"At a time now past, when the Buddha's father, King Suddhodana of Kapilavastu, had become old, he contracted an illness. For several days he suffered with the utmost severity. The pain was so intense that it was as though oil were being squeezed from his body. Soon he would die, he thought, and he grieved that he would die without seeing his son the Buddha Sakyamuni, Nanda, his grandson Rahula, or his nephew Ananda.

He sent to inform the Buddha, but the Buddha at that time was in the country of Sravasti, fifty yojanas from Kapilavastu. Surely the King would die while the messenger was on the way. The queen and ministers were filled with anxiety; but meanwhile the Buddha, on the Vulture Peak, knew without being told that the King was ill and the people were all lamenting. Leading Nanda, Ananda, and Rahula, he went to King Suddhodana's palace. As he did so a golden light suddenly illuminated every corner and crevice of the palace, as though the light of morning were shining in.

The astonishment of the King, and of the multitude after him, was unbounded. When the light shone upon the King, all the pain of illness suddenly went away, and he experienced limitless ease. After a little while the Buddha came down from the sky leading Nanda, Ananda, and Rahula. From the moment he saw him, the King's tears fell like rain; he hoined his palms in reverence and rejoiced. Standing by his father's side, the Buddha expounded a sutra of cause and effect, and the king immediately attained the fruits of neer-returning. The King took the Buddha's hand and drew it to his breast, and thereupon attained the fruits of arhatship. Not long after wards, the King's life came to an end.

All within the city, whether of high or of low degree, cried out until the city resounded with their lamentations. Immediately, a coffin was made of the seven precious substances, and the King's body was bathed in perfumed water, dressed in brocade, and laid within it. When he died, the Buddha and Nanda were at his pillow, and Anada and Rahula were at his feet. And now at the time of his father's obsequies, the Buddha shouldered his father's coffin, in order to admonish sentient beings in our own latter age against ingratitude for our fathers' and mothers' loving care. As he did so, there was a great earthquake. The earth trembled, and all the different sorts of living beings suddenly bobbed about tumultuously, as when boats encounter waves in the sea.

Thereupon, the Four Deva Kngs begged the Buddha that they might take his father's coffin on their shoulders. The Buddha gave them leave and himself took up a censer and walked in front of the King. The burial place was on top of the Vulture Peak. As they were about to ascend, arhats came and gathered sandalwood that had been washed upon the shores of the sea and cremated the King's body. The heavens resounded. The Buddha preached the Gatha on Impermanence. When the cremation was finished, the relics were gathered up. These were placed in a golden casket and the people erected a stupa over it. So the tale's been told, and so it's been handed down."




> Never-returning and arhatship are the third and fourth of the 'four fruits,' grades of attainment of those who have entered upon the Buddha path. The never-returner will be reborn not in this world but in the heavens and will thereafter attain nirvana.

> The Gatha on Impermanence is a brief verse, beginning with the words, "all phenomena are impermanent," which appears in the fourteenth chapter of Dharmaraksa's translation of the Mahaparinirvana sutra.

~From "Tales Of Times now Past: Sixty-Two Stories from a Mideval Japanese Collection," by Marian Ury. Pp. 39 - 40