At Lumbinivana between The City of Kapilavatthu and Devadaha.
The 15th Waxing Moon, 6th Lunar Month, 623 BCE.
"Visak Puja Day"
"I am supreme in the world,
Foremost in the world,
Most excellent in the world,
This is my last birth.
There will be no more birth for me."
Foreword
The animated film “Buddha Sasda” is the work of a project
intended to benefit everyone interested in learning about the
life and philosophy of the Lord Buddha, his teachings known
as the Dhamma, and the community of monastic practitioners or Sangha.
The project began in Thailand in 2003 under the initiative of
the late HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana Kromluang Naradhivas Raja Nagarindra,
sister of the late HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand,
on the occasion of her eightieth birthday anniversary.
The animation project has been completed,
including translation of the original Thai script into English,
Italian and Chinese, in accordance with the late Princess’s wishes,
and has been dubbed and freely distributed to interested countries.
The film may be duplicated for further free circulation
with the condition that no business, benefits, or profits are to be made therefrom.
The project committee gratefully acknowledges the supervision
of the production in Thailand of the venerable Buddhist monks
Somdej Phra Theerayanmuni (Somchai Worachayo),
Phra Phrom Munee (Suchin Aggajino)
and Phra Ajarn Sudjai Tantamano, as well as the cooperation
of the Department of Religious Affairs in the Ministry of Education.
The venerable Phra Dharma Visuthimongkol (Luangta MahaBoowa Yanasampanno)
graciously bestowed on the film its name, “Buddha Sasda”.
The results of the “Buddha Sasda” project are herewith presented
in the hope that they will be made available to Buddhists
and all others in every part of the world who could benefit
from the virtuous beliefs and practices of Theravada Buddhism.
The Buddha Sasda Film Project Committee
Under the Royal Initiative of
HRH Princess Galyani Vadha Kromluang Naradhivas Raja Nagarindra
At The City of Kapilavatthu.
Prince Siddhattha reached the age of 29 years.
"Yasodhara, you are as dear to me as my own heart…
Rāhula, you are everything to me.
But not one of us can escape old age, sickness and death."
At The City of Kapilavatthu. Prince Siddhattha reached the age of 29 years.
"Prince, better go back into the Royal Palace! In there everything is lovely,
pleasant and comfortable! In just seven days
you'll become a great Wheel-Turning Monarch. Don't give all of this up.
If you leave, you'll get nothing but trouble and torment, suffering and sorrow!"
"I don't want to become a great Wheel-Turning Monarch.
I don't wish for wealth and possessions, or comfort and happiness.
Because such things are not to free me from suffering,
nor help me to assist all my loved ones and subjects to escape from old age,
sickness and death. Step aside and allow me to pass!"
At The City of Kapilavatthu.
Prince Siddhattha reached the age of 29 years.
"Wealth, Power, Greatness…
Old age, Sickness, Death are all suffering.
I must find a way for all of us to go beyond suffering,
no matter how much trouble and turmoil there is in the search."
At The River Anomā, at the broader of three city:
The City of Kapilavatthu, Sāvatthi, and Vaishali.
"Such things are not likely to free me from suffering.
I'm doing this in order to seek the way out of suffering for all beings."
At Uruvelāsenānigama,
The City of Rājagaha in the state of Maghada.
"One string of that lute is too tight, a little pluck and it snaps.
One string is too loose, when plucked the sound is barely heard.
One string is just right, not too loose, nor too tight. When plucked,
the sound sweetly resonates far and wide.
Oh! It is the practice of The Middle Way that leads to enlightened knowledge!"
At The River Nerañjarā, Uruvelāsenānigama,
The City of Rājagaha, in the state of Maghada.
"For as long as I have not yet attained
to supreme enlightened knowledge,
even if my blood and flesh should dry up, with only skin,
bones and sinews remaining, I shall not rise from this seat."
At Uruvelāsenānigama,
The City of Rājagaha, in the state of Maghada.
The 15th Waxing Moon, 6th Lunar Month, 588 BCE. "Visak Puja Day"
The Lord Buddha reached the age of 35 years.
"Craving! With you I've been born again and again,
but now you are revealed, and your power destroyed."
The Fifth week, beneath The Banyan Tree,
on the east of The Mahā Bodhi Tree, Uruvelāsenānigama,
The City of Rājagaha, in the state of Maghada.
"The three of us offer our bodies and our hearts to your service, expecting no reward.
