[463] "Now, Ānanda, King Nimi had a son named Kaḷārajanaka. He did not go forth from the home life into homelessness. He cut off that good practice (kalyāṇa vatta). He was the final man among them.
"It may be, Ānanda, that you would think thus: 'Surely at that time King Maghadeva, by whom that good practice was founded, was someone else.' But, Ānanda, it should not be seen thus. I myself was King Maghadeva at that time. I founded that good practice, and the generation that came after continued the good practice founded by me. But that good practice, Ānanda, does not lead to disenchantment (nibbidā), to dispassion (virāga), to cessation, to peace, to direct knowledge (abhiññā), to awakening, to Nibbāna; it leads only as far as rebirth in the Brahmā world. But this good practice founded by me now leads exclusively to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to peace, to direct knowledge, to awakening, to Nibbāna. And what, Ānanda, is the good practice founded by me now that leads exclusively to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to peace, to direct knowledge, to awakening, to Nibbāna? It is just this Noble Eightfold Path, namely: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration (samādhi). This, Ānanda, is the good practice founded by me now that leads exclusively to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to peace, to direct knowledge, to awakening, to Nibbāna. Ānanda, I say this to you thus, so that you may continue this good practice founded by me: do not be my final men. When, Ānanda, during any generation of men such a good practice is cut off, he [in whose time it is cut off] is the final man among them. Ānanda, I say this to you thus, so that you may continue this good practice founded by me: do not be my final men."
Thus spoke the Blessed One. Venerable Ānanda, delighted, rejoiced in the words of the Blessed One.
End of the Maghadeva Sutta, the third.
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The Madhura Sutta
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.