestial coral [space] flowers and heavenly sandalwood powder from the sky rain down upon the body of the Tathagata, and drop and scatter and are strewn upon it in honor of the Tathagata. And the sound of heavenly voices and celestial instruments makes music in the air out of reverence for the Tathagata.
 
6. "Yet it is not in this way, Ananda, that the Tathagata is honored, respected, venerated, esteemed, or worshipped to the highest degree. But, Ananda, any monastic or layperson who abides by the Dharma, lives uprightly in the Dharma, walks according to the way of the Dharma -- it is by such a one that the Tathagata is  honored, respected, venerated, esteemed, and worshipped to the highest degree.

"Therefore, Ananda, train yourselves: 'We shall abide by the Dharma, live uprightly in the Dharma, walk according to the way of the Dharma.'" More

The story of the Buddha's RELICS (sutra/video)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit; Sister Vajira and Francis Story, trans. (DN 16); National Geographic ("Bones of Buddha" video)

Famous later stupa, Boudanath in a suburb of Kathmandu, Nepal (~anup dreamynomad).

There is a stupa in space, in the akasha deva loka, with a portion of the relics. It may look like Shitthuang Pagoda in the ruins of Mrauk U, Arakhine, Burma (Jon Sheer/Jraptor/flickr).

(National Geographic) "Bones of the Buddha" documentary on the discovery of one of the stupas or burial mounds (Buddhist reliquaries) in 1898 in British colonial India.

First Buddha image? Bimaran reliquary.

Do the jewels, relic bones, and ashes found in an Indian casket and tomb in 1898 mark the final resting place of the Buddha himself? Or was it all an elaborate hoax?

When Colonial estate manager William Peppe set his workers digging at a mysterious "hill" in Northern India in 1898, he had no idea what they would find. Over 20 feet down, they made an amazing discovery: a huge stone coffer containing reliquary urns, over 1000 separate jewels, and some ash and bone. One of the jars had an inscription that seemed to say that these were the remains of the Buddha himself.

Tour gathered relics for India

This seems to be a most extraordinary find in Indian archaeology. But doubt and scandal have hung over the amazing discovery for over 100 years.

For some, the whole thing is an elaborate hoax. For others, it is no less than the final resting place of the Maitreya/Messiah of one of the world's three great religions. For the doubters, suspicion focuses on...

The Shakyans (Scythians) had a vast territory in Central Asia along the Silk Route.

The Buddha Sakamuni of the Shakya clan was from Sakastan/Scythia north-west of "India."

 

The relics in the sutras

What's inside Buddhist burial domes?

KUSINARA, ancient India - After the Buddha's passing into final nirvana (parinirvana, complete liberation from rebirth and the end of all suffering), the body was cremated and the ashes/relics divided.

Originally the ashes were only going to go to the Sakya clan -- the Buddha's extended royal family in Afghanistan (Scythia) and northwestern "India." However, seven royal (kshatriya caste) families demanded the body relics.

To avoid fighting, a monk divided the relics into ten portions, eight from the body relics, one from the ashes of Buddha's cremation pyre, and one from the bucket used to divide the relics, according to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta (Long Discourses, DN 16).

After the Buddha's distribution the relics were enshrined and honored in royal burial mounds (reliquaries or stupas) by the royals of eight "countries" (janapadas, or "footholds of the clan," extended familial territories, republics and kingdoms before there was any "India") in this way -- one portion each to:

A royal Scythian burial

1. King Ajatasattu of Magadha [son of the Buddhist King Bimbisara],
2. the Licchavis of Vesali,
3. the Shakyas of Kapilavastu [Bamiyan according to maverick historian Dr. Ranajit Pal, Kabul, and Mes Aynak, modern Afganistan, west of modern India and Pakistan, ancient Gandhara, according to the fact that the sutras describe the Shakyas as having three capitals in their Great Territory or maha-janapada, according to original research at Wisdom Quarterly]
4. the Bulis of Allakappa
5. the Koliyas of Ramagrama
6. the Brahmin of Vethadipa [who made the partition of the relics and asked to keep one portion to honor with the building of a burial mound]
7. the Mallas of Pava
8. the Mallas of Kusinara [modern Kushinagar, the territory the Buddha purposely chose as a former great kingdom of the remote past, where he traveled by foot with Ven. Ananda to pass into final nirvana to avoid conflict or even war breaking out between competing kingdoms wishing to keep and honor the Buddha's remains and give them a special place of honor due to his great fame ("Asoka and the Buddha-Relics," ntu.edu.tw).
9. [the devas in the akasha deva loka, that is, in a world in space, presumably a nearby planet]
10. [uncertain but we will find out.]

Relics in Afghanistan

The world famous Buddhas of Bamiyan from faraway Scythia/Afghanistan (Azaranica).

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The CIA as the Taliban or ISIS destroys.

[Why would there be Buddhist relics in Islamic Afghanistan? It is because the Buddha was from the area before it was called Afghanistan. And as their beloved prince he renounced and became a wandering ascetic who went to India to become enlightened. But he returned to help and teach his extended family and friends the path to liberation from all suffering. The Shakyans remembered him and honored him and many Shakyans became monastic-practitioners or great supporters of the Sangha and Dharma helping it spread north and west before it moved out of India where it was taking root.