Our wish is simply that you find delight in us – even if only for a short time.
That would make us so very happy."
"I've told you already: I have utterly destroyed all kinds of delight and infatuation.
You'll not find what you're looking for. There's nothing for you here.
You should go away."
The Sixth week, beneath The Muccalinda Tree,
on the south-east of The Mahā Bodhi Tree, Uruvelāsenānigama,
The City of Rājagaha, in the state of Maghada.
"I, Nāga King Muccalinda, am the Lord Buddha's servant.
I pay homage to the Blessed One!"
"Silence is happiness for the one who has seen the Dhamma...
Delight in: the peace of seclusion... harmlessness to all beings...
freedom from lust and overcoming sensuality...
These are the highest joys in the world.
Eradication of conceit is the greatest happiness of all."
Beneath The Banyan Tree, Uruvelāsenānigama,
The City of Rājagaha, in the state of Maghada.
"I've attained to the Dhamma which is profound and subtle. It is difficult for
ordinary people to understand and practise. There are several kinds of people
in this world: The quick-witted until the final kind of person, no matter how many times
they hear the Dhamma, are unlikely to grasp the meaning or understand,
although their listening may be a cause for realization in a future existence.
This being the case, I'll preserve my life for the sake of spreading the Dhamma.
I will teach humankind until the Dhamma becomes firmly established and widespread,
for the benefit and happiness of all beings for a long time."
At The Deer Park at Isipatana, Migadāye, near The City of Varanasi.
The 15th Waxing Moon, 8th Lunar Month.
"Asāḷaha Puja Day"
"There are Four Noble Truths as follows:
Suffering – disease of the body, unease of the mind – should be understood.
The cause of suffering – craving – should be abandoned.
Cessation of suffering should be realized.
The path of practice leading to the cessation of suffering should be developed."
"Aññā Koṇḍañña ... Aññākoṇḍañña ... Koṇḍañña knows the truth!"
At The Deer Park at Isipatana, Migadāye,
near The City of Varanasi.The 5th Waning Moon, 8th Lunar Month.
The five aggregates that we take as a "self" are as follows:
Body, Feeling – pleasant, unpleasant and neutral, Perception and memory,
Mental formations, Sense consciousness – awareness of mental impressions.
These five aggregates are not "me", not "mine", not "myself".
Not "him or her", not "his or hers", not "himself or herself".
All these things are impermanent and insubstantial.
It is their nature to arise, persist for a while and then pass away...
At The Deer Park at Isipatana, Migadāye, near The City of Varanasi.
"How troubled I feel… How frustrated I feel"
"It is not troubling here! Here it is not frustrating! Come this way, Yasa, and I will
teach you the Dhamma. Dāna or giving means training one's heart to know generosity,
to know sacrifice. Sīla or morality means establishing one's heart within the wholesome.
Heaven is the reward for a wholesome heart. The harm of sense pleasures is the heat
and worry that comes with attachment to the sense of a self.
The benefit of renunciation is that present suffering can be abandoned,
with no other suffering taking its place."
At The River Nerañjarā, Uruvelāsenānigama, The City of Rājagaha, in the state of Maghada.
"This recluse is of great might! But, despite his power, he's still not yet an Arahant like me..."
"Uruvela Kassapa, your way of practice does not lead to the Path-and-Fruit.
Having deceived yourself, you deceive others...Uruvela Kassapa please consider as the fact that...
All things are burning. Contact with the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind
are burning. Feelings, mental formations, and consciousness, whether pleasant, painful,
or neither-pleasant-nor painful are burning: Burning with lust, hatred and delusion.
Burning with birth, aging and death. Burning with sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair.
The well-taught noble disciple, seeing this, becomes weary of thoughts and feelings.
Being weary, he releases his clinging. Releasing his clinging, his heart is freed."
At Sukarakhātā Cave, Khitchakut, The City of Rājagaha, in the state of Maghada.
"Venerable Buddha, Sir. I take the view that all things are disagreeable to me. I do not delight
in anything." "That being the case, you should not delight in your view, should you? "Dīghanakha,
some people have the view that all things are disagreeable to them. Some have the view
that all things are agreeable to them. And others have the view that some things are agreeable,
and some things disagreeable to them. Each of these views are based on grasping and clinging
to the notion of a self. Remaining attached to a self, one continues to grasp at feelings as they arise.
