When this was said, she said to the Blessed One, "My dear and beloved grandson has died. This is why I have come here -- my clothes wet, my hair wet -- in the middle of the day."

"Visakha, would you like to have as many children and grandchildren as there are people in Savatthi?"

"Yes, lord, I would like to have as many children and grandchildren as there are people in Savatthi."

"But how many people in Savatthi die in the course of a day?"

"Sometimes ten people die in Savatthi in the course of a day, sometimes nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... Sometimes one person dies in Savatthi in the course of a day. Savatthi is never free from people dying."

"So what do you think, Visakha: Would you ever be free from wet clothes and wet hair?"

"No, lord. Enough of my having as many children and grandchildren as there are people in Savatthi."

"Visakha, those who have a hundred dear ones have a hundred sufferings. Those who have ninety dear ones have ninety sufferings. Those who have eighty... seventy... sixty... fifty... forty... thirty... twenty... ten... nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... Those who have one dear one have one suffering. For those with no dear ones, there are no sufferings. They are free from sorrow, free from stain, free from lamentation, I tell you."

Then, on realizing the significance of that, the Blessed One on that occasion exclaimed:

The sorrows, lamentations,
the many kinds of suffering in the world,
exist dependent on something dear.
    They don't exist
    when there's nothing dear.
And thus blissful & sorrowless
are those for whom nothing
in the world is dear anywhere.
So one who aspires
to be stainless & sorrowless
shouldn't make anything
in the world dear
    anywhere.