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THE FIRST DISCOURSE DELIVERED BY BUDDHA* 



Translated by the late Rev. D. J. Gogerly, Chairman of the 

 Wesleyan Mission in South Ceylon, and presented J or pub- 

 lication by the Rev. R. S. Hardy, m. r. a. s. 



On the birth of the prince Gotama, according to the native au- 

 thorities, it was known to certain Brahmins, from the signs they 

 saw upon his person, that he would become a supreme Buddha. 

 They themselves were too aged to expect to live until the time 

 when he would attain to this high position; but they instructed 

 their sons to prepare for places of privilege under the new dispen- 

 sation. Of these young Brahmins, only five were obedient to 

 parental advice. They retired to the forest of Uruwela, to await 

 the assumption of the Buddhaship by the prince. Not long after 

 Gotama had renounced the allurements of the palace, they met 

 with him in the place of his retreat, and remained with him six 

 years, hoping continually that the time in which he was to practise 

 austerities would cease. But when this period had passed over, 

 and the prince, as he had done before, began to carry the alms- 

 bowl as a mendicant, without attaining the object for which he had 

 become an ascetic, their patience was exhausted, and they left him, 

 retiring to the neighbourhood of Benares. 



It was the wish of Gotama, on becoming Buddha, to say bana, 

 or to preach, in the first instance, to Alara and Uddaka, two 

 ascetics whom he had previously met with, whilst wandering in 

 the forest; but when he learnt that they were already dead, he 

 looked for the locality of the five Brahmins, and when he saw that 

 they were near Benares, he repaired thither to open his commission 

 as the all- wise teacher. They received him with reverence and 

 worship. The preparations for this first sermon of the Tathagata 



