Editing The Buddha (section)

=== Last days and ''parinirvana'' ===
[[File:040 Ananda worships Buddha (25595318747).jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|This East Javanese relief depicts the Buddha in his final days, and [[Ānanda]], his chief attendant. |alt=Metal relief]]

The main narrative of the Buddha's last days, death and the events following his death is contained in the ''[[Mahaparinibbana Sutta]]'' (DN 16) and its various parallels in Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan.{{sfnp|Strong|2001|p=165}} According to Anālayo, these include the Chinese Dirgha Agama 2, "Sanskrit fragments of the ''Mahaparinirvanasutra"'', and "three discourses preserved as individual translations in Chinese".{{sfnp|Anālayo|2014}}

The ''Mahaparinibbana sutta'' depicts the Buddha's last year as a time of war. It begins with Ajatashatru's decision to make war on the [[Vajjika League]], leading him to send a minister to ask the Buddha for advice.{{sfnp|Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu|1992|pp=286–288}} The Buddha responds by saying that the Vajjikas can be expected to prosper as long as they do seven things, and he then applies these seven principles to the Buddhist Sangha,{{efn|name="Upaddha"}} showing that he is concerned about its future welfare.

The Buddha says that the Sangha will prosper as long as they "hold regular and frequent assemblies, meet in harmony, do not change the rules of training, honour their superiors who were ordained before them, do not fall prey to worldly desires, remain devoted to forest hermitages, and preserve their personal mindfulness". He then gives further lists of important virtues to be upheld by the Sangha.{{sfnp|Strong|2001|pp=165–166}}

The early texts depict how the Buddha's two chief disciples, Sariputta and Moggallana, died just before the Buddha's death.{{sfnp|Schumann|2003|p=244}} The ''Mahaparinibbana'' depicts the Buddha as experiencing illness during the last months of his life but initially recovering. It depicts him as stating that he cannot promote anyone to be his successor. When Ānanda requested this, the ''Mahaparinibbana'' records his response as follows:{{sfnp|Schumann|2003|p=246}}

{{blockquote|Ananda, why does the Order of monks expect this of me? I have taught the Dhamma, making no distinction of "inner" and " outer": the Tathagata has no "teacher's fist" (in which certain truths are held back). If there is anyone who thinks: "I shall take charge of the Order", or "the Order is under my leadership", such a person would have to make arrangements about the Order. The Tathagata does not think in such terms. Why should the Tathagata make arrangements for the Order? I am now old, worn out...I have reached the term of life, I am turning eighty years of age. Just as an old cart is made to go by being held together with straps, so the Tathagata's body is kept going by being bandaged up...Therefore, Ananda, you should live as islands unto yourselves, being your own refuge, seeking no other refuge; with the Dhamma as an island, with the Dhamma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge... Those monks who in my time or afterwards live thus, seeking an island and a refuge in themselves and in the Dhamma and nowhere else, these zealous ones are truly my monks and will overcome the darkness (of rebirth).}}
[[File:Dying Buddha (Mahaparinirvana), Gandhara, 3rd or 4th century AD, gray schist - John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art - Sarasota, FL - DSC00665.jpg|thumb|[[Parinirvana|Mahaparinirvana]], Gandhara, 3rd or 4th century CE, gray schist]]
[[File:19th century sketch and 21st century photo collage, Cave 26 Ajanta, Buddha Parinirvana.jpg|thumb|Mahaparinibbana scene, from the [[Ajanta caves]]]]

