Dhammapada

SR No.: 007674
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Max Muller
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1881
Total Pages: 2540
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 45 MB

Page 500

III.
MAHÂ-PARINIBBÂNA-SUTTA.
43
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word which the Blessed One spoke when he said 1 : "I shall not die, O Evil One! until the brethren and sisters of the order, and until the lay-disciples of either sex shall have become true hearers, wise and well-trained, ready and learned, versed in the Scriptures, fulfilling all the greater and the lesser duties, correct in life, walking according to the precepts—until they, having thus themselves learned the doctrine, shall be able to tell others of it, preach it, make it known, establish it, open it, minutely explain it and make it clear–until they, when others start vain doctrine, shall be able by the truth to vanquish and refute it, and so to spread the wonderworking truth abroad!”
8. 'And now, Lord, the brethren and sisters of the order and the lay-disciples of either sex have become [all this), are able to do [all this). Pass away now therefore, Lord, from existence; let the Blessed One now die! The time has come for the Blessed One to pass away—even according to the word which he spake when he said, “I shall not die, O Evil One! until this pure religion of mine shall have become successful, prosperous, widespread, and popular in all its full extent—until, in a word, it shall have been well proclaimed to men.” And now, Lord, this pure religion of thine has become [all this]. Pass away now therefore, Lord, from
1 The words here quoted were spoken by the Buddha, after he had been enjoying the first bliss of Nirvana, under the shepherd's Nigrodha tree (see my 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' pp. 109-111). The Evil One then also tempted him to die (see below, paragraph III, 43), and this was his reply.
9 The whole paragraph is repeated, here and below, for each of these classes of persons.
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