[无量香光 · 显密文库 · 手机站]
fowap.goodweb.net.cn
{返回首页}


On the Way to Benares to Teach the Dhamma
 
{返回 A Manual Of Buddhism 文集}
{返回网页版}
点击:2058

On the Way to Benares to Teach the Dhamma

"To whom shall I teach the Dhamma first? Who will understand the Dhamma quickly?" was the first thought that occurred to the Buddha before He embarked on His noble Mission.

"Well, there is Alara Kalama, who is learned, clever, wise, and has for long been with little dust in his eyes. How if I were to teach the Dhamma to him first? He will understand the Dhamma quickly."

Then a deity appeared before the Blessed One and said:-

"Lord! Alara Kalama died a week ago." With His Divine Eye He perceived that it was so. Then He thought of Uddaka Ramaputta. Instantly a deity informed Him that he died the evening before. With His Divine Eye the Buddha perceived this to be true.

Ultimately He thought of the five Bhikkhus who attended on Him during His struggle for Enlightenment. With His superhuman Divine Eye He perceived that they were residing in the Deer Park at Isipatana in Benares. So the Buddha stayed at Uruvela as long as He wished and set out for Benares.

Between Gaya and the Bodhi, Upaka, a wandering ascetic, saw the Buddha traveling on the highway, and said:-

"Extremely clear are your senses, friend! Pure and clean is your complexion. On account of whom have you renounced, friend? Who is your teacher? Whose doctrine do you profess?"

The Buddha replied:

"All have I overcome, all do I know.

From all am l detached, all have I renounced.

Wholly absorbed am I in the destruction of craving (Arahantship)

Having comprehended all by myself who shall I call my teacher?

No teacher have I

An equal to me there is not.

In the world, including the gods, there is no rival to me.

Indeed an Arahant am I in this world.

An unsurpassed teacher am I.

Alone am I the All-Enlightened.

Cool and appeased am I.

To establish the wheel of Dhamma I go to the city of kasi

In this blind world

I shall beat the drum of Deathlessness."

"Then, friend, you do admit that you are an Arahant, a limitless Conqueror?" queried Upaka. "Like me are conquerors who have attained to the destruction of Defilements. All the evil conditions have I conquered. Hence, Upaka, I am called a Conqueror," replied the Buddha.

" It may be so, friend!" Upaka curtly remarked, and nodding his head, turned into a by-road and departed. Unperturbed by the first rebuff the Buddha received, He wandered from place to place and arrived in due course at the Deer Park in Benares.

The five monks who saw Him coming from a far resolved not to pay him due respect as they misconstrued His change of effort during His struggle for Enlightenment. But as the Buddha drew near, His august personality was such that they were compelled to receive Him with due honor. Nevertheless, they addressed Him by name and by the title ‘Avuso’ (friend) a form of address applied generally to juniors. The Blessed One advised them not to address Him thus as He had attained Buddhahood. But the skeptical monks refused to believe Him. For the second and third time the Buddha advised them. Yet the monks refused to acknowledge His superiority.

Finally the Buddha said:

"Do you know, O Bhikkhus, of an occasion when I ever spoke to you thus before?"

"Nay, indeed, Lord!"

"The Tathágata, O Bhikkhus, is not luxurious, has not given up striving, and has not adopted a life of abundance. An Exalted One, O Bhikkhus, is the Tathágata: a Fully Enlightened One is He. Give ear, O Bhikkhus! Immortality has been attained. I shall instruct and teach the Dhamma.

If you act according to my instructions, you will before long realize, by your own intuitive wisdom, and thereafter continue attaining in this life itself, that supreme state of the Holy Life, for the sake of which sons of noble families rightly renounce the household for the homeless life."

It was a frank utterance, issuing from the sacred mouth of the Buddha. The cultured monks, though adamant in their views, were now fully convinced of the great achievement of the Buddha and of His competence to act as their spiritual Guide.

Two of the Bhikkhus the Buddha instructed, whilst three went out for alms. With what they brought, all the six sustained themselves. Three of the Bhikkhus He instructed, whilst two Bhikkhus went out for alms. With what they brought, all the six sustained themselves.

The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta was the first discourse the Buddha delivered to them. Hearing it Kondanna, the eldest, attained Sotapatti, the first stage of Sainthood. The other four attained Sotapatti later. It was after hearing the Anattalakkhana Sutta, which deals with soul-less-ness, that they all attained Arahantship, the final stage of Sainthood.


{返回 A Manual Of Buddhism 文集}
{返回网页版}
{返回首页}

上一篇:The Five Monks
下一篇:Invitation To Teach The Dhamma
 The Buddha’s Ministry
 What attains Nibbána?
 The Four Noble Truths
 The Mission to Ceylon
 The First Watch
 The Buddha’s Greatness
 Modes Of Birth And Death
 Ten Unlawful Points
 The First Two Converts
 Ashoka And His Missions
全文 标题
 
【佛教文章随机阅读】
 13紧兽树[栏目:阿含经和生活禅修]
 经学章句与佛经科判及汉魏六朝文学理论(孙尚勇)[栏目:佛教与文学]
 经过助念以后,亡者面孔变好看,身体也变柔软,是助念的原因吗?[栏目:临终助念问答·净空法师]
 慈航大师全集 菩提心影(四)杂俎篇 二○、知识道德与能力[栏目:慈航法师]
 “念佛往生”的误区[栏目:雪漠]
 听闻容易实践难,侮慢师尊总是闲;自大贡高空费力,聪明盖世也徒然。[栏目:千江映月·星云说偈]
 万相俱寂 一觉常灵(智谕)[栏目:佛教期刊文章选摘]
 阿弥陀经疏钞演义 第七十九集[栏目:阿弥陀经疏钞讲记·净空法师]
 菩提道次第略论讲课记录 第14课[栏目:菩提道次第略论讲课记录·宏演法师]
 17. 免除死刑的契机[栏目:海涛法师说故事]


{返回首页}

△TOP

- 手机版 -
[无量香光·显密文库·佛教文集]
教育、非赢利、公益性的佛教文化传播
白玛若拙佛教文化传播工作室制作
www.goodweb.net.cn Copyrights reserved
(2003-2015)
站长信箱:yjp990@163.com