We suggest that it took hold in Afghanistan and agrarian nomadic Central Asia before it caught on in Brahmin/Vedic-dominated "Indian" states. The story is usually that the Teachings traveled up the Silk Route from India passing through the waddle and daub villages of backward no man's land west of the kingdoms of modern NW India. The fact is that the Buddha returned home seven years after his enlightenment but his grand reputation as a sage (muni) preceded him and his wife, Yasodhara/Bimba Devi, was already practicing as an ascetic as she had been since he left.]

What remained prior to detonation (Azaranica).

Sometime in the middle of the 5th century the Chinese pilgrim Daorong traveled to the Buddhist kingdom of Afghanistan visiting pilgrimage sites. In Nagaharahara was a piece of bone from the top of Buddha's skull four inches long. Also in the city was an enshrined staff and a jeweled reliquary containing some teeth and hair. A shadow was said to have been projected onto a rock wall, said to have belonged to the Buddha, as well as a set of foot prints and a site venerated for being where the Buddha washed his robe.

A temple (vihara) said to have been built by the Buddha is sinking into the ground here, with what is said to be his writing on the wall (John S. Strong, 2007, Relics of the Buddha, p. xiii). A tooth of the Buddha was kept in Baktra (Strong 2007, p. 182).

Bimaran casket reliquary placed in stone box.

In Bamiyan -- site of the destruction of the world's largest Buddha statues by the CIA/Taliban -- a tooth of the Buddha was stored along with the tooth of a cakravartin ("world monarch") ruler (), the two kinds of persons the Buddha said stupas were erected in remembrance of. An early masterpiece of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara and one of the earliest representations of the Buddha is the golden Bimaran casket, which was discovered in a burial mound near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan.

Although the casket bears an inscription saying it contained some of the relics of the Buddha, no relics were discovered when the box was opened (Senior 2008, pp. 25-27). [Presumably they were taken by tomb robbers who somehow left the more obviously valuable gold and jewel-encrusted urn or devas teleported them elsewhere for safety.] The Buddha's first followers, Trapusa and Bhallika, received eight strands of hair from him, which they brought back to their home town of Balkh and enshrined in a golden stupa by the gate (Strong 2007, pp. 73-74). These relics from the Buddha just weeks after his great enlightenment went on to serve as the basis for the magnificent Shwedagon Pagoda of Burma, a massive stupa complex.

Famous Indian stupa or burial mound reliquary with ornate gate at Sanchi (flickr.com)

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Restoration of one of the great stupas, Sarnath outside of Varanasi (Benares)

Final Passing Into Nirvana Sutra

Sister Vajira and Francis Story, trans., Mahaparinibbana Sutta (DN 16)

Introduction: Of the 34 discourses (suttas or sutras) that make up the "Collection of Long Discourses" (Digha Nikaya), the 16th is the longest. It maintains first place where length is concerned.

• [It tells the story of "the Last Days of the Buddha" up to and beyond the final nirvana and what became of the monastic community (Sangha) and how the Buddha-Dharma was preserved and was transformed into a religion now called "Buddhism" by some prominent Brahmin monastics (like the enlightened elder Ven. Maha Kassapa), which never happened during the Buddha's life and dispensation, presumably by design as he was against religion, empty ritual, and the trappings of another -ism in the world.]

This discourse preserves the principal features of the Buddhist sutra insofar as it, like others, is a rehearsal of events that have been witnessed [by Ananda and/or others]. On account of its unique composition, however, it is, more than other sutra, capable not only of winning the affection of the confident Buddhist, as it naturally does, but also of attracting the general reader, because it is indeed a fine specimen of sacred universal literature.

The rolling the true wheel of the Dharma to a stupa in the foothills of the Himalayas.

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Buddha walking (Nippon_newfie/flickr)

It gives a good general idea of the Buddha's Teaching, the Dharma, too, even though it hardly offers anything that is not found -- and often more extensively dealt with -- in other sutras that are more oriented toward teaching Dharma.

 

At the end of his life, after almost half a century's ministry [45 years of teaching and causing the liberating Dharma to be spread far and wide across time and space, much farther and wider than can be fathomed, as a buddha's influence is one of the Four Imponderables], the Teacher had long since taught all that was necessary for attaining the ideal [enlightenment/liberation or bodhi/nirvana].

During the last period his primary concern, therefore, was to impress on his followers the necessity of unflinchingly putting into practice those teachings: an appeal that could, of course, hardly fail in stirring their hearts [minds] more than ever before.

The world's largest Buddha statue reclining into final nirvana remains unexcavated in the Buddha's homeland, modern Afghanistan, in a former capital at Bamiyan, ancient Scythia/Sakastan/Bactria (NatGeo).

 

The Sangha [both the monastic (communities of monks and nuns known as the Bhikkhu and Bhikkhuni Sanghas) and the more important "community" of enlightened/noble disciples or Arya Sangha] came, indeed, to witness the greatest event in its history, and was keenly aware of it, especially since the Teacher had announced his Parinibbana three months ahead.

The impression on the monastics who flocked to him in large numbers as he was pressing northward was tremendous and could not fail to be reflected vividly in the oral account. (The Buddhist canon was originally, as is well known, completely part of an oral rather than written tradition). Because of its particular import and abundance, this material was soon formed into one body, and so this long sutra came to be. More

• See the Buddha's relics Sept. 7, 2015, Lu Mountain, L.A.
• Marking Buddhist Observance Day by the Moon
• What is the Buddhist "Moonday" (uposatha)?

A Scythian, royal kshatriya, burial with finery and ornate gold like the Shakyas (NatGeo).