If a man were to live for a hundred years, and not see a water-heron, it were better that he live only for one day, and see a water-heron.
‘My son’, said Ānanda, 'the Buddha did not say this. What he said was:
If a man were to live for a hundred years, and not see the principle of coming into existence and passing away, it were better . . . (and so forth).
The monk thereupon reported the matter to his teacher, who replied, ‘Ānanda is an old fool. Go on reciting as before’. On hearing once more the same faulty recitation, Ānanda realized that it was futile to attempt to convince the monk of the error, since ail his seniors, to whom he might have appealed, had already entered Nirvāṇa. Being thus unable to do anything further to protect the Buddha’s words from corruption, he considered that there was no reason to delay his own Nirvāṇa”