Hoa Vo Uu (Buddha Dharma Education Association)
Venerable Shravasti Dhammika
The Buddha’s Words of Wisdom
Bãhiya of the Bark Garment asked the monks: “Pray, sirs, where is the Lord staying – he who is a Noble One, he is a fully awakened Buddha?”
“The Lord has gone into the town to get alms- food.”
So, Bãhiya quickly left the Jeta Grove, went into Sãvantthtĩ, and found the Lord in quest for alms-food. Handsome he was, good to look upon, with senses calmed, tranquil in mind, composed and controlled like a well-trained elephant.
“Sir, let the Lord teach me Dhamma so that it will be for my welfare and happiness for a long time.”
“You have come at the wrong time, Bãhiya. I am getting my alms-food.”
A second and third time he asked, so that Lord answered: “This is how you must train yourself. When, in the seen there is just the seen, in the heard just the heard, in the sensed just the sensed, and in the cognized just the cognized, then there will be no “thereby”, and when there is no “therefore”, there will not be no here, no there, no midway in between. That is the end of suffering.”
Then and there, because of this concise Dhamma teaching, Bãhiya’s mind was freed from the defilements.
