Overall Teaching

The Buddha makes Brahmā think that he has decided not to teach, in order to get him to request him to turn the Wheel of Dharma. He acquiesces and then repeats the thought in order to get him to request multiple times. After the fourth request, the Buddha accepts and decides to turn the Wheel of Dharma near Vārāṇasī (Benares).

Summary

1.     Thereupon the Buddha noted the indescribability of the Dharma, deciding that if he were to teach it to others would be futile, resolving to keep it in his heart. He noted that only if Brahmā were to fall at his feet and request him to teach the Dharma, and only if there are intelligent beings of good disposition, would he teach it.

2.     Then light emerged from his forehead, and by the Buddha’s power, Brahmā brought forth the thought to exhort the Buddha to turn the Wheel of Dharma. Thinking that the world is doomed, he invited the other brahmās to exhort the Buddha.

3.     Having bowed to the Buddha he noted that the world is doomed, and that there are beings who would understand, thus exhorting that he should teach the Dharma, wishing that through the merit of requesting him, he may also turn the Wheel of Dharma quickly too.

4.     In order to show kindness to the world, the Tathāgata silently acquiesced— thereupon Brahmā anointed the Buddha and showered him with aromatic powders.

5.     The Tathāgata then, in order to increase the root of virtue and engender more respect for the Dharma, decided to have Brahmā request multiple times. Thus, the Buddha again decided to think that he would not teach the Dharma to others.

a.     Brahmā knowing this went to tell Śakra, thinking that the Buddha was truly decided and that the world was doomed. Śakra decided to come with Brahmā to request the Buddha, noting that Buddhas do not turn the Wheel of Dharma without being requested.

6.     Śakra and Brahmā thus approached and honoured the Buddha.

a. Śakra requested the Buddha, but the Buddha remained silent. Brahmā said that he did it wrong, and tried himself.

b. The Buddha then replied that the truth he awakened to is difficult to see and would be futile to teach.

c. When the two gods understood that the Buddha would not teach they disappeared.

d. People in Magadha became despondent, thinking that the world would go out of order.

e. Brahmā knew the nature of the Tathāgata’s thoughts and so again approached the Buddha at night and said:

i.     Previously the Dharma was impure in Magadha, the Buddha should purify it.

ii.   He has attained perfection and there is no one equal to him. iii. He requests him to have mercy on sentient beings that they be free from suffering, noting that they have no other refuge.

iv. He wishes the Buddha to explain meanings that have not yet been discovered, and requests him to guide beings who have fallen into steep ravines like a bull. He notes how rare, like an uḍumbara flower, the Buddha is, and wishes for him to take advantage of the rare opportunity and to utter forth his melodious speech.

7.     The Buddha then surveyed the world with his awakened eye and saw three levels of beings:

a.     Low: base: sure to be wrong: will not understand the Dharma.

b.    Medium: mediocre: undetermined: will understand if taught, but not if not.

c.     High: advanced: sure to be correct: will understand the Dharma.

8.     The Buddha noted to Brahmā that the “gates of nectar are opened to those sentient being of Magadha with ears and with devotion, who constantly listen with attention and without doing harm.”

9.     Brahmā, being elated, bowed and disappeared then and there.

10.  Then the earth gods told the sky gods that the Buddha acquiesced to teach the Dharma for the benefit of all beings, noting that the asura realms will shrink and the heavenly will begin to increase, while others will enter nirvāṇa. The message passed up the various levels of gods.

11.  Then the four gods of the Dharma tree asked where the Buddha would teach.

a. He replied: at Deer Park by Hill of the Fallen Sages (Ṛṣipatana) outside Vārāṇasī (Benares).

b. Those gods asked that the Buddha teach in bigger cities with more shade or mountains.

c.     The Buddha replied that he performed sixty trillion sacrifices there and offered to sixty trillion Buddhas there, and noted that it was the preferred place of previous sages. Moreover 91 billion previous Buddhas turned the Wheel of Dharma in that grove.

From the Upāyakauśalya Sūtra

“The Tathāgata knew that many gods and humans took refuge in Brahmā and held him in esteem, because they thought that Brahmā had created them, that he was the most venerable being in the world, and that no one except him could create the world. Good man, at that moment, knowing this, the Tathāgata thought, ‘Now I should wait for Brahmā to ask me to teach the Dharma. If Brahmā bows to me, then the sentient beings who take refuge in him will all take refuge in me and say to one another, “Brahmā asked the Tathāgata to teach the Dharma. He truly did so.” … If I had not through my miraculous power caused Brahmā to ask me, he would not have come to ask, because he had no intention of doing so. In order to cause the sentient beings who took refuge in Brahmā to part with him, it was necessary for the Buddha to wait for Brahmā to make his request; Brahmā’s action proved the excellence of the Buddha.” (Chang 454–5)