The Religions of India c19.38

c19.38

These Four Great Truths are given to the world first at Benares, whither Buddha went in order to preach to the five ascetics that had deserted him. His conversation with them shows us another side of Buddhistic ethics. The five monks, when they saw Buddha approaching, jeered, and said: “Here is the one that failed in his austerities.” Buddha tells them to acknowledge him as their master, and that he is the Enlightened One. “How,” they ask, “if you could not succeed in becoming a Buddha by asceticism, can we suppose that you become one by indulgence?” Buddha tells them that neither voluptuousness nor asceticism is the road that leads to Nirvāna; that he, Buddha, has found the middle path between the two extremes, the note is struck that is neither too high nor too low. The five monks are converted when they hear the Four Great Truths and the Eightfold Path, and there are now six holy ones on earth, Buddha and his five disciples.