The Asalha Puja Festival

Asalha Puja, also known as Dhamma Day, is one of Theravada Buddhism's most important festivals, celebrating as it does the Buddha's first sermon in which he set out to his five former associates the doctrine that had come to him following his enlightenment.

Transcript

As Annette Asala Puja,

The Buddha taught the first time the Dhamma.

So he brought the wheel of Dhamma in motion.

He set the wheel of Dhamma in motion.

This is a very important Buddhist holiday.

And it was exactly two months after his enlightenment.

His enlightenment happened in the months of Vesak,

The sixth month in the Indian calendar.

And he reached enlightenment then.

And after his enlightenment,

He was thinking,

Okay,

Whom could I teach?

And first of all,

He thought of his two teachers who taught him when he was leaving the palace.

And these two were very good men,

Good morality,

Good discipline.

And they have,

Of course,

They had good concentration.

So he thought,

Okay,

They might understand it.

And then he,

When he contemplated on that,

He had this divine eye and could see things we can't see.

And he saw that both of them had already passed away.

They were already dead.

So he thought of who else,

Whom else could I teach?

And then he thought of his five companions when he did this ascetic practices.

He was accompanied by five ascetics.

The eldest of them was Kondanya.

And the interesting story about Kondanya is that he already followed the Buddha since he was a newborn baby,

Because he was one of those five Brahmins that were asked to come to the king,

To the palace,

King Suddhodana,

And give a birth chart of the newborn prince.

And from these 13 astrologers,

Kondanya was the only one who said he will be 100% the Buddha in future.

The others say he will be either an emperor or a king or a Buddha.

And then only Kondanya said,

No,

He will be 100% the Buddha.

And since he was so sure,

He always watched the prince,

What's going on with him.

And when he saw he left the palace,

Of course,

He also followed him too,

Because he wanted to be one of those who were taught by the Buddha.

And then Buddha decided to teach these five ascetics.

And contemplating where they were,

He saw they are in Benares,

In Varanasi,

In another part of India,

In a deer park.

It's called Isipatana Deer Park near Varanasi.

So he walked there.

That was pretty far.

I don't know if you have ever been on a pilgrimage in India.

That is pretty far away from Bihar,

From Bodh Gaya,

Where Buddha was enlightened.

So he walked two months.

And then he arrived there in this deer park,

And he saw the five ascetics.

And while he was walking towards them,

The five ascetics saw him,

And they were talking to each other.

We want to respect him.

He had given up,

Because they left him when he was starting to eat again,

Eat proper meals again,

After he realized that this extreme ascetism doesn't bring him enlightenment.

He will die from it.

He didn't eat.

He didn't sleep.

He was almost dying.

And then he started to eat proper meals again.

And these five ascetics left him,

Because they thought he had given up.

And so they ran away.

But then when he came there and they walked there towards them,

They got very nervous.

They couldn't stay seated there.

They all stood up,

Walked towards him.

And one took his arms bowl,

And the other one prepared a seat for him.

So the Buddha already had this wonderful kind of radiation.

So they felt something is different.

So they respected him finally.

And then they sat down to talk.

But then Buddha said he had realized the truth.

He has realized the truth that leads out of suffering.

They didn't believe it.

They laughed about it,

Because they thought,

Nah,

He had given up.

He wasn't a strict ascetic anymore.

How could he experience enlightenment?

When he did all these extreme practices,

He didn't reach enlightenment.

So how could he have reached it now?

And so they just laughed about it.

But the Buddha said it three times.

He said,

Did I ever talk to you like this?

Did I ever mention I have realized the way out of suffering?

And they contemplated on it.

And they knew,

No,

He never said that.

He always said he isn't there yet.

So now he's saying that there must be something to it.

And then they started to listen.

And then the first thing the Buddha taught to them,

It's also interesting,

Because the Dhammachakapavatthana Sutta is mainly teaching the Four Noble Truths.

That was Buddha's first teaching.

