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HIS LAST TEMPTATION.
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to walk, is the eightfold path," etc. "Everything th a master who seeks the salvation of his disciples, whca pities them, must do out of pity for them, that have I done for you." (O.) Fables, too, were not infrequently introduced into Buddha's discourses.
THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE.
We now come to the record of Buddha's death and the events immediately preceding it, contained in the "Book of the Great Decease," which has been compared to a gospel. This book comes to us apparently from the latter end of the fourth or beginning of the third century B.C., about a hundred years after Buddha's death. The author is unknown. The date of Buddha's death cannot be determined from it, but he appears to have been about eighty years of age, and to have exercised his public mission for about forty-four years. He is represented as journeying from Rajagaha, the capital of Magadha, to Pataliputta (Patna), the new capital, whose future greatness he prophesies. The narrative throughout contains summaries of discourses and directions which Buddha had probably given on previous dates. Journeying on, he was attacked by a severe illness, which he subdued temporarily by great resolution, having a strong desire to give a farewell address to the Order. He asserts to Ananda that he has kept back nothing, and he no longer wished to lead the brotherhood or thought that the Order was dependent upon him. "I too, O Ananda, am now grown old and full of years, my journey is drawing to its close, I have reached my sum of days, I am turning eighty years of age; and just as a worn-out cart, Ananda, can only with much additional care be made to move along, so, methinks, the body of the Enlightened One can only be kept going with much additional care." He advised his people to be a refuge to themselves, and not look for any other, and above all, be anxious to learn. The tempter His last Mara came to him, suggesting that he should temptation. voluntarily die at once, as all his objects were accom
Buddha prepares for his final discourse.
