SN 3.22 - SN 3:22 Grandmother | Ayyikā Sutta
Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
Source: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN3_22.html
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Copyright: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017
License notice: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities. Questions about this book may be addressed to Metta Forest Monastery Valley Center, CA 92082-1409 U.S.A. Additional resources More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org. Printed copy A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA.
Attribution: From Handful of Leaves, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu; https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/Ebooks/SuttaPitaka_251113.epub. Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities. Questions about this book may be addressed to Metta Forest Monastery Valley Center, CA 92082-1409 U.S.A. Additional resources More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org. Printed copy A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA.
Publisher references (not part of the sutta): See also: DN 16; MN 86; SN 47:13; AN 5:49; AN 5:57; Ud 8:8
Changes: Presentation only: original HTML markup reflowed into plain text; wording, numbering and source repetitions retained. No repetitions expanded.
Completeness: ABBREVIATED. Every source-unit character is preserved, including introductions, notes and verse structure. Thanissaro's collection-level note explicitly states that repetitions were cut: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/about.html. This is evidence about the translation method, not an assertion that every individual unit contains an omission; no repetitions reconstructed.

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.”