Whoever should reflect on such feelings as impermanent phenomena, conditionally arising,
existing and passing away, will come to grow weary of conditioned phenomena. This weariness leads
to the fading of lust. With the fading of lust, comes freedom from attachment.
When the heart is freed from attachment one knows: the heart has been freed."
At Veḷuvana Monastery, Bamboo Forest,The City of Rājagaha,
in the state of Maghada. The 15th Waxing Moon, 3rd Lunar Month.
"Māgha Pujā Day"
"Today is the day of the Cāturangasannipāta.
I'll deliver the Ovāda Pāṭimokkha to the bhikkhus. To refrain from all evil,
to do good to one's utmost, and to purify one's mind.
This practice is the fundamental principle."
At Veḷuvana Monastery, The City of Rājagaha, in the state of Maghada.
Each of you should diligently train yourselves thus:
I will not grasp at the internal sense-fields of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind.
I will not grasp at the external sense-fields of form, sound, smell, taste, bodily contact
and mental objects. I will not grasp at contact between the internal and external sense-fields.
I will not grasp at feelings. I will not cling to the five aggregates of body, feeling, perception,
thoughts and consciousness. I will not cling to this world or to the next.
When I cease clinging to all that I've seen, heard, known, felt, sought after and imagined;
all feelings of attachment to these will also cease.
At The City of Kapilavatthu.
"Why have you been so unkind to me – your wife? ..."
"Bimbā, we were born in this world for making merit together, as we have for many lifetimes.
Now is the time to reflect on those births and lifetimes according to the truth as follows:
I am of the nature to age, I have not gone beyond aging.
I am of the nature to sicken, I have not gone beyond sickness. I am of the nature to die,
I have not gone beyond dying. All that is mine, beloved and pleasing,
will become otherwise, will become seperated from me. I am the owner of my kamma,
heir to my kamma, born of my kamma, abide supported by my kamma.
Whatever kamma I shall do, for good or for ill, of that I will be the heir."
At Tavatimsa Heaven.
"Nothing can ensnare a man's heart more tightly than a woman...
Nothing can ensnare a woman's heart more tightly than a man...
In truth, love is like a noose which binds one to obsession and infatuation.
It brings one to birth and death in the world again and again,
dragging one down into a mass of suffering." "That's right, Nanda.
There is no pleasure equal to the peace that can be found within one's own heart.
For as long as humans rush around seeking external distractions,
they will never meet with genuine happiness. Nanda, when you release your clinging,
and view the whole world as empty, your heart will be free, open, expansive, radiant and joyful."
At The City of Kapilavatthu.
"Birth, ageing, sickness, death!...Greatness, striving, struggle, conceit and suffering!"
"Father, all conditioned things arise according to their nature.
Having come into being, they persist for a while. Having persisted,
it is their nature to pass away. It is only suffering arising, existing, and ceasing...
Nothing other than suffering arises. Nothing other than suffering exists,
and nothing other than suffering passes away.
There's no "woman", no "man", no "us", no "them"...
Beneath the Coral Tree at Tavatimsa Heaven.
"Mother, please come and sit close by. The kindness you showed me
in your past life was great beyond measure. As an expression of my gratitude,
may I take this opportunity of teaching you the Dhamma for the duration of the three months
Rains-Retreat here in Tāvatiṃsa, so that you may attain the Path, Fruit and Nibbāna.
Mother, ignorance and craving lead a person to rebirth. Agitated, their heart rushes
around within saṃsāra. For as long as the aggregates come into being,
the supposition of a being is also there. In truth,
such conditioned things are not worthy to be called a being. There is only suffering
which arises, and suffering which decays and suffering which ceases.
Aside from suffering, nothing arises. Aside from suffering, nothing ceases."
At The Gates of The City of Saṅghassa.
The 1st Waning Moon, 11th Lunar Month.
"Devorohaṇa Day"
The Lord Buddha performed the marvel called
"Lokavivaraṇa"
: making the realms of heaven, earth and hell visible to all.
At The Town of Verañjā.
"Your way of practicing and conducting is quite tasteless! You have no assets, you teach non-action, and praise annihilation.
And furthermore, I would say you are loathsome! You teach eradication, destruction, non-arising, non-birth!"
"Brāhmiṇ, I have abandoned the taste of the sensual pleasures of form, taste, smell, sound and bodily touch.
I have no assets or wealth, because such things consist of forms, tastes, smells, sounds and touches.
