慈音雜誌電子報

【The First Step to be a Buddha 成佛的第一步】
Buddha was very clever when he was little. He knew all the knowledge very well.
佛陀自小智慧高超通達各種世間學問

The prince was intelligent by natural endowments. He was proficient in all knowledge, such as language and literature,(mathematics invented by Indians), medicine, philosophy, and logic when he was little. He excelled in all fields, whether it was academic learning, the art of warfare, sports or games. His martial arts are consummate, and his strength was amazing.He took the Princess Yasodhara of a neighboring country as his wife when he came of age. Though Prince Siddhartha came from nobility, he recognized the extreme disparity between the rich and the poor, and the inequality in the four Indian castes.The weak are the prey of the strong among living beings. He also realized the sufferings of rebirth, old age, sickness and death, and all kinds of impermanence of life. His compassion and great aspirations thus grew and spurred him to decide to leave the palace and search for the truth that would relieve mankind from suffering.
In order to purge the affliction of birth, age, sickness, and death, at the age of 29 (some say 19), on February 8 of the Lunar Calendar (according to sutra, it should be April 8),the Buddha left the palace at night. On Snow Mountain, he cultivated the way of religion for six years. Each day he just ate flax and wheat. Passing all sorts of trials and suffering, he subdued (conquered) all the demons and understood the Buddha nature thoroughly, purged erroneous thinking and ignorance.Eventually, on December 8 of the Lunar Calendar (according to sutra, it should be April 8), under the clear sky and starlit night, seeing the origins and the ends of all phenomena in the universe. In addition, all phenomena neither emptiness nor existence, he was enlightened and became the Buddha.
After becoming the Buddha, the first sentence he uttered was: “In fact, all the common people possess Buddha’s wisdom and virtue. So illusion and attachment that one can not realize the truth.”
Becoming the enl ightened, Buddha began to preach Buddhism to five followers at Sharnath. He turned the Dharmawheel thrice to explain the four dogmas. It means he explained the four dogmas three times. He instructed 5 monks the first time. From then on, the Triratna of Buddhism were completed.
Likewise, Buddhist groups began to form and flourish.
太子天資聰穎， 從小精通各種學問語文學、數學、醫學、哲學、邏輯學（數學是由印度人發明的），文武雙全、武術精湛、力道驚人。成年後娶了鄰國公主耶輸陀羅為妃，悉達多太子雖然出身貴族，但因觀察到社會貧富懸殊，四種階級百姓的不平等，眾生之間的弱肉強食，感於生老病死的痛苦煎逼，人生的種種無常，於是生起出家修道，以求得解脫生死真理的悲心宏願。
為解除生老病死痛苦， 於二十九歲那年（ 有記載十九歲）的二月初八（依《灌洗佛像功德經》所載，應是四月八日）夜出宮門，歷經雪山六年的苦行修道，每日只食一麻一麥，通過重重煎熬考驗，一一降服諸魔障，徹悟本來佛性，止息一切妄想無明，終於在十二月初八日（依《灌洗佛像功德經》所載，應是四月八日）夜睹明星，正觀緣起緣滅法，諸法非空非有，而悟道成佛。
佛得道第一句話：「原來眾生皆具如來智慧德相，皆因執著、妄想而不能證得。」
成道後的佛陀，在鹿野苑第一次為五位隨從朝臣說法，三轉四諦法輪，即宣講三次四聖諦之佛理，首次度化五位比丘弟子，從此佛法僧三寶具足，佛教僧團因而建立。(下期待續)