The Buddha
His Life and Teachings
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The First Sermon
Now while the Blessed one dwelt in solitude this thought occurred to him: "The Dhamma I have realized is deep, hard to see, hard to understand, peaceful and sublime, beyond mere reasoning, subtle, and intelligible to the wise. But this generation delights, revels, and rejoices in sensual pleasures. It is hard for such a generation to see this conditionality, this dependent arising. Hard too is it to see this calming of all conditioned things, the giving up of all substance of becoming, the extinction of craving, dispassion, cessation, Nibbâna. And if I were to teach the Dhamma and others were not to understand me, that would be a weariness, a vexation for me."[1]
Pondering thus he was first reluctant to teach the Dhamma, but on surveying the world with his mental eye, he saw beings with little dust in their eyes and with much dust in their eyes, with keen faculties and dull faculties, with good qualities and bad qualities, easy to teach and hard to teach, some who are alive to the perils hereafter of present wrongdoings, and some who are not. The Master then declared his readiness to proclaim the Dhamma in this solemn utterance:
"Apârutâ tesam amatassa dvârâ
Ye sotavanto pamuñcantu saddham.""Open are the doors of the Deathless.
Let those that have ears repose trust."
When considering to whom he should teach the Dhamma first, he thought of Âlâra Kâlâma and Uddaka Râmaputta, his teachers of old; for he knew that they were wise and discerning. But that was not to be; they had passed away. Then the Blessed one made up his mind to make known the truth to those five ascetics, his former friends, still steeped in the fruitless rigours of extreme asceticism. Knowing that they were living at Benares in the Deer Park at Isipatana, the Resort of Seers (modern Sarnath), the Blessed one left Gayâ for distant Benares, walking by stages some 150 miles. on the way not far from Gayâ the Buddha was met by Upaka, an ascetic who, struck by the serene appearance of the Master, inquired: "Who is your teacher? Whose teaching do you profess?"
The Buddha replied: "I have no teacher, one like me does not exist in all the world, for I am the Peerless Teacher, the Arahat. I alone am Supremely Enlightened. Quenching all defilements, Nibbâna’s calm have I attained. I go to the city of Kâsi (Benares) to set in motion the Wheel of Dhamma. In a world where blindness reigns, I shall beat the Deathless Drum."
"Friend, you then claim you are a universal victor," said Upaka. The Buddha replied: "Those who have attained the cessation of defilements, they are, indeed, victors like me. All evil have I vanquished. Hence I am a victor."
Upaka shook his head, remarking sarcastically, "It may be so, friend," and took a bypath. The Buddha continued his journey, and in gradual stages reached the Deer Park at Isipatana. The five ascetics, seeing the Buddha from afar, discussed among themselves: "Friends, here comes the ascetic Gotama who gave up the struggle and turned to a life of abundance and luxury. Let us make no kind of salutation to him." But when the Buddha approached them, they were struck by his dignified presence and they failed in their resolve. one went to meet him and took his almsbowl and robe, another prepared a seat, still another brought him water. The Buddha sat on the seat prepared for him, and the five ascetics then addressed him by name and greeted him as an equal, saying, "âvuso" (friend).
The Buddha said, "Address not the Tathâgata (Perfect one) by the word ‘âvuso.’ The Tathâgata, monks, is a Consummate one (Arahat), a Supremely Enlightened one. Give ear, monks, the Deathless has been attained. I shall instruct you, I shall teach you the Dhamma; following my teaching you will know and realize for yourselves even in this lifetime that supreme goal of purity for the sake of which clansmen retire from home to follow the homeless life." Thereupon the five monks said: "Friend Gotama, even with the stern austerities, penances, and self-torture you practised, you failed to attain the superhuman vision and insight. Now that you are living a life of luxury and self-indulgence, and have given up the struggle, how could you have reached superhuman vision and insight?"
Then replied the Buddha: "The Tathâgata has not ceased from effort and reverted to a life of luxury and abundance. The Tathâgata is a Supremely Enlightened one. Give ear, monks, the Deathless has been attained. I shall instruct you. I shall teach you the Dhamma."
A second time the monks said the same thing to the Buddha who gave the same answer a second time. A third time they repeated the same question. In spite of the assurance given by the Master, they did not change their attitude. Then the Buddha spoke to them thus: "Confess, O monks, did I ever speak to you in this way before?" Touched by this appeal of the Blessed one, the five ascetics submitted and said: "No, indeed, Lord." Thus did the Supreme Sage, the Tamed one, tame the hearts of the five ascetics with patience and kindness, with wisdom and skill. Overcome and convinced by his utterances, the monks indicated their readiness to listen to him.
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- Footnotes:
M. No. 26; I,167- 68.
The Middle Path
Now on a full moon day of July, 589 years before Christ, in the evening, at the moment the sun was setting and the full moon simultaneously rising, in the shady Deer Park at Isipatana, the Buddha addressed them:
"Monks, these two extremes ought not to be cultivated by the recluse. What two? Sensual indulgence which is low, vulgar, worldly, ignoble, and conducive to harm; and self-mortification, which is painful, ignoble, and conducive to harm. The middle path, monks, understood by the Tathâgata, avoiding the extremes, gives vision and knowledge and leads to calm, realization, enlightenment, and Nibbâna. And what, monks, is that middle path? It is this Noble Eightfold Path, namely: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration."
Then the Buddha explained to them the Four Noble Truths: the noble truth of suffering, the noble truth of the arising of suffering, the noble truth of the cessation of suffering, and the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering.[1]
Thus did the Supreme Buddha proclaim the truth and set in motion the Wheel of the Dhamma (dhamma-cakka-pavattana). This first discourse, this message of the Deer Park, is the core of the Buddha’s Teaching. As the footprint of every creature that walks the earth could be included in the elephant’s footprint, which is pre-eminent for size, so does the doctrine of the Four Noble Truths embrace the entire teaching of the Buddha.
Explaining each of the Four Noble Truths, the Master said: "Such, monks, was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the insight, the light that arose in me, that I gained about things not heard before. As long as, monks, my intuitive knowledge, my vision in regard to these Four Noble Truths was not absolutely clear to me, I did not claim that I had gained the incomparable Supreme Enlightenment. But when, monks, my intuitive knowledge, my vision, in regard to these Four Noble Truths was absolutely clear to me, then only did I claim that I had gained the incomparable Supreme Enlightenment. And there arose in me insight and vision: unshakeable is the deliverance of my mind (akuppâ me cetovimutti), this is my last birth, there is no more becoming (rebirth)."[2] Thus spoke the Buddha, and the five monks, glad at heart, applauded the words of the Blessed one.
On December 2, 1930, at the royal dinner at the King’s Palace, Sweden, when it was his turn to speak, Sir C. Venkata Raman, the Nobel Prize winning physicist, left aside science and, to the surprise of the renowned guests, delivered a most powerful address on the Buddha and India’s past glories. "In the vicinity of Benares," said Sir Venkata Raman, "there exists a path which is for me the most sacred place in India. This path was one day travelled over by the Prince Siddhârtha, after he had gotten rid of all his worldly possessions in order to go through the world and proclaim the annunciation of love."[3]
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- Footnotes:
For a comprehensive explanation of these truths, see the author’s The Buddha’s Ancient Path; Bhikkhu Ñanamoli, Three Cardinal Discourses of the Buddha (Wheel No. 17); Francis Story, The Four Noble Truths (Wheel No. 34/35); Nyanatiloka Thera, The Word of the Buddha. All published by BPS.
2.Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, S.V,420.
3.The Bosat (Vol. 5, No.I, 1942), Vajirarama, Colombo, p.8.
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