F
rom Rajagaha the Buddha traveled on to Vesali. There he stopped for a day at the Capala
shrine, a pleasant place. Calling Ananda to him, the Buddha praised Vesali and its shrines, adding, “Ananda, every wise person should be earnest in perfecting himself in the four bases of psychic powers and, if he so chooses, should remain so doing for a whole world cycle. I, the Buddha, having become perfect in these matters, can so remain for as long as I wish.” The Buddha repeated these words three times. But Ananda was deaf to the hint contained therein and, paying reverence, made no answer. Soon after, Mara, the Spirit of Evil, appeared and addressed the Buddha, saying, “O great Buddha, go now to Nibbana; the time has come.” To this the Buddha replied, “Do not be concerned, O evil one; very soon, within three months, I shall attain the great Parinibbana.” Upon this utterance of the Buddha, the earth began to shake violently. Ananda, being afraid, came near to ask the meaning of the earthquake, whereupon the Buddha explained the eight causes of the earth so shaking, saying that the seventh cause was, as he had just demonstrated, his mastery and renunciation of existence, and that the eighth cause, still to come, would be the Buddha’s attaining Parinibbana. Only then did Ananda petition the Buddha thrice over to stay on the earth for the benefit of men, gods, and Brahmas during one age of the world. But the Buddha replied, “Ananda, it is too late, when you remained silent before, to ask this of me now.” The Buddha then told Ananda to assemble all his monks, and he preached, exhorting them to remain faithful to his teachings in order to ensure the continuance of the Sasana, or Buddhist faith.
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