On one occasion Ananda, I was resting
under the goat herd’s Nigrodha tree on the bank of the river Neranjara
immediately after having reached the great enlightenment. Then Mara, the Evil
One, came, Ananda, to the place were I was, and standing beside me he addressed
me in the words: ‘Pass away now, Lord, from existence! Let the Exalted One now “die” [enter
Parinirvana; relinquishing of body]! Now is the time for the Exalted One to
pass away!’
And when he had thus spoken, Ananda, I
addressed Mara, the Evil One, and said: ‘ I shall not pass away, O Evil One! Until not only the
brethren and sisters of the Order [of the Sangha of monks and nuns], but also
the lay disciples of either sex shall have become true hearers, wise and
well-trained, ready and learned, carrying the doctrinal books in their memory,
masters of the lesser corollaries that follow from the larger doctrine, 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, easy to be refuted by the truth, shall be able
in refuting it to spread the wonder-working truth abroad, I shall not die until this pure Dharma
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 among
men!’
[Notes: This
reminds us that the Buddha taught the Dharma perfectly and completely already
in his time. This also means that any subsequent
declining quality of the Dharma as taught, learnt, practised and realised
by non-Buddhas is entirely due to
later generations’ misgivings, including ours. However, the enlightened
(Bodhisattvas and Arhats) were instructed by the Buddha (e.g. in the Surangama
Sutra) to continue skilfully manifesting (without disclosing their identities),
even in this Dharma Ending Age to
teach. Yet, there is a limit to how much this can be done as attitudes to
spirituality decline. As such, we must do our best to learn, practise and share
the pure Dharma well now.]
Dialogues Of The Buddha II, 120-121)
Translated By Rhys Davids
Posted by tdeditor (thedailyenlightenment.com) on September 30, 2016
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