The last journey
The Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, the longest discourse in the Pāli canon, follows the Buddha's final months. He travels north from Rājagaha, teaching as he goes. At Vesālī he falls seriously ill and tells Ānanda that his body is like an old cart held together with straps.
At Pāvā a smith named Cunda serves him a meal, after which he becomes very ill. The dish is called sūkaramaddava, and scholars still disagree whether it was a pork dish or a kind of mushroom. The Buddha asks that no one blame Cunda.
The last teaching
At Kusinārā, a small town of the Mallas, he lies down on his right side between twin sal trees. Ānanda weeps, and the Buddha comforts him: all that is dear must change. He names no successor. 'The teaching and the discipline I have taught', he says, 'will be your teacher when I am gone.'
He invites the monks three times to ask any last question. No one does. His last words are usually translated: 'All conditioned things are subject to decay. Strive on with diligence.'
Four places to remember
Before he dies, the Buddha tells Ānanda of four places a devoted person should visit: where he was born, where he awoke, where he first taught, and where he passed away. Lumbinī, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kusinārā remain the four great pilgrimage sites.
Why it matters
Responsibility for preserving and transmitting the teachings passes to the Sangha.
History and tradition
What historians can say
The Mahāparinibbāna Sutta grew over time and mixes early material with later additions, but its outline is shared by versions in other languages, and the age of eighty is consistent. The year of his death is uncertain; many scholars now place it around 400 BCE, while older reckonings put it around 483 BCE.
What Buddhist tradition remembers
The text says the sal trees burst into flower out of season, and that the Mallas honoured the body for six days before the cremation. Parinirvāṇa means final nirvāṇa: the passing of one already awakened, beyond all rebirth.