After travelling and teaching some more, the Buddha ate his last meal, which he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named [[Cunda (Buddhism)|Cunda]]. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his death and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha.<ref>{{Citation | publisher = Access insight | chapter-url = http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.16.1-6.vaji.html | chapter = Maha-parinibbana Sutta | title = Digha Nikaya | number = 16 | at = verse 56 | title-link = Digha Nikaya | access-date = 5 March 2009 | archive-date = 6 June 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110606001458/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.16.1-6.vaji.html | url-status = live }}</ref> Bhikkhu Mettanando and [[Oskar von Hinüber]] argue that the Buddha died of [[Superior mesenteric artery syndrome|mesenteric]] [[infarction]], a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning.{{sfnp|Bhikkhu|von Hinüber|2000}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Bhikkhu |first=Mettanando |date=15 May 2001 |title=How the Buddha died |work=Bangkok Post |url= http://www.buddhanet.net/budsas/ebud/ebdha192.htm |access-date=25 December 2012 |via=BuddhaNet |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121114032016/http://www.buddhanet.net/budsas/ebud/ebdha192.htm |archive-date=14 November 2012 }}</ref>

The precise contents of the Buddha's final meal are not clear, due to variant scriptural traditions and ambiguity over the translation of certain significant terms. The [[Theravada]] tradition generally believes that the Buddha was offered some kind of pork, while the [[Mahayana]] tradition believes that the Buddha consumed some sort of truffle or other mushroom. These may reflect the different traditional views on [[Buddhist vegetarianism]] and the precepts for monks and nuns.{{sfnp|Waley|1932|pp=343–354}} Modern scholars also disagree on this topic, arguing both for pig's flesh or some kind of plant or mushroom that pigs like to eat.{{efn|name="Wayley1932"|Waley notes: ''suukara-kanda'', "pig-bulb"; ''suukara-paadika'', "pig's foot" and ''sukaresh.ta'' "sought-out by pigs". He cites Neumann's suggestion that if a plant called "sought-out by pigs" exists then ''suukaramaddava'' can mean "pig's delight".}} Whatever the case, none of the sources which mention the last meal attribute the Buddha's sickness to the meal itself.{{sfnp|Strong|2001|p=176}}

As per the ''Mahaparinibbana sutta,'' after the meal with Cunda, the Buddha and his companions continued travelling until he was too weak to continue and had to stop at [[Kushinagar]], where Ānanda had a resting place prepared in a grove of Sala trees.{{sfnp|Schumann|2003|p=249}}{{sfnp|Strong|2001|p=178}} After announcing to the sangha at large that he would soon be passing away to final Nirvana, the Buddha ordained one last novice into the order personally. His name was Subhadda.{{sfnp|Schumann|2003|p=249}} He then repeated his final instructions to the sangha, which was that the Dhamma and Vinaya was to be their teacher after his death. Then he asked if anyone had any doubts about the teaching, but nobody did.{{sfnp|Schumann|2003|p=250}} The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All [[Saṅkhāra|''saṅkhāras'']] decay. Strive for the goal with diligence (''[[appamāda]]'')" (Pali: 'vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā').{{sfnp|Wynne|2007|p=112}}{{sfnp|Strong|2001|p=183}}

He then entered his final meditation and died, reaching what is known as ''parinirvana'' (final nirvana; instead of a person being reborn, "the five aggregates of physical and mental phenomena that constitute a being cease to occur"{{sfn|Gethin|1998|p=76}}). The ''Mahaparinibbana'' reports that in his final meditation he entered the four dhyanas consecutively, then the four [[Dhyāna in Buddhism|immaterial attainments]] and finally the meditative dwelling known as ''nirodha-samāpatti,'' before returning to the fourth dhyana right at the moment of death.{{sfnp|Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu|1992|p=324}}{{sfnp|Strong|2001|p=178}}
[[File:Buddha's cremation stupa, Kushinagar.jpg|thumb|Buddha's cremation stupa, [[Kushinagar]] (Kushinara)]]
[[File:Piprawa vase with relics of the Buddha.jpg|thumb|[[Piprahwa]] vase with relics of the Buddha. The inscription reads: ''...salilanidhane Budhasa Bhagavate...'' ([[Brahmi script]]: ...𑀲𑀮𑀺𑀮𑀦𑀺𑀥𑀸𑀦𑁂 𑀩𑀼𑀥𑀲 𑀪𑀕𑀯𑀢𑁂...) "Relics of the Buddha Lord".]]