Invitation to teach the Dhamma

The close of the fasting period, as the Buddha was engaged in solitary meditation, He thought: -

“With difficulty have I apprehended the Dhamma. There is no need to proclaim it now. This Dhamma is not easily understood by those who are overcome by lust and hatred. The lust-ridden, shrouded by the mass darkness, do not see this Dhamma, which goes against the stream, abstruse, profound, difficult to  perceive, and subtle.”

Eventually His mind turned into inaction, and not to the teaching of the Dhamma.
Thereupon a celestial being named Brahma Sahampati read the thoughts of the Blessed One, and fearing that the world might perish through not hearing the Dhamma, approached the Buddha and invited Him to teach the Dhamma.

He wisely remarked:-

“In ancient times there arose in Magadha a Dhamma, impure, evolved by the corrupted. Open this Door to the Deathless. May they hear the Dhamma, understood by the Stainless! Just as one standing on the summit of a rocky mountain would behold the people around, even so may the All-Seeing Wise One ascend this palace of Dhamma!

May the Sorrowless One look upon the people, plunged in grief and overcome by birth and decay.”

“Rise, O Hero, the victor in battle, the caravan-leader, the debt-free One, and wander in the world!  May the Blessed One propound the Dhamma! There will be those who will understand the Doctrine!”

When Brahma Sahampati entreated the Buddha for the third time, He surveyed the world with His Buddha Vision.

On surveying the world He perceived beings with little as well as much dust in their eyes, with keen and dull intellect, with good and bad characteristics, who are easy and difficult to be taught, and a few others who live perceiving the dangers of evil and of a future life.

The Buddha, therefore, accepted the invitation of Brahma Sahampati and said:-

“Opened to them are the Doors to the Deathless.  Let those who have ears repose confidence. Being aware of the weariness of it, O Brahma, I did not preach amongst men this glorious and excellent Dhamma.”

The delighted Brahma, thinking - “I made myself the occasion for the Blessed One to expound the Dhamma,” respectfully saluted Him and straightaway disappeared.
 

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,z 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 Dhammaquickly.”

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 travelling 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 honour.  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 sceptical 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 Tathagata, 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 Tathagata: 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 realise, 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 Surta 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-lessness, that they all attained Arahantship, the final stage of Sainthood.
 

The Five Monks

The five Bhikkhus who thus attained Arahantship and became His first disciples were Kondanna, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahanama and Assaji. Kondanna was the  youngest of the eight Brahmins invited for the naming ceremony, and who alone foretold that the prince would definitely become the Buddha. The other four disciples were sons of four of the other seven Brahmins.

These five Brahmin’s had retired to the forest as ascetics in anticipation of the renunciation of Prince Siddhattha, and at Uruvela they had attended on him when he was striving to attain Buddhahood. But when he gave up fasting and penance, they left him and went to Isipatana. Soon after their departure, he attained Buddhahood. It was seven weeks after His Enlightenment that the Buddha visited Isipatana and expounded the doctrine to them.

The Venerable Kondanna became the first Arahant and the senior member of the Sangha. It was the Venerable Assaji, one of the five, who converted the great Sariputta, the first chief disciple of the Buddha.