1Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Sāvatthī in the Eastern Park in the Mansion of Migara's Mother. Now on that occasion the Blessed One had emerged from seclusion in the evening and was sitting warming his back in the last rays of the sun.

2Then the Venerable Ānanda approached the Blessed One. Having approached and paid homage, while massaging the Blessed One's limbs, he said to him: "It is wonderful, venerable sir! It is amazing, venerable sir! The Blessed One's complexion is no longer pure and bright, his limbs are all flaccid and wrinkled, his body is stooped, and some alteration is seen in his faculties—in the eye faculty, the ear faculty, the nose faculty, the tongue faculty, the body faculty." [n.222] Spk seems reluctant to admit that the Buddha’s body can show real signs of aging and repeatedly remarks that all these changes were not evident to others but only to Ānanda, who constantly dwelt in the Master's presence. Spk adds that the sense faculties themselves, being invisible, cannot be seen to have undergone deterioration, but Ānanda inferred this on the basis of the visible changes he had observed in the Blessed One. sn.v.217

3"So it is, Ānanda! In youth one is subject to aging; in health one is subject to illness; while alive one is subject to death. The complexion is no longer pure and bright, the limbs are all flaccid and wrinkled, the body is stooped, and some alteration is seen in the faculties—in the eye faculty … the body faculty."

4This is what the Blessed One said. Having said this, the Fortunate One, the Teacher, further said this:

1Evaṁ me sutaṁ—​ ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā sāvatthiyaṁ vihārati pubbārāme migāramātupāsāde. Tena kho pana samayena bhagavā sāyanhasamayaṁ paṭisallānā vuṭṭhito pacchātape nisinno hoti piṭṭhiṁ otāpayamāno.

2Atha kho āyasmā ānando yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā bhagavantaṁ abhivādetvā bhagavato gattāni pāṇinā anomajjanto bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: "acchariyaṁ, bhante, abbhutaṁ, bhante. Na cevaṁ dāni, bhante, bhagavato tāva parisuddho chavivaṇṇo pariyodāto, sithilāni ca gattāni sabbāni valiyajātāni, purato pabbhāro ca kāyo, dissati ca indriyānaṁ aññathattaṁ – cakkhundriyassa sotindriyassa ghānindriyassa jivhindriyassa kāyindriyassā"ti.

3"Evañhetaṁ, Ānanda, hoti – jarādhammo yobbaññe, byādhidhammo ārogye, maraṇadhammo jīvite. Na ceva tāva parisuddho hoti chavivaṇṇo pariyodāto, sithilāni ca honti gattāni sabbāni valiyajātāni, purato pabbhāro ca kāyo, dissati ca indriyānaṁ aññathattaṁ – cakkhundriyassa sotindriyassa ghānindriyassa jivhindriyassa kāyindriyassā"ti.

4Idamavoca bhagavā. Idaṁ vatvā ca sugato athāparaṁ etadavoca satthā:

Paṭhamaṁ.