Brahmin Vassakāraperson
1 discourse
Vassakāra, chief minister of Magadha, brought a statesman's questions to the Buddha and got answers that outlasted the kingdom. What makes a man of great wisdom great? Knowing the path from the not-path, and finishing the task (AN 4.35). He held that nothing is wrong in talking; the Buddha agreed: talk about how unskillful qualities decline and skillful ones grow (AN 4.183). Sent by Ajātasattu to size up the Buddha before invading the Vajjīs, he heard the seven principles preventing their decline confirmed, and conceded to his king that they could not be overcome by force, only by discord or bribery (AN 7.22, DN 16).
Discourses
The Buddha’s final journey from Rājagaha to Kusinārā, detailing the conditions for non-decline, his illness and relinquishment of the life force, his last instructions to the Saṅgha, his final Nibbāna between the twin sāla trees, the cremation, and the distribution of the relics.
PTS 2.72–2.168