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96
THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE.
ch.
Vihâra, and stands leaning against the lintel of the door, and weeping at the thought: ‘Alas! I remain still but a learner, one who has yet to work out his own perfection. And the Master is about to pass away from me—he who is so kind!'
34. And the Blessed One called a certain brother, and said: 'Go now, brother, and call Ananda in my name, and say, “ Brother Ânanda, the Master calls for thee."
'Even so, Lord!' said that brother, in assent, to the Blessed One. And he went up to the place where the Blessed One was; and when he had come there, he said to the venerable Ânanda : ‘Brother Ânanda, the Master calls for thee.
"Very well, brother,' said the venerable Ananda, in assent, to that brother. And he went up to the place where the Blessed One was, and when he had come there, he bowed down before the Blessed One, and took his seat respectfully on one side.
35. Then the Blessed One said to the venerable Ananda, as he sat there by his side: 'Enough, Ananda! Do not let yourself be troubled; do not weep! Have I not already, on former occasions, told you that it is in the very nature of all things most near and dear unto us that we must divide ourselves from them, leave them, sever ourselves from them? How, then, Ânanda, can this be possible--whereas anything whatever born, brought into being, and organised, contains within itself the inherent necessity of dissolution-how, then, can this be possible, that such a being should not be dissolved ? No such condition can exist! For a long time, Ânanda, have you been very near to me by acts of love, kind and good, that never varies, and is beyond all
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