Mahâ-Parinibbâna-Suttanta: The Book of the Great Decease

46. 'And now again to-day, Ânanda, at the Kâpâla Ketiya, Mara, the Evil One, came to the place where I was, and standing beside me addressed me [in the same words]. 47. 'And when he had thus spoken, Ânanda, I answered him and said: "Make thyself happy, the final extinction of the Tathâgata shall take place p. 54 before long. At the end of three months from this time the Tathâgata will die!" 48. 'Thus, Ânanda, the Tathâgata has now to-day at the Kâpâla Ketiya consciously and deliberately rejected the rest of his allotted term of life.' 49. And when he had thus spoken the venerable Ânanda addressed the Blessed One, and said: 'Vouchsafe, Lord, to remain during the kalpa! live on through the kalpa, O Blessed One! for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes, out of pity for the world, for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!' 50. 'Enough now, Ânanda, beseech not the Tathâgata!' was the reply. 'The time for making such request is past.' 51. And again, the second time, the venerable Ânanda besought the Blessed One [in the same words. And he received from the Blessed One the same reply]. 52. And again, the third time, the venerable Ânanda besought the Blessed One [in the same words]. 53. 'Hast thou faith, Ânanda, in the wisdom of the Tathâgata?' 'Even so, Lord!' 'Now why, then, Ânanda, dost thou trouble the Tathâgata even until the third time?' 54. 'From his own mouth have I heard from the Blessed One, from his own mouth have I received this saying, "Whosoever has thought out, Ânanda, and developed, practised, accumulated, and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to saintship, and so mastered them as to be able to use them as