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Sacred Texts: Buddhism

Buddhism in Translations - § 9 First Events After th...

Henry Clarke WarrenPali Canon TranslationsTheravada Buddhism

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This is a translated excerpt from the Mahā-Vagga, a canonical Pali Buddhist text, rendered in a Victorian-era scholarly style. It narrates the immediate aftermath of the Buddha's enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Uruvelā, covering his first weeks as a fully awakened being. The central doctrinal content is the Buddha's repeated contemplation of Dependent Origination (paṭicca-samuppāda) — the twelve-link causal chain by which suffering arises from ignorance and, crucially, ceases when ignorance is extinguished. The passage moves through three locations (the Bo-tree, the Ajapāla banyan, and the Mucalinda tree), each marking a seven-day period of post-enlightenment bliss, and punctuates each phase with a verse summarizing the insight gained. A notable exchange occurs when a proud Brahman asks what makes a true Brahman, and the Buddha redefines the term in ethical rather than birth-based terms — a characteristic early Buddhist challenge to caste ideology. The serpent-king Mucalinda sheltering the meditating Buddha from storms adds a mythological dimension, illustrating how even supernatural beings recognize and protect the enlightened one.

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