Date: 05/10/2025 05/11/2025
Location: Star River Meditation Center
Teacher: Yunquan Huang
Dharma Talk
Who Saw the Buddha First
Once, the Buddha was staying at the Jeta Grove, Anathapindika’s Park, located in the southern suburbs of Shravasti, the capital of the Kosala kingdom.
One day, Śakra, the Lord of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, came to see the Buddha and invited him to come to the Heaven of the Thirty-Three to preach the Dharma to the Buddha’s mother. The Buddha silently agreed.
A few days later, the Buddha thought: the bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, upāsakas and upāsikās among the fourfold assembly of human disciples are many who are lazy and not very willing to listen to the Dharma. They do not make efforts to attain realization nor strive for progress. I should leave them for a while, so that they may rekindle their longing for the Dharma.
Thus, the Buddha left Anathapindika’s Park and, by means of his supernatural powers, arrived at the Heaven of the Thirty-Three.
When Śakra saw the Buddha arrive, he led the heavenly beings to welcome the Buddha, paying homage and asking after his well-being.
At that moment, the Buddha again displayed his supernatural power, enlarging his body to one yojana in height, and hiding his form so that even beings with divine vision could not see him.
The Buddha sat upon a stone seat. His mother, Māyā, led many celestial maidens to pay homage to him. Śakra and many deities from the Heaven of the Thirty-Three also came to pay respects, and they all sat in a circle around the Buddha, ready to listen to his preaching.
The Buddha’s discourse first aroused joy in them. Then he spoke of giving, keeping precepts, and other wholesome deeds for humans and gods. Next, he said that sensual craving is a great danger, impure and to be abandoned.
Once they could accept these teachings and had a foundation of hearing the Dharma, he began to explain the core of the Buddha’s teachings—the Four Noble Truths: suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path.
After he finished explaining the Four Noble Truths, many of the deities present attained the first fruit of the path (sotāpanna).
When the sermon was over, Śakra asked the Buddha:
“World-Honored One! With what kind of food should I make offerings to the Tathāgata? Should I use human food or heavenly food?”
“Śakra! Use human food. Why? Because I was born in the human world, grew up in the human world, and attained Buddhahood in the human world.”
“Yes, World-Honored One! Also, when it comes to mealtime, should I follow heavenly time or human time?”
“Śakra! Follow human time.”
“Very well, World-Honored One!”
Thus, Śakra offered the Buddha human food at human time. Because of this, the deities in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three constantly saw the Buddha eating and started talking about it.
The Buddha became aware of this, and once again displayed his supernatural power: he would allow the deities to see him only when he wished to see them. When he did not wish to see them, they would disappear. Śakra also explained to the other gods that the Buddha ate according to human time, not heavenly time.
In this way, the fourfold assembly in the human world went a long time without seeing the Buddha, and they began to miss him. They all inquired with Venerable Ānanda.
But Venerable Ānanda also did not know where the Buddha had gone.
Even Venerable Aniruddha, foremost in the divine eye, searched all the worlds but could not see where the Buddha was.
Venerable Ānanda even began to wonder: Could it be that the Buddha has entered Nirvāṇa?
Three months passed like this, until one day a deity from the Heaven of the Thirty-Three told Venerable Aniruddha. Only then did everyone know that the Buddha was in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three preaching the Dharma to his mother.
So, everyone unanimously agreed to send Venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana, who was foremost in supernatural powers, to the Heaven of the Thirty-Three to request the Buddha’s return to the human world.
When Venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana arrived in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, he saw the Buddha surrounded by countless gods. He thought: The Buddha surely must not be at ease here.
The Buddha said to him:
“Mahāmaudgalyāyana! Just now you thought: ‘The Tathāgata must not be at ease here,’ is that right? In fact, it is not so. Every time I preach, it does not take much time. And the deities only come when I wish to see them. When I do not wish to see them, they do not come. You may go back first. Seven days from now, the Tathāgata will return to the human world beside the great pond in the country of Saṅkāśya.”
The news that the Buddha was about to return to the human world spread through all the kingdoms. Everyone was excited, and the kings of various countries all competed to go welcome him.
At this time, Venerable Utpalavarṇā Bhikkhunī thought: Everyone wants to welcome the Buddha. When the time comes, there will definitely be a large crowd. If I just go like this, it will be very hard to see the Buddha. It would be better to transform into the appearance of a Wheel-Turning Sage King.
So, Venerable Utpalavarṇā Bhikkhunī used her supernatural power and transformed into the majestic form of a noble, awe-inspiring sovereign.
At the same time, Venerable Subhūti was sewing robes in a cave on Vulture Peak in the northern suburbs of Rājagaha. He also wanted to go welcome the Buddha. But as he put down his robe and stepped out with his right foot, he thought:
“I want to welcome the World-Honored One. But which part is the World-Honored One? The eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind? Which of the elements—earth, water, fire, or wind? All dharmas are empty and still, just as the World-Honored One has said:
To pay homage to the most exalted Buddha, observe impermanence within the aggregates,
Past, future, and present Buddhas all proclaim the truth of impermanence.
To see any Buddha of any time, one should contemplate this truth of emptiness and stillness.
To see any Buddha of any time, one should practice on the basis of non-self.
This non-self spoken of here means that all dharmas are empty and still—
Where then is the ‘self’?
This five-aggregate body has no master within.
Now, let me take refuge in the place of true and proper Dharma.”
Thinking this, Venerable Subhūti sat back down and continued sewing robes.
On the other hand, the transformed Wheel-Turning King by Venerable Utpalavarṇā Bhikkhunī was praised and honored by all the kings and people of the lands.
When the Buddha set foot back on the earth, she was the first to arrive before him.
At that moment, Venerable Utpalavarṇā Bhikkhunī returned to her original form. When the kings saw her, they could not help but complain that a bhikkhunī had gotten ahead of them.
Venerable Utpalavarṇā Bhikkhunī bowed to the Buddha and said:
“Now I bow to the most exalted World-Honored One. Today, the first person to see the World-Honored One was me—Bhikkhunī Utpalavarṇā, a disciple of the Tathāgata.”The Buddha replied:
“Subhūti was the first to pay homage to the Tathāgata. No one was earlier than he.
One who contemplates the Dharma of emptiness and non-self—this is the true meaning of paying homage to the Buddha.
Even if one wishes to pay homage to Buddhas of the future or the past, one must do so by contemplating emptiness and non-self. This is the true meaning of paying homage to the Buddha.”
