the tops of Sumeru
were shaken, from heaven there rained showers of flying stones, a
whirling tempest rose on every side, the trees were rooted up and fell,
heavenly music rose with plaintive notes, whilst angels for a time were
joyless. Buddha rising from out his ecstasy, announced to all the world:
"Now have I given up my term of years; I live henceforth by power of
faith; my body like a broken chariot stands, no further cause of
'coming' or of 'going'; completely freed from the three worlds, I go
enfranchised, as a chicken from its egg."

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 h