The Hero with a Thousand Faces

“Some of the deities, Ananda, are in the air with their minds engrossed by earthly things, and they let fly their hair and cry aloud, and stretch out their arms and cry aloud, and fall headlong to the ground and roll to and fro, saying, ‘All too soon will The Blessed One pass into Nirvana; all too soon will The Light of The World vanish from sight!’ Some of the deities, Ananda, are on the earth with their minds engrossed by earthly things, and they let fly their hair and cry aloud, and stretch out their arms and cry aloud, and fall headlong on the ground and roll to and fro, saying, ‘All too soon will The Blessed One pass into Nirvana; all too soon will The Happy One pass into Nirvana; all too soon will The Light of The World vanish from sight.’ But those deities which are free from passion, mindful and conscious, bear it patiently, saying, ‘Transitory are all things. How is it possible that whatever has been born, has come into being, and is organized and perishable, should not perish? That condition is not possible.’”

The last conversations continued for some time, and during the course of them The Blessed One gave consolation to his priests. Then he addressed them:

“And now, O priests, I take my leave of you; all the constituents of being are transitory; work out your salvation with diligence.”

And this was the last word of The Tathāgata.

Figure 76. Death of the Buddha (carved stone, India, late fifth century a.d.)

Thereupon The Blessed One entered the first trance; and rising from the first trance, he entered the second trance; and rising from the second trance, he entered the third trance; and rising from the third trance, he entered the fourth trance; and rising from the fourth trance, he entered the realm of the infinity of space; and rising from the realm of the infinity of space, he entered the realm of the infinity of consciousness; and rising from the realm of the infinity of consciousness, he entered the realm of nothingness; and rising from the realm of nothingness, he entered the realm of neither perception nor yet non-perception; and rising from the realm of neither perception nor yet non-perception, he arrived at the cessation of perception and sensation.

Thereupon the venerable Ananda spoke to the venerable Anuruddha as follows:

“Reverend Anuruddha, The Blessed One has passed into nirvāṇa.”

“Nay, brother Ananda, The Blessed One has not yet passed into nirvāṇa; he has arrived at the cessation of perception and sensation.”

Thereupon The Blessed One rising from the cessation of his perception and sensation, entered the realm of neither perception nor yet non-perception; and rising from the realm of neither perception nor yet non-perception, he entered the realm of nothingness; and rising from the realm of nothingness, he entered the realm of infinity of consciousness; and rising from the realm of infinity of consciousness, he entered the realm of the infinity of space; and rising from the realm of the infinity of space, he entered the fourth trance; and rising from the fourth trance, he entered the third trance; and rising from the third trance, he entered the second trance; and rising from the second trance, he entered the first trance; and rising from the first trance, he entered the second trance; and rising from the second trance, he entered the third trance; and rising from the third trance, he entered the fourth trance; and rising from the fourth trance, immediately The Blessed One passed into nirvāṇa.^[34]

Footnotes

* One of a class of priests entrusted with the preparation and application of the sacred ointments.

* Chief priest, governing as viceregent of the god.

* An amusing and instructive example of a great hero’s abject failure will be found in the Finnish Kalevala, Runos IV–VIII, where Väinämöinen fails in his wooing, first of Aino, and then of the “maid of Pohjola.” The story is much too long for the present context.

* Tathāgata: “arrived at or being in (gata) such a state or condition (tathā)”: i.e., an Enlightened One, a Buddha.

Endnotes

[1] Giles, op cit., pp. 233–34; Rev. J. MacGowan, The Imperial History of China (Shanghai, 1906), pp. 4–5; Friedrich Hirth, The Ancient History of China (Columbia University Press, 1908), pp. 8–9.

[2] Giles, op cit., p. 656; MacGowan, op cit., pp. 5–6; Hirth, op cit., pp. 10–12.

[3] Giles, op cit., p. 338; MacGowan, op cit., pp. 6–8; Edouard Chavannes, Les mémoires historiques de Se-ma Ts’ien (Paris, 1895–1905), vol. I, pp. 25–36. See also John C. Ferguson, Chinese Mythology (“The Mythology of All Races,” vol. VIII, Boston, 1928), pp. 27–28, 29–31.