The Death of Shakyamuni The Death of the Buddha. By Mithu Das November 13, 2019 Before he died, the last message Shakyamuni Buddha gave his disciples was: "Be a torch unto yourselves". It was December, 482 BC(?), Shakyamuni or the Buddha—who was eighty years old then—was en rout to Kuśināra (present-day Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India). He was accompanied by Ananda, his first cousin, and several other disciples. In the late December, they crossed the Ganges river and arrived at a village called Bailva. There they stayed