I welcome you to this hallowed spot, sacred to the Buddhists of Asia as the place where the Devatideva Sakyamuni preached the first Discourse known as the Dham- macakkapavattana Sutta to the five Bhikkhus 2520 years ago. The Bodhisatva Prince Siddhartha was born at the Lumbini Grove near Kapilvastu 2555 years ago. The Holy site is in Nepal territory, and the exact spot is identified by a stone pillar set up by Emperor Asoka. The other two consecrated sites are at Bodhgaya and Kusinara. At Bodhgaya the ascetic prince 2520 years ago reached Supreme Enlighten- ment on the full moon day of Vaisakha, known to the Buddhists as Anuttara Samayak Sambodhi, whereby. He discovered the great Law of Cause and Effect on which is based the Law of Dependent Continuous Causation, wherein He set forth the two aspects of Life, one of continuous suffering and the other of absolute Emancipation from the cosmic fetters of Lobha, Dosa and Moha. The absence of the three mula akusalas helps the mind to realize the three infinite states of alobha adosa and amoha. The emancipated mind of the perfected being is free from covetousness, anger and ignorance and this leads to the realization of Nibbana which is the bugbear of the nihilist, materialist, sensualist, monotheist and pantheist. It was at Bodhgaya that the Bodhisatva discovered the Four Aryan Truths viz., the existence of Sorrow, the Cause of the Production of Sorrow, the absolute cessation of the causes that lead to the production of sorrow and the Middle path of eight limbs that lead to the realization of the absolute state of Nibbana, viz., perfect views, perfect aspirations, perfect speech, perfect activities, perfect methods of livelihood, perfect effort, perfect memory, and perfect concentration. For forty-five years the Samma Sambuddha preached the Doctrine of Diligent Activity and in His eightieth year, He entered
the state of Anupadisesa Nibbana Dhatu at the sala grove in Kusinara. From the year upto now 2475 years have elapsed, and the vitalising seed of the Dhamma that was planted at Isi patana 2520 years ago, has grown great and its branches have ramified all over Asia giving shade to the people of China, Japan, Manchuria, Mongolia, Korea, Tibet, Siam, Combodia, Burma, Arakan. Nepal and Ceylon. Before the birth of Christianity and Islam the Noble Religion had no rival in Asia, and from one extremity of Asia to the other the Religion of Wisdom and Mercy reigned supreme for a thousand years.
Seven hundred and thirty eight years ago Holy Isipatana was destroyed by Muhammad Ghori: Bodhgaya, Odantapuri, Nalanda, Vikram-asila were destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khilji nearly a hundred years ago. and Buddhism in Kashmir was destroyed by Sikandar, the Butshikan in 1394 A.C.
Free School
After nearly 800 years of perfect oblivion Holy Isipatana, modern Sarnath, has returned to the hands of its legitimate owners. When ! first visited Sarnath in January 1891 the village was in the occupation of low-class hog breeders. The small compound attached to the Jain Mandir the clean spot where the hogs were not allowed to enter. Every effort was made by me to acquire the site but I was unsuccessful, and at last in January 1901 I was able to purchase three bighas of land from the Zamindar to open a free School, with the money provided by my dear mother, who is now 85 years old. The existing free school was opened in June 1904 from the donation sent by the late Mrs.
Foster of Honolulu. The time has now come to elevate India to a state of No progress is possible if internecine quarrels continue. The ancient Buddhist Bhikkhu followed the path of
renunciation when they carried the sociological ethics of Aryan civilization to Japan, Korea, China, Siam, Cambodia, Burma and Ceylon. What happened to the wonderfully sublime literature that existed in India in the Buddhist period? No trace of it is found in India; but fortunately the whole literature exists in its fulness in Buddhist lands. Europeans study Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan in the hope of rediscovering the forgotten teachings of the Samma Sambuddha, which saw the light first in India 2500 years ago. But the sons of India have no idea of the wealth that exists in the wonderful Buddhist literature and very few sons of the soil think of discovering the gems that are embedded therein.
Buddha Vacana
What today the teeming millions of India need is the sublime ethics and wisdom of the Aryan eightfold path. The 45 volumes of the Pali texts which contain the Buddha vacana and the 45 volumes of the Commentaries in Pali belong to India, and these volumes must be brought back from Buddhist lands and rehabilitated in India. Similarly the Sanskrit Buddhist texts of Asvaghosa, Santideva, Vasubandu, Asanga, Paramartha Aryadeva, Nagarjuna, Dharmapala, Candragomi, Candrakirti, Kshemendra, must be rediscovered and brought back to their birth place. In Europe Burnouf, Max Muller, Turnour, Bopp, Stanislas Julien, Westergaard, Wassiljew, Childers, Bohtlingk, Spiegel Kuhn, Minayeff, Senart, Neumann, Weber, Fausboll, Eitel,
Foucauz, Rhys Davids, Oldenberg, Trenkner, Feer, Cowell, Chalmers and others laboured to translate Buddhist texts which exist in different oriental languages. The life history of a potential karmic deed which began a score and hundred thousand Kalpas has been reduced to 6000 years by unscientific theologians according to the chronology of Mesopotamia.
Remember the Law of Karma is a com- plex Law. The characteristic of the Aryan is ahimsa; says the Dhammapada: ahimsa sabbapananam ariyoti pi vuccati.
After an exile of 800 years the Buddhists have returned to their own dear Holy Isipatna. It is the wish of the Maha Bodhi Society to give to the people of India without distinction of caste and creed the compassionate doctrine of the Samma Sambuddha. I trust that you would come forward to disseminate the Arya Dhamma of the Tathagata throughout India.
