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Shakyamuni's Passing |
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After expounding the Lotus Sutra over a period of eight years, Shakyamuni knew that the hour of his death was approaching. He therefore left Magadha and headed north for Kushinagara, where he preached the Nirvana Sutra in the space of a single day and a single night. Then, in a grove of sal trees, the Buddha reclined on his right side between two sal trees, with his head pointing north, and calmly waited for death to come. After admonishing his disciples not to mourn for him, the Buddha serenely passed away on February 15, 949 BC, at the age of eighty. At the moment of his death, it is said that the earth shook, the skies rumbled with the sound of heavenly drums and the sal trees between which the Buddha lay turned pure white. At that time, Ananda, Aniruddha and the others of the ten major disciples recited poetry praising the Buddha’s virtues and lamenting his passing into nirvana. Throughout the night, Ananda and Aniruddha also lectured on the Law. When it was time to cremate the Buddha’s body, it is said that a lay representative tried to ignite the funeral bier without success for seven days, until Mahakashyapa, the Buddha’s successor, arrived on the scene and lit the funeral pyre with his own hand. After the Buddha’s cremation, his disciples divided his relics into eight parts and built eight stupas to enshrine them. Another two stupas were erected, one for the vessel used in the cremation and another for the ashes from the fire, making a total of ten stupas where Shakyamuni’s disciples continued to worship and pay their respects to the Buddha. The Teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha
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