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

When the great sage finished his span of life, No gasping struggle vexed that steadfast heart! All resolute, and with unshaken mind, He calmly triumphed o'er the pain of death. E'en as a bright flame dies away, so was His last deliverance from the bonds of life[1]!' 18. When the Blessed One died, the venerable Ânanda, at the moment of his passing away from existence, uttered this stanza: 'Then was there terror! Then stood the hair on end! When he endowed with every grace-- The supreme Buddha--died[2]!' [1. Ketaso Vimokho. Kenaki dhammena anâvarana-vimokho sabbaso apaññatti-bhâvûpagamo, says Buddhaghosa; that is, 'the deliverance which is free from the restraint of each and every mental quality completely vanishing away' (dhammâ being here = saññâ and vedanâ and sankhârâ; see 'Buddhism,' pp. 91, 92). See also below, p. 153. 2. In these four stanzas we seem to have the way in which the death of the Buddha would be regarded, as the early Buddhist thought, by four representative persons--the exalted God of the theologians; the Jupiter of the multitude (allowing in the case of {footnote p. 119} each of these for the change in character resulting from their conversion to Buddhism); the holy, thoughtful Arahat; and the loving, childlike disciple.] p. 119 19[1]. When the Blessed One died, of those of the brethren who were not yet free from the passions, some stretched out their arms and wept, and some fell headlong on the ground, rolling to and fro in anguish at the thought 'Too soon has the Blessed One died! Too soon has the Happy One passed away from existence! Too soon has the Light gone out in the world!'