Rāhula's death receives little attention in the earliest sources. Rāhula died before the Buddha and his teacher Śariputra do. According to Pāli and Chinese sources, this happened as he was travelling psychically through the second Buddhist heaven (). According to the early "Ekottara Āgama" (Sārvastivāda or Mahāsaṅghika tradition) and the later "Śāriputrapṛcchā", however, Rāhula was one the four enlightened disciples whom Gautama Buddha asked to prolong their lives to stay in the world until the next Buddha Maitreya has risen, to protect his dispensation.