But he didn't start with that straight away.

He started by telling them,

There are two paths that you have to avoid.

And one path is the extreme of indulging in central pleasures.

Avoid the path of indulging in central pleasures.

He didn't say you can't have any pleasure or enjoy things,

But not to indulge in central pleasures.

And then the second path you have to avoid is indulging in self-motification,

Like being so hard on yourself and so strict on yourself,

You will kill yourself.

It's painful.

It's in noble.

You shouldn't follow that path.

So these two extremes you have to avoid.

And you have to find the middle way,

The middle path.

And then he started,

So what is this middle path now?

The middle path is the Eightfold Path,

The Noble Eightfold Path.

And this Noble Eightfold Path consists of eight spokes.

The Noble Eightfold Path is always symbolized with a wheel,

A wheel that has eight spokes.

And the first two of these eight spokes are about wisdom,

All about wisdom.

It's right view,

Right thought.

These two are about wisdom.

The third one is the next three is,

Sorry.

The next three are about ethic principles.

And these ethic principles are right speech,

Right deed,

And right livelihood.

These are the three ethic principles you have to keep.

And then the next three are all about developing right concentration.

The first one is right effort.

The second is right mindfulness.

And the third is right concentration.

So this is the Eightfold Path.

So you have to follow this path and that will lead you on the middle path.

And you will walk the middle way.

So what does that mean for us?

Like there is an example how you can see if you're walking the middle path.

And that is,

Let's say,

Anger arises in your mind.

There's anger.

Then the right mindfulness will be like you see mindfulness tells you,

Ah,

There is anger.

Then there would be right,

The right,

You have the right effort to overcome that anger and to let go.

Then there is the,

Our Eightfold Path is always about,

How to say it,

Every wholesome thing you do in your life,

Everything that is kusala and wholesome will bring this wheel of Dhamma in motion.

So the Eightfold Path in motion.

Every unwholesome thing,

Akusala,

Will stop the wheel.

So whenever you do things in a wrong way,

Then the Eightfold Path will stop.

The wheel will not turn anymore.

So we have to do wholesome.

So if anger arises,

You make this effort,

The right,

First there will be this right view that tells you,

Okay,

Anger is not healthy for me.

Anger makes neither me nor others happy.

So anger is not good.

Then there is the right thought,

The right thinking that you have to let it go.

You have to let this anger go,

The right effort is then to let it go.

And also to bring something wholesome into the mind,

Some kusala into your mind that helps you with letting go.

And that would be in this case with anger,

Bringing meta in,

Bringing right thought in,

Like wholesome thought about the person,

About the situation.

So that would bring the Eightfold Path together to overcome a negative or akusala Dhamma,

Some unwholesome Dhamma that arises.

So that's the way how the Eightfold Path could work in our daily lives.

The Eightfold Path does not just work for us when we meditate or something.

It should really work in your daily life,

Applying it with little things that happen in your life.

So this was the first thing the Buddha taught in this Dhamma,

Chakrabartana Sutta in his first teaching.

And then he moved on and taught the Four Noble Truths.

Of course,

The Eightfold Path is one of the,

One part of the Four Noble Truths.

It's the last,

The fourth truth.

But he also started with that,

Like avoiding the two extremes and going the middle way,

Which is the Eightfold Path.

Yeah,

Then he started with the first Noble Truths.

He said that absolutely everything is suffering.

Birth is suffering.

Sickness is suffering.

Aging is suffering.

Death is suffering.

Sorrow,

Lamentation,

Pain,

Distress,

Despair are suffering.

Association with the unbeloved is suffering.

And separation from the loved ones is suffering.

Not getting what is wanted is suffering.

Getting what one doesn't like is suffering.

So in short,

The five aggregates of clinging are suffering.

So the five aggregates of clinging,

This is the five aggregates.

I speak many times when we practice meditation about it,

Is what we call ourselves,

Like the body,

Feelings,

Our perception,

Our mental formations,

And our consciousness.

