Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c8.s1.t5.23.3

c8.s1.t5.23.3

I am his disciple; my master, sire, is the Exalted One; I am his disciple." Thereupon thought the eighty thousand village elders: "truly this is glorious, truly it is wonderful: if the disciple is so exceedingly mighty and exceedingly powerful, what will the Master be!" and they directed their thoughts to the Exalted One alone and not to the venerable Sâgata. Then the Exalted One knew in his mind the thoughts of the eighty thousand village elders, and preached to them the word according to the law, as it is: the discourse on giving, the discourse on uprightness, the discourse on the heavens, the corruption, vanity, impurity of desires, the glory of being free from desire. When now the Exalted One perceived that their thoughts were prepared, susceptible, free from obstructions, elevated, and directed towards him, he preached to them what is pre-eminently the teaching of the Buddhas, suffering, the origin of suffering, the removal of suffering, the way to the removal of suffering. As a clean garment, from which all impurity is removed, wholly absorbs within itself the dye, so opened in these eighty thousand village elders, as they sat there, the pure moteless eye of the truth: whatever is subject to the law of origination, all such is subject to the law of decease.