Shakyamuni Buddha

Final Days and Relics

Up until the very last moments of his life, the Buddha continued to teach and to care tenderly for all those around him. When he was well advanced in years, near Kuśinagarī in northern India, the Buddha accepted a meal from a metalworker that prompted serious illness. As it became clear that this meal was to be his last, with great kindness the Buddha urged the metalworker to have no regret, explaining that the meal that brings on a buddha’s parinirvāṇa is especially meritorious. As the Buddha drew his last breaths, an old mendicant named Subhadra arrived to question him on some points of doctrinal confusion. When the Buddha’s attendant Ānanda refused to admit him, the Buddha told Ānanda to let Subhadra approach, proclaiming that as long as he had breath left in his body, he would continue to offer the Dharma. Deeply inspired by the Buddha’s replies to his questions, Subhadra became the last bhikṣu ordained by the Buddha himself. The Buddha then imparted the ultimate teaching on impermanence to his disciples, by passing away into mahāparinirvāṇa. Buddha Śākyamuni left behind a glorious array of relics that were divided into eight parts and enshrined in eight great stūpas across India. The Buddha left us not only his bodily relics, but also the legacy of his mind and heart—the Buddhadharma, a vital nectar that continues to pass from master to disciple today.

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