So these five,

The body and four mental factors,

Is what we normally call ourselves.

That's me,

That's I.

But the Buddha didn't go further into explaining the five aggregates in this Dhammachaka Bhavatthana Sutta.

He did that then in further teachings,

Like when he taught for these 40 years,

He fine tuned his teaching more and more,

Really up to the person that was listening or those persons,

Those people who were listening.

And then he also went to these five aggregates and many,

Many other teachings.

But in this first Sutta,

He only said the attachment to the five khandhas is,

In short,

Is suffering.

Yeah.

Then he spoke about the second noble truth,

The origin of suffering or the cause for suffering to arise.

So the cause for suffering is graving.

It's graving,

It's passion,

It's delight in central pleasures.

It's graving for becoming,

It's graving for non-becoming.

All this attachment engraving is the cause for suffering.

The third noble truth is the cessation of suffering.

So he said,

Yeah,

Know it.

There is also a cessation of suffering.

Don't give up because all of this sounds very frustrating because we all have attachments and we suffer,

But there is a way out of suffering.

So don't give up yet.

And then he said,

What is this path to the cessation of suffering,

The fourth noble truth,

The eightfold path,

Which I already mentioned before.

This path,

Walking that path,

Bringing wholesome things into your life will keep this eightfold path turning.

Will keep this wheel of Dhamma,

The inside yourself,

This eightfold path turning.

And that will finally lead to the cessation of suffering.

And that every moment in our life,

But finally also lead to complete enlightenment and non-attachment anymore.

So he said,

The first truth has to be completely understood.

That is very important.

We have to completely understand the suffering,

Not just having this knowledge,

Like you listen to me or you read a book or everywhere you hear about this four noble truths,

You hear about that things are suffering,

But you really have to understand it.

And not just emotionally,

Because of course it's also emotional.

We feel pain,

We feel suffering,

But going deeper,

Having a deeper understanding of that suffering.

And that includes to understand the second noble truth,

Which has to be abandoned.

The Buddha said the second truth has to be abandoned.

And therefore we have to see it first.

We see the suffering and see what causes it.

Why do we suffer?

There's a cause for that suffering.

And this cause has to be abandoned.

This attachment,

Clinging,

Craving has to be abandoned.

Then the third noble truth has to be realized.

We have to also see there is a cessation of suffering.

And we can see that in our daily lives,

As I said,

The spinning of this eightfold path inside our hearts and minds is happening all the time.

So little things that happen in your daily life,

They can show you also the cessation of suffering.

They can show you Nibbāna in a short moment.

I just mentioned there was like,

I had a good situation yesterday.

Like I,

In my garden,

I build up some plant that would cover the trees,

Give some shadow and it has beautiful smelling,

Fragrant flowers on it.

And yesterday a worker came and just cut them off.

And I,

Of course,

I complained,

What are you doing?

And immediately I saw,

Aha,

There is a version coming up.

So I turned around and let it be.

And so in that moment I could see suffering arising because I like these plants and I did a lot of work that they would grow up there.

And so,

And so the attachment to the plant led to that disappointment or getting upset about them,

About that they are cut off now.

But this would not bring me any happiness.

And it wouldn't bring any happiness to the worker who cut them off.

So by holding onto it.

So okay,

Let it go,

Turn around from it and let it be.

And in that moment it was okay.

It was good.

No need to go further.

No need to get angry.

No need to get upset,

Make a big deal or a story about it.

So suffering ceased.

So this understanding of this eightfold path,

Okay,

Right view,

This now is anger,

It's aversion,

Doesn't bring anything.

The right thought,

Let it go.

And the right effort to really let it go and think about it,

Okay,

It doesn't bring anything.

So let it be.

Was coming together.

And in this moment you can experience a cessation of suffering,

A small cessation.

It's not that I'm enlightened now,

But you could see that the situation that would normally maybe make a big deal out of a thing like this,

Now,

Okay,

It could be cut off within a short moment.

