The Buddha speaks his last words, recorded in the Pali canon of the Southern tradition as “All conditioned things are subject to decay; strive on with heedfulness”, meaning that all things pass away and one should complete one's practice without slackening. The Buddha enters the and passes in order into deeper absorptions up to the deepest, the cessation of perception and feeling; Ānanda thinks the Buddha has passed away, but the disciple Anuruddha says not yet. The Buddha then returns step by step from the deep absorptions to the first, rises again from the first to the fourth absorption, and on emerging from the fourth ; the earth quakes. Taishō Canon
More sources (1)
Pali Canon
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Different Accounts
The last words: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition and others record “heedfulness”; the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, the Tibetan Vinaya and the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra translated by Faxian record that all things arisen from conditions are subject to decay; the two are different versions of the same event.
More differences between accounts (3)
The watch of the passing: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition and the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra translated by Faxian have the last watch; the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, Saṃyukta Āgama, Madhyama Āgama and others have the middle watch; the Chinese Youxing jing, Fo bannihuan jing and Bannihuan jing have midnight.
The date: the later commentaries of the Southern tradition have before dawn on the full moon of Vesākha; the Chinese Youxing jing has the eighth day of the second month; the Chinese Fo bannihuan jing and Bannihuan jing have the eighth day of the fourth month.
Age: most accounts have eighty; the Chinese Fo bannihuan jing and Bannihuan jing also have a reading of seventy-nine.
Dating
Year 45 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged eighty, after the , on the night of the passing; the watch of the night is stated in the canonical text, while the date is recorded in three ways, the full moon of Vesākha (later commentaries), the eighth day of the second month, and the eighth day of the fourth month; it can be fixed to this night, but the month and day are unsettled.
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
The episode of “the final nirvana” is recorded by five schools: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition, the Chinese Dīrgha Āgama, the Chinese Kṣudrakavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, the Chinese Fo bannihuan jing and Bannihuan jing and the Chinese three-fascicle Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. Attested across multiple schools. The “last words ‘heedfulness’” within it are recorded by two schools, the Pali canon of the Southern tradition and the Chinese Dīrgha Āgama; the “last words ‘all conditioned things are impermanent’” by two schools, the Chinese Kṣudrakavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya and the Chinese three-fascicle Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra.
- Dating Evidence and Precision
Stated in the canonical text (the text itself gives the time); commentarial dating (the canonical texts give no date; later commentaries record it). Time precision: fixed to the day.
Sources
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Sv，§219
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 289b1–289b7
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.172c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.188b
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 289b2
- 藏譯（德格版）德格版 D6 da 289b3–289b5
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:6.7.1–6.9.1
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.26b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.26b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.26c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.188b–c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.7 p.204c–205a
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.399b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.1 p.30a
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.5 p.175c
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.6 p.190c
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Ap-a，§82
- Pali Canon巴利 DN 16:6.7.3