Saṃyutta Nikāya
I. Sagātha Vagga
6. Brahmā Saṃyutta
Sutta 1
Ayacana Sutta
The Asking
[EXCERPT]
Nidana
Translated from the Pāḷi
by
Michael M. Olds
Translator's Introduction
The question has arisen as to why Gotama, the Awake, having been in training for so many lifetimes to become The Awake not only for his own sake but precisely so that he would have the skills, temperament and charisma to teach, would, on attaining the goal, hesitate to do so. It is suggested here that because the nature of the Dhamma is to be without desire and the act of teaching being an act based on desire (however much it might also be a matter of compassion), it would be both impossible for someone without desire to teach and it would be a bad example at the very initial knot of the yarn to do so on one's own initiative. Hence I believe it is a constant in the cosmic role of The Awakened One, that the here-to-fore highest being 'beg' that the teaching go forth. Thereafter anyone who did come along and accuse Gotama of acting on desire could be enlightened with this incident.
Once upon a time, The Lucky Man,
Uruvela revisiting,
River Nerañjaraya's edge,
root of the Goatherd's Banyon,
first thing after his Awakening.
There then arose in the heart of The Lucky Man
in the privacy of solitude,
this line of thought:
"This Dhamma,
deep,
difficult to see,
difficult to awaken to,
sane,
lofty,
no contorted conjecture,
subtle,
for the experiencing of by the wise,
has come into my possession,
but dwelling on enjoyment are these children,
dwelling on pleasure,
dwelling on pleasantries,
and for children
dwelling on pleasure,
dwelling on pleasantries,
difficult to see is this position,
that is, this
this-conditions-that rebounding co-founding.
And then just this position too
is difficult to see:
that is, the calming of all own-making,
the resolution of all involvements,
the withering away of thirst,
dispassion,
extinction,
Nibbāna."
