Chapter III.THE MINISTRY

1.THE ENLIGHTENMENT

When the Buddha nearly found the Enlightenment , the Evil One, approached and claimed the throne of grass which he had made for himself. The Bodhisattva , the Buddha-to-be touched earth, calling the earth to witness that the throne was by his right, and the earth gave witness. Mara, the Evil One, his assaults by fire and darkness and all his violence having failed, withdrew. The moon rose and the Blessed One passed, as he had passed a thousand times before, into deep meditation.

Now the victory was near, the goal of hundreds of lives of effort devoted to one end. He passed in review his former births, the cause of all rebirth and its consequent suffering, the spokes of the

Wheel of Rebirth which rolls and rolls unceasingly. Finally, he bound in one the Self which still is human, and the Self of pure Enlightenment.

The earth which he had called to witness his approach to Buddhahood knew of the victory, and the forces of nature and the gods of Heaven rejoiced that another Buddha was born. For seven days he rested under the Bodhi-Tree whose sapling grows on the self-same spot to-day, And the Nagas( Serpent Kings) of the Earth, the Symbolic name of the Initiates of Wisdom, approved that Gotama was now the Buddha.

As for trying to communicate his great discovery, however, he felt that it would be a waste of energy even to try. Human beings were simply too deeply caught up in worldly attachment and pursuits to want to hear about it. But then the great god Brahma Sahampati appealed to him, saying that some people who could be released from the coils of suffering if he would consent to teach.

"Lord, let the Blessed One preach the Dharma! May the Perfect One preach the Dharma ! There are beings whose mental eyes are scarcely darkened by any dust : if they do not hear the Dhamma they will perish. There will be somewho will understand"
The Buddha’s deep in compassion was aroused and he agreed to the idea.
The decision was made. The Buddha would preach the Dhamma to mankind.
I will beat the drum of the Immortal in the darkness of the world"
But preach to whom? His early gurus, Alara Kalama and Uddaka, had passed away. He decided to teach the five ascetics who had left him when he parted from their austerities, He rose and slowly made his way to Benares. There in the Deer Park of Isipatana, he found them and they called him "friend", but the Buddha told them of his Enlightenment and they paid him the respect that was due to him.

2.THE FIRST SERMON

On the night of the Full Moon of July he preached to them his first sermon of " Setting in Motion the Wheel of Righteousness". He spoke of two extremes of sensuality and mortification, and of the Middle Way, the sweetly reasonable Middle Way which lies between ; he taught the Four Noble Truths of suffering and its cause , desire and selfishness, of the removal of that cause ,and of the Eightfold Path which leads to the end of suffering. And the leader of ascetics , Kodanna ," obtained the pure and spotless Dharma –Eye " and was the first to be ordained a disciple of the Tathagata.

There are in the Deer Park of Sarnath near Benares is the site where the Buddha proclaimed his Dharma, " glorious in the beginning, glorious in the middle, glorious in its end." Soon, the other four ascetics perceived the Truth of the Dhamma and they ,too, were ordained. And to them, the Buddha preached his Second Sermon, setting forth the famous Anatta doctrine .

3.THE FIRST MISSIONARIES

The Buddha was about 35 when he became Enlightened .He lived until he was about 80, and those last 45 years of his life were given over to teaching. He walked the hot and dusty roads of central- northern India, going from village to town to city, addressing himself to all who wanted to hear what he had to say, regardless of distinction of sex, caster, vocation or religion. He was truly liberal and generous teacher.

He was also apparently a very inspiring teacher, for right from the start large numbers of people were ready to give everything up in order to follow him and devote themselves wholeheartedly to the practice of his teaching. In the early days, the Sangha was so strong. The monks of this rapidly-growing Sangha lived the homeless life, wandering from place to place, carrying the Buddha teachings out into the world " for the welfare and happiness of the many folk". There were 1,250 monks in this Sangha and the most famous monks were Kassapa, Moggallana Ananda ,and Sariputta who became the Buddha’s chief disciplines.

Five hundred bhikkhus (monks) became Arahats when the Buddha was still living.

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