Vakkali

Thus I heard. Once when the Blessed One was living at Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels' Sanctuary, the venerable Vakkali was living in a potter's house. He was afflicted, suffering and gravely ill. He told his attendants:

"Friends, go to the Blessed One and pay homage to him on my behalf with your heads at his feet, and say: 'Lord, the bhikkhu Vakkali is afflicted, suffering and gravely ill; he pays homage with his head at the Blessed One's feet.' And say this: 'Lord, it would be good if the Blessed One went to the bhikkhu Vakkali out of compassion.' " "Yes, friend," the bhikkhus replied. They went to the Blessed One, and they gave him the message and the request. The Blessed One consented in silence. Then he dressed, and taking his bowl and outer robe, he went to the venerable Vakkali. The venerable Vakkali saw him coming and tried to get up from his bed. The Blessed One said:

"Enough, Vakkali. Do not get up from your bed. There are seats ready; I shall sit down there." He sat down on one of the seats made ready. Then he said: "I hope it goes well with you, Vakkali; I hope you are comfortable, that your pains are departing, not increasing, that they seem to be getting less, not more." "Lord, it is not going well with me. I have no comfort. My pains are increasing, not departing; they seem to be getting more, not less." "I hope you have no worry and remorse, Vakkali?" "Surely, Lord, I have no little worry and remorse." "I hope, then, you have nothing to reproach yourself with on account of virtuous conduct?" "I have nothing to reproach myself with on account of virtuous conduct, Lord." "If not, Vakkali, then what is your worry and remorse about?" "Lord, I have long wanted to come and see the Blessed One, but I have never had bodily strength enough to do so."

"Enough, Vakkali; why do you want to see this filthy body? He who sees the Dhamma sees me; he who sees me sees the Dhamma. For it is when he sees the Dhamma that he sees me; and it is when he sees me that he sees the Dhamma.

How do you conceive this, Vakkali, is material form permanent or impermanent?" (The Buddha went on to repeat the discourse as he had given it to the bhikkhus of the group of five after the Enlightenment.

Now when the Blessed One had given the venerable Vakkali this instruction, he rose from his seat and went to the Vulture Peak Rock.

Soon after he had gone the venerable Vakkali told his attendants:

"Come, friends, put me on a bed and take me to the Black Rock on the slopes of Isigili. How can one like me think of dying in a house?" "Yes, friend," they replied, and they did so.

The Blessed One passed the rest of that day and that night on the Vulture Peak Rock.

When the night was over, he addressed the bhikkhus: "Come, bhikkhus, go to the bhikkhu Vakkali and tell him this: 'Friend Vakkali, hear what deities have told the Blessed One.

Last night two deities of marvellous appearance, who illuminated the whole of the Vulture Peak Rock, went to the Blessed One, and after paying homage to him, one deity said: "Lord, the bhikkhu Vakkali has his heart set on liberation." And the other deity said: "Lord, he will certainly be completely liberated." And the Blessed One tells you this, friend, "Do not be afraid, Vakkali, do not be afraid. Your death will be innocent of evil; the completion of your time will be innocent or evil.

"Even so, Lord," they replied. Then they went to the venerable Vakkali and told him: "Friend, hear a message from the Blessed One and from two deities." The venerable Vakkali told his attendants: "Come, friends, take me down from the bed; for how can one like me think of hearing the Blessed One's message sitting on a high seat?" "Yes, friend," they replied, and they did as he had asked. Then the message was given him.
He said:

 "Now, friends, pay homage on my behalf to the Blessed One with your heads at his feet, and say: 'Lord, the bhikkhu Vakkali is afflicted, suffering and gravely ill; he pays homage with his head at the Blessed One's feet, and he says this: "Lord, I do not doubt that material form, feeling, perception, formations, and conscious-ness are impermanent. I have no uncertainty that what is impermanent is suffering. I have no desire or lust or affection for what is impermanent, painful and subject to change; of that too I have no uncertainty." "Yes, friend," they replied. Then they departed. Soon after they had gone the venerable Vakkali took his own life.

When the bhikkhus had gone to the Blessed One and told him the venerable Vakkali's words, he said: "Let us go to the Black Rock on the slopes of Isigili, bhikkhus, where clansman Vakkali has taken his own life." "Even so, Lord," they replied. Then the Blessed One went to the Black Rock on the slopes of Isigili with a number of bhikkhus. He saw from a distance the venerable Vakkali's senseless body lying on a bed. But at the same time a smoky haze, a sombre shadow, was moving to the east and to the west and to the north and to the south and to all the intermediate directions. Then the Blessed One said to the bhikkhus: "Bhikkhus, do you see that smoky haze, that sombre shadow?" "Yes, Lord." "Bhikkhus, that is Mara the Evil One. He is searching for the clans-man Vakkali's consciousness: 'Where has the clansman Vakkali's con-sciousness established itself?' But, bhikkhus, the clansman Vakkali has attained final Nibbana without his consciousness becoming estab-lished anywhere at all." S. 22:87