Grandmother
Ayyikā Sutta (SN 3:22)
Near Sāvatthī. Then King Pasenadi Kosala went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, the Blessed One said to him: “Well now, great king, where are you coming from in the middle of the day?”
“Lord, my grandmother has died. She was old aged, advanced in years, having come to the last stage of life, 120 years old. My grandmother was dear to me & beloved. If I could get it so that, in exchange for a gem of an elephant, my grandmother wouldn’t die, I would give a gem of an elephant. If I could get it so that, in exchange for a gem of a horse… for a foremost village… for the country, my grandmother wouldn’t die, I would give the country.
“It’s amazing, lord. It’s astounding—how well it was said by the Blessed One: ‘All beings are subject to death, have death as their end, have not gone beyond death.’”
“That’s the way it is, great king. That’s the way it is. All beings are subject to death, have death as their end, have not gone beyond death. Just as all a potter’s vessels—whether baked or unbaked—are subject to breaking, have breaking as their end, and have not gone beyond breaking, in the same way all beings are subject to death, have death as their end, have not gone beyond death.”
That is what the Blessed One said. Having said that, the One Well-Gone, the Teacher, said further:
“All beings will die,
for life ends in death.
They will go in line with their actions,
reaping the fruits
of their merit & evil:
hell for those who did evil,
a good destination
for those who made merit.
So do what is admirable,
as an accumulation
for the future life.
Deeds of merit are the support for beings
when they arise
in the other world.”
