A Pact to Find the Path to Deathlessness

Now it happened that at this time there was residing in Rajagaha a wandering ascetic named Sanjaya with a large company of disciples including two friends, Sariputta and Moggallana. These two friends were serious in their search to find that which lies beyond this shadow world of time and space, and often they talked about the matter. One day they climbed to the top of a hill which overlooked both the city and the plains to the north. They saw the people moving to and fro at their work in the paddy fields and the streets, and the thought came to them that, in a hundred years, all those beings would have fallen a prey to death. They were deeply smitten by this thought and proceeded for a long time in silence. Then one of them said to the other: “If there be a universal principle of death and ceaseless tendency towards destruction, there must also be an opposite principle of non-dying, a tendency towards escaping from destruction.” “Yes,” replied the other, “let it be our resolve to search for the secret of the way to Deathlessness.” “And furthermore,” said the first, “let him who first finds the Way, tell the secret of it to the other.” And thus was a pact made between them.