I teach non-wrong-action, non-evil-action by body, speech and mind... I praise the annihilation of lust, hatred and delusion...
I loathe all that is evil and unwholesome... I teach the Dhamma for the eradication of lust,
hatred and delusion, and for the eradication of all unwholesome states... I teach destruction of bodily misconduct,
verbal misconduct, and mental misconduct because these are things which are worthy of destruction...
I have attained to the state of non-arising and non-birth by abandoning the causes of birth and becoming.
Brāhmiṇ, sending your mind outside, and seeking faults in others, is a cause for suffering...
Reflecting internally, developing awareness of one's own mind, is the Path... Nirodha, the end of suffering, is its Fruit."
Kosola Dynasty
"Stop there, Samaṇa! ... Samaṇa... stop there!"
"Ahiṃsaka... I have stopped: Stopped killing, stopped harming,
stopped pursuing wrong livelihood, stopped all kinds of misconduct...
It is you who have not yet stopped. Not stopped killing, not stopped harming,
not stopped pursuing wrong livelihood, not given up misconduct...
You're still grasping your sword... How can you say you've already stopped?"
On the way from Pāvā to the city of Kusinārā
"My name is Pukkusa. I am a son of the King of the Malla clan. May I offer these two pieces of Singivaṇṇa cloths
to you as a gesture of worship. Please accept these cloths, Lord Buddha. And may I have the opportunity,
just once, to hear the Buddha's teaching." "Pukkusa... The heart is luminous... but it is obscured by incoming defilements.
The uninstructed worldling isn't aware of this truth, and so doesn't train his mind.
Pukkusa, I know of nothing which can change as rapidly as the mind. You should therefore maintain your focus on the mind.
Recollect the virtues of the Buddha, Dhamma and Saṅgha. Recollect your own well-practised morality,
and recall to mind those sacrifices that you have made for others. Reflect on the heavenly beings,
come to various happy states through cultivating generosity, morality and mental development.
When reflecting on these things, your heart will be free from lust, hatred and delusion.
You will therefore experience an understanding of Dhamma, and the delight that comes with understanding Dhamma.
The experience of delight gives rise to rapture. With the experience of rapture, the body becomes tranquil.
The tranquility of the body gives rise to happiness. With happiness, the mind becomes firm and stable.
This is called peace, non-suffering. The mind is ready to enter the stream of Dhamma..."
At Sālavana Park of the Malla Dynasty,
Sāla Forest, Kusinārā.
"Ānanda. There are four places which are apt for recollection of me:
1. Lumbinī Park, where I was born,
2. Bodhgāya, in the state of Maghada, where I was Enlightened,
3. The Deer Park at Isipatana, where I gave the first Dhamma Teaching,
4. The place of my Parinibbāna - Sālavana Park in Kusinārā."
At Sālavana Park of the Malla Dynasty, Sāla Forest, Kusinārā.
"At this time there are six renowned schools of doctrine. Each has many followers.
Of these six can you tell me which are led by an Arahant?"
"Subhadda, in any faith which does not have the Noble Eightfold Path,
there are no true Samaṇas to be found there.
Should bhikkhus (or non-bhikkhus) continue to practise the Noble Eightfold Path,
this world will not lack for Arahants. Subhadda, consider hair of the head, hair of the body, nails,
teeth and skin, as well as all materiality and immateriality, according to the truth.
Such things are changing, decaying, impermanent, suffering and not-self.
Not a being, not a person. Not "I", not "mine", not "myself". Not "him", not "his", not "himself".
At Sālavana Park of the Malla Dynasty, Sāla Forest, Kusinārā.
"Bhikkhus! You must take the Dhamma-Vinaya as your refuge.
Don't take anything else as your refuge. Even I, the Tathāgata,
am only the one who points the way.
Bhikkhus! For as long as the Saṅgha meets regularly together, in harmony,
with respect for the disciplinary rules, and with humility towards the senior monks,
content to live in the forest, for as long as the Saṅgha is not preoccupied with work,
not giving up effort in practice, but striving for the attainment of higher Dhammas...
for so long there will be no decline for the Saṅgha, but only development and growth."
At Sālavana Park of the Malla Dynasty, Kusinārā.
The 15th Waxing Moon, 6th Lunar Month, 1 BE. "Visak Puja Day"
"Bhikkhus. I remind you that all conditioned things
are of the nature to decline and cease!
Free of heedlessness,
develop yourselves and benefit others to the utmost."