The
Sinsapa Grove
The
supremacy of the Four Noble Truths in the teaching of the Buddha
is abundantly clear from the message of the Sinsapa Grove as
from the message of the Deer Park.
Once
the Blessed One was living at Kosambi (near Allahabad) in the
Sinsapa Grove. Then, gathering a few sinsapa leaves in his hand,
the Blessed One addressed the monks:
"What
do you think, monks, which is greater in quantity, the handful
of sinsapa leaves gathered by me or what is in the forest overhead?"
"Not
many, trifling, venerable sir, are the leaves in the handful
gathered by the Blessed One; many are the leaves in the forest
overhead."
"Even
so, monks, many are those things I have fully realized but not
declared to you; few are the things I have declared to you.
And why, monks, have I not declared them? They, monks, are not
useful, are not essential to the life of purity, they do not
lead to disgust, to dispassion, to cessation, to tranquillity,
to full understanding, to full enlightenment, to Nibbâna.
That is why, monks, they are not declared by me.
"And
what is it, monks, that I have declared? This is suffering,this
have I declared. This is the arising of suffering,this have
I declared.This is the cessation of suffering,this have I declared.
This is the path leading to the cessation of suffering,this
have I declared.
"And
why, monks, have I declared these truths?
"They
are, indeed, useful, are essential to the life of purity, they
lead to disgust, to dispassion, to cessation, to tranquillity,
to full understanding, to enlightenment, to Nibbâna. That
is why, monks, they are declared by me. Therefore, monks, an
effort should be made to realize: ‘This is suffering, this is
the arising of suffering, this is the cessation of suffering,
this is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.’ "n24
The
Buddha has emphatically said: "One thing do I make known:
suffering, and the cessation of suffering"n25
(dukkham ceva paññapemi, dukkhassa ca nirodham).
To understand this unequivocal saying is to understand Buddhism;
for the entire teaching of the Buddha is nothing else than the
application of this one principle. What can be called the discovery
of a Buddha is just these Four Noble Truths. This is the typical
teaching of the Buddhas of all ages.
