“I have reached my final hour of birth in a human body.
Having been completely cut off, perpetual existence in the
conventional world will soon cease altogether for me. Never
again shall I return to the world of birth and death. I want
you both to return and fully develop yourselves first; then,
before long, you will follow in my footsteps, departing this
world in the same manner as I am preparing to do now.
Escaping from the world, with its multitude of lingering
attachments and all of its debilitating pain and suffering, is
an extremely difficult task that demands unwavering com-
mitment. You must exert yourselves and pour every ounce
of energy into the struggle for this righteous cause – includ-
ing crossing the very threshold of death – before you can
expect to attain freedom from danger and anxiety. Once
freed, you will never again have to deplore death and grasp
at birth in the future.“Having completely transcended every residual attachment,
I shall depart this world unperturbed, much like a prisoner
released from prison. I have absolutely no lingering regrets
about losing this physical body – unlike most people whose
desperate clinging causes them immense suffering at the
time of death. So you should not mourn my passing in any
way, for nothing good will come of it. Such grief merely pro-
motes the kilesas, so the wise have never encouraged it.”When he finished speaking, Ãcariya Mun told the two young
monks to back their elephants out of the cave. Both elephants had
been standing perfectly still, one on either side, as though they too