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of Licchavi would build one in Vesali, the people of Sakya would build one in Kapilavatthu, the Buli people in Allakappa, the Koliya
people in Ramagama, the Vetha people in Vethadipa, and the Mallas in both Kusinara and Pava.
After the delegations returned to their own countries, all the bhikkhus returned to their own locales to practice and teach. Venerables
Mahakassapa, Anuruddha, and Ananda brought the Buddha’s begging bowl back to Bamboo Forest.
A month later, Venerable Mahakassapa organized an assembly of bhikkhus in Rajagaha with the purpose of compiling all the sutras and
precepts that the Buddha had given them. Five hundred bhikkhus were to be selected based on their standing and experience in the sangha.
The assembly was to begin at the beginning of the retreat season and last for six months.
Venerable Mahakassapa had been considered the fourth highest-ranking disciple of the Buddha after Venerables Kondanna, Sariputta,
and Moggallana. He was especially regarded for his simple living and humility. He had been deeply trusted and loved by the Buddha.
Everyone in the sangha had heard about the time twenty years earlier when Mahakassapa sewed his own sanghati from several hundred
scraps of discarded cloth. Once he folded this sanghati and invited the Buddha to sit upon it. The Buddha remarked how soft a cushion it
made and Venerable Mahakassapa offered the robe to the Buddha. The Buddha accepted it with a smile and offered his own sanghati to
Mahakassapa in return. Everyone also knew that Mahakassapa was the one monk who smiled the time the Buddha silently lifted up a lotus
flower at Jetavana. Mahakassapa had thus received the Buddha’s transmission of the Dharma treasure.
King Ajatasattu sponsored the assembly. Because Venerable Upali was highly regarded for his thorough knowledge of the precepts, he
was invited to recite them all for the assembly, as well as recount the specific conditions and situations that gave rise to each of the
precepts. Venerable Ananda was to be invited to repeat all of the Buddha’s Dharma talks, including the details concerning the time, place,
and situation that gave rise to each talk.
Naturally, Venerables Upali and Ananda could not be expected to remember every detail, and so the presence of five hundred
respected bhikkhus was of great help. During the special gathering, all the precepts were compiled and given the name Vinaya pitaka, the
basket of discipline. The basket of compiled Dharma talks was named Sutra pitaka. The sutras were divided into four categories, based
on their length and subject matter. Venerable Ananda shared with the assembly that the Buddha had told him that after the Buddha’s death,
they could discard the lesser precepts. The other bhikkhus asked Ananda whether the Buddha had stated clearly which precepts he meant,
but Ananda admitted he had not thought of asking the Buddha that question. After lengthy discussion, the bhikkhus decided to preserve all
the precepts for both bhikkhus and bhikkhunis.
Remembering the Buddha’s words, they agreed not to render the sutras into the classical meter of the Vedic language. Ardhamagadhi
was the primary language the sutras and precepts had been given in. The assembly agreed to encourage the translation of the sutras into
other languages to enable people to study them in their native tongues. They also decided to increase the number of bhanaka, bhikkhus
whose role it was to recite the sutras in order to transmit them for both present and future generations.
When the assembly adjourned, all the bhikkhus returned to their own places of practice and teaching.
Along the banks of the Neranjara River, Venerable Svasti stood to watch the flowing waters. Young buffalo boys on the opposite shore
were preparing to lead their buffaloes across the shallow river. Each boy carried a sickle and a basket, just as Svasti had done forty-five
years earlier. He knew that the boys would fill their baskets with fresh kusa grass while the buffaloes grazed.
The Buddha had bathed in this same river. There was the bodhi tree, more green and healthy than ever. Venerable Svasti slept beneath
that beloved tree during the night. The forest was no longer the place of solitude it had once been. The bodhi tree was now a place where
pilgrims visited, and much of the forest had been cleared of brush and thorns.
Venerable Svasti felt grateful that he had been one of the five hundred bhikkhus invited to attend the assembly. He was now fifty-six
years old. His closest friend on the path, Venerable Rahula, had died five years earlier. Rahula had been an embodiment of devoted and
diligent effort. Though he was the son of royalty, he lived in utmost simplicity. He was a modest man, and though his accomplishments in
spreading the teaching were great, he never spoke about them.
Venerable Svasti had been with the Buddha on his last journey from Rajagaha to Kusinara. He was present during the final hours of the
Buddha’s life. On the road from Pava to Kusinara, Svasti remembered how Venerable Ananda asked the Buddha where he was heading.
The Buddha simply said, “I’m heading north.” Svasti felt he understood. Throughout his life, the Buddha had traveled without thinking about
his destination. He had taken each step mindfully, enjoying the present moment. Like an elephant prince returning to its native land when it
knows its time has come, the Buddha headed north in the last days of his life. He didn’t need to reach Kapilavatthu or Lumbini before he
passed into nirvana. To head north was sufficient. Kusinara itself was the Lumbini Gardens.