Note f21 — ZEN AS CHINESE INTERPRETATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

When the Buddha entered Nirvana, the monks cried, “Too soon has the Tathagata passed away, too soon has the World-honoured One passed away, too soon has the Great Law died out; all beings are forever left to misery; for the Eye of the World is gone.” Their lamentation was beyond description, they lay on the ground like great trees with roots, stems, and branches all torn and broken to pieces, they rolled and wriggled like a slain snake. Such excessive expressions of grief were quite natural for those Buddhists whose hearts were directed towards the personality of their master more than towards his sane and rationalistic teachings, Cf. the Pali Parinibbāna-suttanta.