We bring to you todayand#8217;s FBA Dharmabyte on the eve before the full moon in July: and#8220;Celebrating Dharma Day.and#8221; Here Sangharakshita shares the story of the Buddhaand#8217;s first teaching, the Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma, or Dharmachakra. From the talk: and#8220;The Word of the Buddhaand#8221; given in 1972.
Dharmabytes from free buddhist audio
Celebrating Dharma Day
[music] Dharma Bites is brought to you by Free Buddhist Audio, the Dharma for Your Life. Our work is funded entirely by donations from our generous listeners. If you would like to help us keep this free, make a contribution at freebuddhistaudio.com/donate. Thank you, and happy listening. [music] Friends, today, as you've just heard, we're celebrating a festival. We're celebrating a festival which is generally known in the east as Dharma Chakra Day. Or to give it its full, as it were, official title, Dharma Chakra Revartana Day. Which means the anniversary of the Buddha's first turning the wheel of the Dharma. And turning the wheel of the Dharma is a traditional Buddhist idiom for the Buddha's first proclamation in words of human speech, of the truth that he had discovered at the foot of the Bodhi Tree, at Bodhagaya, some two months before. So Dharma Chakra Day or Dharma Chakra Revartana Day, the anniversary of that first proclamation of the truth is evidently one of the most important occasions, one of the most important festivals in the whole Buddhist year. And obviously, it happens to be one of those festivals directly associated with the life of the Buddha. In the course of the Buddhist year, we have all sorts of festivals, all sorts of celebrations. But some are associated with the life of the Buddha, with events in the life of the Buddha, others are not. And this happens to be one of those associated with an event, one of the most important events in the life of the Buddha. Many of you know, many of you will remember that two months ago, exactly, we celebrated the Vaishaka Purnima. And this, of course, is the anniversary of the Buddha's enlightenment, the anniversary of his realization of the Supreme Truth, the day on which to change the idiom somewhat, the new man emerged from the mass of humanity. And this event, the Buddha's awakening to the Truth, the Buddha's realization of the Truth, the Buddha's becoming a new man. This hate and still has a tremendous significance, spiritual significance for all mankind, inasmuch as it constitutes a sort of turning point in the whole course of human history. Now, though this event happened some 2,500 years ago, we know roughly the circumstances and the which it took place, we know where it took place, and it took place at Buddha Gaya, or Buddha Gaya, as we sometimes say, which is situated in the present-day state of Bihar in northeastern India. And this event, the Buddha's attainment of enlightenment, took place, of course, in the month of Vaishaka, on the full moon day of the month of Vaishaka, which corresponds to our April to May. Now, after his attainment of enlightenment, after his awakening to that Supreme Truth, the Buddha's spent, we are told, by the tradition, altogether seven weeks in that same place, seven weeks in Boda Gaya. And we are told that he spent his time sitting, mainly, at the foot of various trees. He'd spend a few days at the foot of one tree, then he'd move, spend a few days sitting at the foot of another tree. And in this way, seven whole weeks passed. And we're told he hardly bothered about food. He hardly bothered to eat. Apparently, two wandering merchants did offer him some honeycomb or something of that sort. But that's the only actual reference to food. He was above and beyond as it were at that time, any bodily considerations. But it wasn't just that he had gained enlightenment. That was a tremendous thing to begin with, but it wasn't just that. Not only there was the question of attaining enlightenment, realizing the truth-seeing reality, but that there was also, in addition to that, if anything, even more difficult task of assimilating that, of absorbing that, at every level of his being, in every aspect of his being. And it's in that great task, as it were, that he was spending those seven weeks immediately falling upon the enlightenment, absorbing that experience, assimilating that experience, allowing it to transform and transmute every atom, every fiber of his being. After all, we may say that what had happened to the Buddha, when he gained enlightenment, was the greatest thing, the most tremendous thing, that can possibly happen to any human being, any member of the human race, to be transformed from an unenlightened into an enlightened human being. This surely is the biggest transformation that possibly we can undergo. So, bigger transformation, so greater transformation indeed, that in a sense, when we become enlightened, we cease to be, in the ordinary sense, a human being at all. We become an enlightened human being, become a new man, become a Buddha, which is an entirely new and entirely different category of existence. We hope you enjoyed today's Dharma Bite. Please help us keep this free. Make a contribution at freebuddhistaudio.com/donny. And thank you. [music] [music] [music] You [BLANK_AUDIO]