In the Dhamma we have a perfect teaching, and in the Buddha we have a perfect teacher, and the combination of these two meant that within a short time of being first proclaimed, the Dhamma became remarkably widespread. The Buddha was the first religious teacher who meant his message to be proclaimed to all humanity.Who made an absolute effort to do this. The Buddha was universal. He told his first disciples to spread the Dhamma far and wide. We are his disciples.

I shall not die until the monks, the nuns, the laymen and the laywomen have become deeply learned, wise and well-trained, remembering the teachings, proficient in the lesser and greater doctrines and virtuous; until, having learned the teachings themselves, they are able to tell it to others, teach it, make it known, establish it, open it up, explain it and make it clear; until they are able to refute false doctrines taught by others and are able to spread the convincing and liberating truth abroad. I shall not die until the holy life has become successful, prosperous, undespised and popular; until it has become well proclaimed among both gods and men.

The Dhamma was compassion. He said: "Whatever has had to be done by a teacher out of compassion, for the welfare of his disciples, I have done for you." He saw humans as being limited by their greed, tormented by their hatred and misled by their delusion. To be free of this delusion, the compassionate Buddha turned into a tireless and skilful teacher. Buddha's purpose was to lead to a clearer understanding.

When someone asked him what was the most powerful blessing, the Buddha said that to act with honesty, kindness and integrity would bless one. He taught the annihilation of greed, hatred and delusion.

In Buddhism, Nirvana can only be attained through understanding. As such, those who came to hear the Buddha teach and who became his disciples tended to be the better educated lay men and women, and the intellectuals. The Dhamma, the Buddha said, had "to be understood by the wise who are each for himself.

Buddha's motive in teaching the Dhamma was compassion and his compassion was infinite. His efforts to proclaim it or explain it to otherswere tireless. The Buddha's greatest gift to mankind was the truth and his compassion motivated him to give it to all who were willing to receive it.

Only a few months before his final Nirvana he said:
"There are some who say that as long as a man is young, he possesses lucidity of wisdom, but as he ages that wisdom begins to fade. But this is not so. I am now worn, old, aged, I have lived my life and am now towards the end of my life, being about eighty. Now if I had four disciples who were to live for a hundred years and if, during that time, they were to ask me questions about the four foundations of mindfulness, except when they were eating, drinking, answering the call of nature or sleeping,

I would still not finish explaining Dhamma. Even if you have to carry me about on a stretcher there will be no change in the lucidity of wisdom. If anyone were to speak rightly of me they could say: 'A being not liable to delusion has arisen in the world, for the good of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world, for the good and the happiness of gods and men.'"

Crystallotus Home | E-zine

Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.