"Then to the brethren of the order he Said: 'If in mind perchance to any of you Doubt or misgiving lurk concerning aught, The Buddh, the truth, the path, the way, inquire Freely before I pass, that afterward Ye have not to reproach yourselves that ye Being face to face with him failed to inquire.' With one accord, the brethren held their peace. The second and the third time those same words Did the Tathâgata to them address; But even the third time they were silent all. Then with much pitiful concern for them The Buddha said: 'It may be out of awe Of me, your master, ye keep silence thus. Speak therefore ye, I pray, among yourselves.' But all the brotherhood were silent still. Then Ânanda the Venerable spoke up And said: 'A wonder and a marvel, lord, I truly think there has not one of us A doubt or a misgiving in his mind As to the Buddh, the truth, the path, the way. The Blesséd One made answer: 'Ânanda, Thou from the fulness of thy faith hast spoken; But the Tathâgata for certain knows Not one of these five hundred brethren all Doubt or misgiving has concerning aught, The Buddh, the truth, the path, the way. No one Of all but guarded is from future birth To suffering; your salvation is secure.' He added: 'Brethren, I exhort you, know, Decay inheres in whatsoever is, Of parts composed, since these may be dissolved. Inflame your zeal, make your salvation sure.' The last word that of the Tathâgata. "Yet did he not with that last word expire, But enter into a state ineffable. From stage to stage, four stages, he advanced, Of meditation more and more withdrawn. A fifth stage followed, one of vacancy Compact: all seeming substance, seeming form, Abolished to the mind, and naught but space, Pure space, empty and formless, colorless, Spun out to infinite on every side. The next degree abolished also space, Replacing that with reason infinite. But reason infinite then passed away, Dispersed into a sense of nothingness. Then sense of nothingness, that yielded too, And neither anything nor nothing was A presence in sensation to the soul. But beyond that he passed into a state Between unconsciousness and consciousness; Whence next he issued in a farther stage Wherein no trace of consciousness remained. Then of two venerables there watching, one Said to the other, 'The Blessèd One is dead;' But, 'Nay,' that other made reply, 'not dead, Only beyond where thought or feeling is.' "Then by regress the Blesséd One returned The way that he had traversed, stage by stage, Till, having reached the first stage, now the last, That of deep meditation, he expired.