The Buddha had lived to the age of eighty when, feeling the effects of old age, he went to a grove of sal trees at Kusinārā (Sanskrit Kuśinagara, modern Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh).21 There he lay down on his right side under two trees, which shed blossoms on him, out of season. His last words to his followers were ‘Conditioned things are by nature perishable. Attain your goal through awareness!’22 After experiencing for the last time all the stages of jhāna, he passed away, entering parinibbāna – the end of rebirths and the complete cessation of suffering. The texts do not attempt to describe the condition of a being who has attained parinibbāna, since words no longer have any relevance in this case. His body was cremated, and his relics distributed among local rulers, who had them installed in stūpas (reliquary mounds) suitable for a great monarch.

The Buddha had lived to the age of eighty when, feeling the effects of old age, he went to a grove of sal trees at Kusinārā (Sanskrit Kuśinagara, modern Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh).21 There he lay down on his right side under two trees, which shed blossoms on him, out of season. His last words to his followers were ‘Conditioned things are by nature perishable. Attain your goal through awareness!’22 After experiencing for the last time all the stages of jhāna, he passed away, entering parinibbāna – the end of rebirths and the complete cessation of suffering. The texts do not attempt to describe the condition of a being who has attained parinibbāna, since words no longer have any relevance in this case. His body was cremated, and his relics distributed among local rulers, who had them installed in stūpas (reliquary mounds) suitable for a great monarch.