Words of the Buddha · ≈563–483 BCE
The Buddha
Source of the tradition · the Pali Canon · Dhammacakkappavattana · the first sermon
The prince who went out beyond the palace gate, saw old age and death, and found no peace until he had found the end of suffering.
The essence of the teaching: Pain exists, it has a cause – thirst and clinging – and there is a path to its end. Do not take it on faith – test it yourself, the way one tests gold in fire.
Transmission
Siddhartha was born in a palace where everything heavy was hidden from him. But one day he went out and saw an old man, a sick man and a dead man – and understood that this is the fate of all. For six years he sought a way out through extremes and nearly starved himself to death by fasting. Then he sat beneath a tree and vowed not to rise until he understood. At dawn he awoke – and saw the four truths as clearly as one sees the bed of a transparent river. For forty-five years he walked the roads of India and repeated: I teach only one thing – suffering and its ending. Do not worship me, he said, be a lamp unto yourselves.
The full transmission — for members of the School. Here is its essence and its taste.
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Words of the Buddha
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