After getting the Nirvana (Enlightenment) Buddha first thought was of the five disciples who had left him and were continuing their repentance in Sarnath, near Varanasi in India. So to Sarnath the Buddha turned his steps.
His old disciples saw him and said.” Here comes Gautama our old teacher,” observed one of them.
“He who left us for the worldly life,” laughed another.
” But he still seems to be an austere!” exclaimed a third.
“But he shall receive no greeting from us,” they all said.
But when the Buddha came near the they saw that there was a certain radiance & glow about him. They realized they were in the presence of a great being and sat down to listen to his words. To these five disciples the ‘Buddha gave his first sermon.
The sermon began with the Buddha advising his disciples to avoid extremes. He said a life of severe penance and mortification was as bad as a life of play and pleasure.
People should keep to the middle path, the golden mean. Only then could one have a correct view of life and realize the truth. The truth that the Buddha preached was;
Firstly that the world is full of sorrow and suffering.
Secondly this sorrow had a cause.
Thirdly to master suffering the cause of it must be removed.
Fourthly this can be done by following the noble Eightfold Path. These are what are known as the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, which were explained by the Buddha in his first sermon at Sarnath.
The eight-fold path that the Buddha preached enjoins:
Right Views, Right Aspirations, Right Speech, Right Behavior, Right Living, Right Effort, Right Thoughts and Right Contemplation.
This is, the Dhamma, the law of righteousness. The Buddha urged all men to follow this law and be saved from misery.
The sermon at Sarnath was only the beginning.
