“But the spirits who are free from passion hear it, calm and self-possessed, mindful of the saying which begins, ’Impermanent indeed are all component things.  How then is it possible [that such a being should not be dissolved]?’”

Now the venerable Anuruddha and the venerable Ananda spent the rest of that night in religious discourse.  Then the venerable Anuruddha said to the venerable Ananda:  “Go now, brother Ananda, into Kusinara and inform the Mallas of Kusinara, saying, ’The Blessed One, O Vasetthas, is dead:  do, then, whatever seemeth to you fit!’”

“Even so, Lord!” said the venerable Ananda, in assent to the venerable Anuruddha.  And having robed himself early in the morning, he took his bowl, and went into Kusinara with one of the brethren as an attendant.

Now at that time the Mallas of Kusinara were assembled in the council hall concerning that very matter.

And the venerable Ananda went to the council hall of the Mallas of Kusinara; and when he had arrived there, he informed them, saying, “The Blessed One, O Vasetthas, is dead; do, then, whatever seemeth to you fit!”

And when they had heard this saying of the venerable Ananda, the Mallas, with their young men and their maidens and their wives, were grieved, and sad, and afflicted at heart.  And some of them wept, dishevelling their hair, and some stretched forth their arms and wept, and some fell prostrate on the ground, and some reeled to and fro in anguish at the thought:  “Too soon has the Blessed One died!  Too soon has the Happy One passed away!  Too soon has the Light gone out in the world!”

Then the Mallas of Kusinara gave orders to their attendants, saying, “Gather together perfumes and garlands, and all the music in Kusinara!”

And the Mallas of Kusinara took the perfumes and garlands, and all the musical instruments, and five hundred suits of apparel, and went to the Upavattana, to the Sala Grove of the Mallas, where the body of the Blessed One lay.  There they passed the day in paying honor, reverence, respect, and homage to the remains of the Blessed One with dancing, and hymns, and music, and with garlands and perfumes; and in making canopies of their garments, and preparing decoration wreaths to hang thereon.

Then the Mallas of Kusinara thought:  “It is much too late to burn the body of the Blessed One to-day.  Let us now perform the cremation to-morrow.”  And in paying honor, reverence, respect, and homage to the remains of the Blessed One with dancing, and hymns, and music, and with garlands and perfumes; and in making canopies of their garments, and preparing decoration wreaths to hang thereon, they passed the second day too, and then the third day, and the fourth, and the fifth, and the sixth day also.

Then on the seventh day the Mallas of Kusinara thought: 

“Let us carry the body of the Blessed One, by the south and outside, to a spot on the south, and outside of the city,—­paying it honor, and reverence, and respect, and homage, with dance and song and music, with garlands and perfumes,—­and there, to the south of the city, let us perform the cremation ceremony!”