Asalha Puja

[From: His Royal Highness the Late Supreme Patriarch Prince VAJIRANANAVARORASA, English version by Siri Buddhasukh. LIFE OF THE BUDDHA. Bangkok: Mahamakuta Rajavidyalaya, 2011. pp. 57-60.]

According to the Commentary, the Buddha on the following day i.e. the full moon day of the Asalha month delivered to them his First Sermon called Dhammacakkapapavattana Sutta or ‘The Wheel of the Law’ declaring his Enlightenment.

The Sermon is rendered in summarized form as follows:

“Two extremes there are. O bhikkhus, that monks should not associate themselves with. These are self-indulgence, being low, belonging to householders, characteristic of world lings, ignoble and profitless: and self-mortification, being painful, ignoble and profitless.

‘The Middle Way, avoiding those two extremes, have I realized. It leads to Insight, Wisdom, Calm, Supreme Knowledge, Enlightenment and Nibbana. This is Right Views, Right Aspirations, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Means of Livelihood, Right Exertion, Right Mindfulness and Right Meditation.’

‘Following, O bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of Suffering. It is birth, old age, death, sadness, lamentation, diseases, grief, restlessness, association with the unpleasant, dissociation from the pleasant and not to get what is wanted.’

‘In short, the Five Aggregates (Khandha), the object of Attachment, are (the seat of) Suffering.’

‘Following. O bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering. It is the Craving leading to rebirth, being associated with delight and lust and always seeking for gratification. This is the Craving for sensual pleasures, for existence and for annihilation.’

‘Following. O bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering. It is the Craving being completely extinguished, given up, abandoned, transcended and left behind.’

‘Following. O bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the Path leading to the Cessation of Suffering. It is Right Views, Right Aspirations, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Means of Livelihood, Right Exertion, Right Mindfulness and Right Meditation.’

‘There occurred to me, O bhikkhus, the Eye, the Insight, the Wisdom, the Knowledge and the Light (by which I have come to realize) that this is the Noble Truth of Suffering, that it is to be known and that I have known it.’

‘There occurred to me, O bhikkhus, the Eye, the Insight, the Wisdom, the Knowledge and the Light (by which I have come to realize) that this is the Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering, that it is to be given up and that I have given it up.’

‘There occurred to me, O bhikkhus, the Eye, the Insight, the Wisdom, the Knowledge and the Light (by which I have come to realize) that this is the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering, that it is to be realized and that I have realized it.’

‘There occurred to me, O bhikkhus, the Eye, the Insight, the Wisdom, the Knowledge and the Light (by which I have come to realize) that this is the Noble Truth of the Path leading to the Cessation of Suffering, that it is to be developed and that I have developed it.’

‘As long as, O bhikkhus, my three-cycled, twelve-phased Penetrating Insight in the Four Noble Truths has not been completely purified, so long shall I not be able to declare myself having been awakened into the Supreme Enlightenment, unexcelled in the worlds of celestial beings, Mara, Brahma, recluse and brahmins, and human beings.’

‘As long as, O bhikkhus, my three-cycled, twelve-phased Penetrating Insight in the Four Noble Truths has not been completely purified, so long can I declare myself having been awakened into the Supreme Enlightenment, unexcelled in the worlds of celestial beings, Mara. Brahma, recluse and brahmins, and human beings.’

‘Thus have the Insight and Wisdom occurred to me that my Deliverance is unshaken, this life is my last and there is for me no more birth.’

While the Buddha was delivering this sermon there occurred to Venerable Kondanna the Eye of Dhamma freed of all dust and stain (which led him to) realizing that whatever is of the nature to be born is not the nature to be extinguished.

The Buddha knowing (clairvoyantly and telepathically) that Venerable Kondanna had obtained the Eye of Dhamma made the following utterances. ‘Kondanna had known: Kondanna had known’ And from that time there was added to his name the prefix Anna, deriving from the Pali word Anna, which means ‘has known’.

It is worth noting that the Buddha started his First Sermon with reference to two extremes which prevented monks from being enlightened. It was apparent that those were the popular traditions of monks at that time.”