66. Seated Buddha, date unknown, Kyaikbawlaw Pagoda, Kyaikto, Burma, gilt bronze.
[The twelve-spoked Wheel of Dharma]
“And, monks, as long as this knowledge and vision of mine – with its three rounds and twelve permutations concerning these four noble truths as they actually are present – was not pure, I did not claim to have directly awakened to the right self-awakening unexcelled in the cosmos with its deities, Maras, and Brahmas, with its contemplatives and priests, its royalty and commonfolk. But as soon as this knowledge and vision of mine – with its three rounds and twelve permutations concerning these four noble truths as they actually are present – was truly pure, then I did claim to have directly awakened to the right self-awakening unexcelled in the cosmos with its deities, Maras and Brahmas, with its contemplatives and priests, its royalty and commonfolk. Knowledge and vision arose in me: ‘Unprovoked is my release. This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming.’”
[The Noble Sangha is born]
That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the group of five monks delighted at his words. And while this explanation was being given, there arose to the Venerable Kaundinya the dustless, stainless Dharma eye: Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.
67. Seated Buddha in hall of Buddhas, date unknown, Wat Suthat, Bangkok, Thailand, gilt bronze.
[The Wheel of the Dharma begins to turn]
And when the Blessed One had set the Wheel of Dharma in motion, the earth deities cried out: “At Varanasi, in the Game Refuge at Isipatana, the Blessed One has set in motion the unexcelled Wheel of Dharma that cannot be stopped by priest or contemplative, deity, Mara or God or anyone in the cosmos.” On hearing the earth deities’ cry, the deities of the Four Kings’ Heaven took up the cry…the deities of the Thirty-three…the Yama deities…the Tushita deities…the Nimmanarati deities…the Paranimmita-vasavatti deities…the deities of Brahma’s retinue took up the cry: “At Varanasi, in the Game Refuge at Isipatana, the Blessed One has set in motion the unexcelled Wheel of Dharma that cannot be stopped by priest or contemplative, deity, Mara, or God or anyone at all in the cosmos.”
So in that moment, that instant, the cry shot right up to the Brahma worlds. And this ten-thousand fold cosmos shivered and quivered and quaked, while a great, measureless radiance appeared in the cosmos, surpassing the effulgence of the deities.
Then the Blessed One exclaimed: “So you really know, Kaundinya? So you really know?” And that is how Venerable Kaundinya acquired the name Ajnata-Kaundinya – Kaundinya who knows.
[SN LVI.11]
The Buddha declared that he had arrived at these convictions, not by study of the Vedas (the Hindu texts) or from the teachings of others, but by the light of reason and intuition alone. Initially, these teachings were difficult for his old disciples to accept. However, after spending long hours discussing them with him, asking their questions and hearing his answers, these men became the first to acknowledge Gautama in his new role. It was the aged Kaundinya, ready for his release from life, who first openly gave in his adhesion; but the others also, after many talks with the Buddha, sometimes separately, sometimes together, soon accepted in its entirety his plan of salvation.
68. Trio of seated Buddhas, date unknown, Kyaikhami, Yayleh Pagoda, Kyaikhami, Burma.
Life of Gautama from the Commencement of his Public Ministry until his Death
What sets the Buddha apart (Pali Canon):
As he was sitting there, [Moggallana the Guardsman] said to Venerable Ananda: “Master Ananda, is there any one monk endowed in each and every way with the qualities with which Master Gautama – worthy and rightly self-awakened – was endowed?”
“No, brahmin, there isn’t any one monk endowed in each and every way with the qualities with which the Blessed One – worthy and rightly self-awakened – was endowed. For the Blessed One was the arouser of the unarisen path, the begetter of the unbegotten path, the expounder of the unexpounded path, the knower of the path, the expert with regard to the path, adept at the path. And now his disciples follow the path and become endowed with it after him.”
[MN 108]
Gautama now remained for some time in the Migadaya wood, teaching his new doctrines; he taught these quietly, and only to those who came to him, which is evidence of the gulf that divided him from the professional teachers of the time. His was no mere scholastic system, involved like those of the Brahmans in a mysterious obscurity; it was not offered solely to the consideration of only a few selected adepts. Not only was he a great thinker, he also possessed a prophetic ardour and missionary zeal which prompted him to popularise his doctrine and to preach to all without exception – men and women, high and low, ignorant and learned alike. Thus all of his first disciples were laymen, and two of the very first were women. The first convert was a rich young man named Yasa, who joined the small company of personal followers; the next were Yasa’s father, mother, and wife, who chose to remain lay disciples.
It was not until some time later that Gautama established an order of female mendicants; he held the life of a mendicant to be necessary to expedite progress towards deliverance from that ‘thirst’ which was the cause of all evil. This is not to suggest that the life of a mendicant was the only way; he highly honoured the believing householder. A lay disciple, though not yet able or willing to cast off the ties of home or business, might yet ‘enter the paths’ and, by a life of rectitude and kindness, ensure for himself in a future existence more favourable conditions for his growth in goodness. There is no magic in any outward act; everyone’s salvation consists of and depends entirely on a modification and growth in his own inner nature, to be brought about by his own self-control and diligence, and thus the earnest layman will advance further in ‘the paths’ than the mendicant who is wanting in self-control and energy. Gautama’s whole teaching resolved itself into a system of intellectual and moral self-culture, from those choosing to lead the mendicant’s life to those who practised the teachings within their homes.
69. Standing Buddha, date unknown, Sule Pagoda, Yangon, Burma, gold.
70. Standing Buddha with attendants, date unknown, Kyaikbawlaw Pagoda, Kyaikto, Burma, gold.
71. The Attack of Mara, date unknown, Tep Pranam, Siem Reap, Cambodia, stone.
Five months after the crisis under the Bodhi tree and three months after Gautama’s arrival at the Migadaya wood, he called together all his disciples, who at that time numbered sixty persons, and sent them in different directions to preach and teach, leaving Yasa only to remain at Benares near his parents.
The Burmese account states that on this occasion Buddha gave the following speech: “Beloved Rahans (‘monks’), I am free from the five great passions which, like an immense net, encompass men and [gods]; you too, owing to the instructions you have received from me, enjoy the same glorious privilege. There is now incumbent on us a great duty, that of labouring effectually on behalf of men and [gods], and procuring to them the invaluable blessing of the deliverance. To the end of securing more effectually the success of such an undertaking, let us part with each other and proceed in various and opposite directions, so that no two of us should follow up the same way. Go ye now, and preach the most excellent Law, expounding every point thereof, and unfolding it with care and attention in all its bearings and particulars. Explain the beginning, the middle, and the end of the law to all men without exception: let