And this effort we have to make,

This right effort,

One part of this eightfold path,

Do it again and again.

Bring kuśala,

Bring wholesome things into your mind.

Whatever the wheel of dharma or the wheel of the eightfold path stops because you get angry,

Because a kuśala is there because something unwholesome arises,

Then make the effort and bring wholesome in,

Bring metta in,

Whatever is necessary.

And it will turn again.

And that leads to cessation of suffering.

So that is what it means for us in our life.

Yeah,

So this is what the Buddha taught.

And when he taught that,

Then a beautiful thing happened.

What is also very important about this Asalakuccha days,

That it was also the birth of the Sangha because the dharma was already there.

Dhamma is always there.

Dhamma is part of nature.

It doesn't depend on a religious founder or a prophet or anything.

Dhamma is just there.

It's in nature.

Then the Buddha was already there because he was enlightened two months ago,

Two months before that Asalapuccha day.

But what happened on that day,

That one of these five ascetics,

Kondanya,

The eldest,

The one that followed the Buddha since his childhood,

He understood the dharma.

He was the only one of these five ascetic who immediately understood.

And he became a stream winner,

A sotapana.

So he understood that everything that arises through a cause also ceases through a cause.

So he understood this four noble truths.

Everything suffering,

For example,

Rises because there is a cause and it ceases because there is a cause,

The eternal path.

He understood it.

And so Buddha was also very glad in he spoke out.

Ah,

Kondanya understood it.

Kondanya understood it.

And from that day on,

He was called Anya Kondanya because Kondanya was his name and Anya means seeing,

Seeing the truth in this case,

Understanding.

So Anya,

The one who,

Ah,

Kondanya,

The one who understand.

And Kondanya also asked the Buddha to be allowed to the order of the monks.

So he was the first to become a monk in the Buddhist order.

And Buddha ordained him with the ehipiko ceremony.

This is something that only a Buddha can do.

Normally a Buddhist monk or nun is ordained in a ceremony,

Is pretty elaborate ceremony and learn texts and they have to be many monks and so forth.

But the Buddha just,

With some he did,

With some monks,

With some who wanted to become monks,

He just said ehipiko and they were immediately a monk.

So Anya Kondanya was the first one.

So it,

Asalapuja day was the first turning of the wheel of Dhamma and was also the birthday of the Sangha.

And then further on it was said that all the devas were very happy.

The devas,

The angels or however you may call it.

And in this Dhamma,

Chakrabartana Sutta is said that the devas of the earth,

They all enjoyed it and they sang out,

The Buddha has turned the wheel of Dhamma in the dear park of Isibhatana near Varanasi.

And now the wheel of Dhamma is in motion and no one from the Brahmas,

Devas,

Humans or any other beings can stop the wheel of Dhamma anymore.

And after this earth,

There was also the devas of the Tava Tingsha heaven,

That's one of the heavenly realms,

They screamed it out the same sentence.

And then also the Tusita heaven and all the six heavens that are in this,

Yeah,

In Buddhism we speak about six levels of heavens.

And then also the Brahmas sang out this sentence.

And then they say the earth shook,

There was an earthquake and light parades the whole cosmos and it must be a very,

Very special moment.

And yeah,

So that is what happened on this Asala Pucha day.

And that's why it's very much celebrated everywhere in every Buddhist country,

But also in the West,

Wherever there are temples,

The people celebrate this day.

So yeah,

That's all about the Asala Pucha day.

All these talks are also recorded so you can later on also listen to them on YouTube or Inside Timer.

And they will be also transcribed so you can also read it on my website.

And this time I will also put up a translation of the Dhammachaka Parvatthana Sutta.

So you can read the Pali and the English translation then also on the website so you can see for yourself what's written there in this Dhammachaka Parvatthana Sutta.

I hope you enjoyed that talk also with all the little technical glitches we have and I wish you a wonderful Sunday and hope to see you again soon.

Have a nice day.

Bye.