Ananda was quite upset. He went back to his room and started to work hard at his spiritual cultivation. Seven days later, he attained enlightenment and went back to the meeting room. When he walked onto the stage, there was a stir among the audience. Ananda, Buddha's cousin, closely resembled the Buddha, and the radiance of his enlightenment made him look even more like the Buddha himself, so that many people thought that either the Buddha had returned from death, Ananda had become a buddha, or another buddha had arrived on earth.

In order to end the confusion, Ananda began each recitation with the phrase,"Thus I have heard," to indicate that it was still the same Ananda who was repeating the Buddha's teachings. He himself was not giving any lecture or sermon, but was merely repeating the Buddha's teachings. Thus, the confusion among the audience was ended.

One day when Ananda was 120 years old, he heard a young monk reciting,"I would rather live merely one day in the world to see snow-goose than live a hundred years without seeing one." Ananda corrected him:"I would rather live merely one day in the world to perceive the meaning to life and death than live a hundred years without understanding it." However, when the young monk wnet back and told his mentor, the mentor said that Ananda was wrong because he was senile and had a bad memory. The young monk came back and told Ananda about it. Ananda was quite upset. He felt that he had recited all the Buddha's teachings, but people were not doing their part in memorizing them. What purpose was there in his life? Besides, all the top disciples had passed away and he was the only one left. He then walked to the Ganges River between the states of Magadha and Vaisali, which were preparing for war. Ananda thought that if he passed away in either state, it would refuse to share his remains with the other state, which would only result in more fighting. Therefore, he decided to pass away above the river.

When his boat was approaching the middle of the river, the kings from both countries arrived at either side of the river. They shouted at Ananda and asked him to continue living in order to teach them. When the boat reached the middle of the river, Ananda jumped up to the sky and cremated himself with a fire that came from inside his body. Because of this, the two states ceased warring against each other. His remains were divided, and each of the two countries kept half of his remains. Thousands of lives were thus saved.