{"collection":"Khuddaka Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_thag16.6/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_thag16.6","id":"suttacentral_thag16.6","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/thag16.6/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Khuddaka Nikaya"],"text":"\u201cO Blessed One, your body\u2019s perfect, you\u2019re radiant, handsome, lovely to behold; golden colored, with teeth so white; you\u2019re strong. The characteristics of a handsome man, the marks of a great man, are all found on your body. Your eyes are clear, your face is fair, you\u2019re formidable, upright, majestic. In the midst of the Sa\u1e45gha of ascetics, you dazzle like the sun. You\u2019re a mendicant fine to see, with skin that shines like lustrous gold. But with such excellent appearance, what do you want with the ascetic life? You\u2019re fit to be a king, a wheel-turning monarch, chief of charioteers, victorious in the four quarters, lord of the Black Plum Tree Land. Aristocrats, nobles, and kings ought follow your rule. Gotama, may you reign as king of kings, lord of mankind!\u201d \u201cI am a king, Sela\u201d, said the Buddha to Sela, \u201cthe supreme king of the teaching. By the teaching I roll forth the wheel which cannot be rolled back.\u201d \u201cYou claim to be awakened,\u201d said Sela the brahmin, \u201cthe supreme king of the teaching. \u2018I roll forth the teaching\u2019: so you say, Gotama. Then who is your general, the disciple who follows the Teacher\u2019s way? Who keeps rolling the wheel of the teaching you rolled forth?\u201d \u201cBy me the wheel was rolled forth,\u201d said the Buddha, \u201cthe supreme wheel of the teaching. S\u0101riputta, taking after the Realized One, keeps it rolling on. I have known what should be known, and developed what should be developed, and given up what should be given up: and so, brahmin, I am a Buddha. Dispel your doubt in me\u2014 make up your mind, brahmin! The sight of a Buddha is hard to find again. I am a Buddha, brahmin, the supreme surgeon, one of those whose appearance in the world is hard to find again. A manifestation of divinity, unequaled, crusher of M\u0101ra\u2019s army; having subdued all my opponents, I rejoice, fearing nothing from any quarter.\u201d \u201cPay heed, sirs, to what is spoken by the Clear-eyed One. The surgeon, the great hero, roars like a lion in the jungle. A manifestation of divinity, unequaled, crusher of M\u0101ra\u2019s army; who would not be inspired by him, even one born in a dark class? Those who wish may follow me; those who don\u2019t may go. Right here, I\u2019ll go forth in his presence, the one of such outstanding wisdom.\u201d \u201cSir, if you endorse the teaching of the Buddha, we\u2019ll also go forth in his presence, the one of such outstanding wisdom.\u201d \u201cThese three hundred brahmins with cupped palms held up, ask: \u2018May we lead the spiritual life in your presence, Blessed One?\u2019\u201d \u201cThe spiritual life is well explained,\u201d said the Buddha, \u201capparent in the present life, immediately effective. Here the going forth isn\u2019t in vain for one who trains with diligence.\u201d \u201cThis is the eighth day since we went for refuge, O Clear-eyed One. In these seven days, Blessed One, we\u2019ve become tamed in your teaching. You are the Buddha, you are the Teacher, you are the sage who has overcome M\u0101ra; you have cut off the underlying tendencies, you\u2019ve crossed over, and you bring humanity across. You have transcended attachments, your defilements are shattered; like a lion free of grasping, with fear and dread given up. These three hundred mendicants stand with cupped palms raised. Stretch out your feet, great hero: let these giants bow to the Teacher.\u201d","title":"Sela","tradition":"Khuddaka Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":565}