The Differences of the Likkhavis

The venerable Ananda, seeing the earth shaking on every side, his heart was tearful and his hair erect; he asked the cause thereof of Buddha.

Buddha replied:  “Ananda!  I have fixed three months to end my life, the rest of life I utterly give up; this is the reason why the earth is greatly shaken.”

Ananda, hearing the instruction of Buddha, was moved with pity and the tears flowed down his face, even as when an elephant of mighty strength shakes the sandal-wood tree.  Thus was Ananda shaken and his mind perturbed, whilst down his cheeks the tears, like drops of perfume, flowed; so much he loved the lord his master, so full of kindness was he, and, as yet, not freed from earthly thoughts.  Thinking then on these four things alone, he gave his grief full liberty, nor could he master it, but said, “Now I hear the lord declare that he has fixed for good his time to die, my body fails, my strength is gone, my mind is dazed, my soul is all discordant, and all the words of truth forgotten; a wild deserted waste seems heaven and earth.  Have pity! save me, master! perish not so soon!  Perished with bitter cold, I chanced upon a fire—­forthwith it disappeared.  Wandering amid the wilds of grief and pain, deceived, confused, I lost my way—­suddenly a wise and prudent guide encountered me, but hardly saved from my bewilderment, he once more vanished.  Like some poor man treading through endless mud, weary and parched with thirst, longs for the water, suddenly he lights upon a cool refreshing lake, he hastens to it—­lo! it dries before him.  The deep blue, bright, refulgent eye, piercing through all the worlds, with wisdom brightens the dark gloom, the darkness for a moment is dispelled.  As when the blade shoots through the yielding earth, the clouds collect and we await the welcome shower, then a fierce wind drives the big clouds away, and so with disappointed hope we watch the dried-up field!  Deep darkness reigned for want of wisdom, the world of sentient creatures groped for light, Tathagata lit up the lamp of wisdom, then suddenly extinguished it—­ere he had brought it out.”

Buddha, hearing Ananda speaking thus, grieved at his words, and pitying his distress, with soothing accents and with gentle presence spake with purpose to declare the one true law:—­

“If men but knew their own nature, they would not dwell in sorrow; everything that lives, whate’er it be, all this is subject to destruction’s law; I have already told you plainly, the law of things ‘joined’ is to ‘separate’; the principle of kindness and of love is not abiding, ’tis better then to reject this pitiful and doting heart.  All things around us bear the stamp of instant change; born, they perish; no self-sufficiency; those who would wish to keep them long, find in the end no room for doing so.  If things around us could be kept for aye, and were not liable to change or separation, then this would be salvation! where