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[vi]
human values. What could be more relevant in this age of moral degradation, with its inevitable result of down-trodden people afflicted with terror?
A study of the literature presented here will correct some of the prevalent misconceptions about the Buddha held by uninformed people. One misconception is that, since the Buddha was a recluse, his followers were also recluses, and his teachings were therefore meant for recluses only, not for householders. Examination of the Dhamma literature will totally dispel such misconceptions. The reality is that the Buddha was very popular among the masses in his lifetime; his lay devotees outnumbered monks and nuns. He was nearly as popular among the recluses and ascetics of his day as he was with the lay men of northern India.
During the rainy season the Buddha used to stay for three months in one place. He often spent these rainy season retreats in densely populated towns such as Sāvatthi or Rājagaha, so that more people might take advantage of his presence and teachings. After these retreats, he would undertake Dhamma wanderings (cărikā) in the villages, towns and cities situated in the area of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers in northern India. He disseminated the Dhamma and gave guidance in the technique of Vipassana to hundreds of thousands of people. Wherever he went, crowds of people gathered to see him and listen to his discourses. At the same time, many people would come to meet him alone. Impressed by his benevolent speech, householders would invite the Buddha and his monks to accept their offerings of meals at their residences, again they were benefitted by his blessed teachings. The recluses of the day used to come to him for religious discussions and sometimes for holding debates but the majority of his visitors were householders. A detailed account of his relationship to the people is conspicuous in this literature.
The Buddha delivered thousands of Dhamma discourses for forty-five years, from the time he attained enlightenment until he passed into mahāparinibbāna. Inspired by the pure Dhamma, not only recluses and ascetics, but lay people from every tradition, every belief, every profession, every class came to him and profited by walking on the path of Dhamma. Whether the king of Magadha, Bimbisāra or the king of Kosala, Pasenadi; Queen Mallikā or Queen Khemā; Prince Abhaya or Prince Bodhi; General Bandhula or General Singha; Queen Shyāmāvati or the royal maid Khujjuttarā; Kaccāyana, the son of the royal priest or the royal physician Jivaka; the great philanthropist Anāthapiņdika or the leprous beggar Suppabuddha; the Jațila brothers or the wanderer Dārucīriya; the wealthy housewife Visākhā or the courtesan Ambapālī; the Brahmin Mahākassapa or the sweeper Sunīta; the Brahmin
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