Deer Park: where Buddha first teaches

After attaining the knowledge he had sought, Siddhartha then went to Sarnath (Varanasi) to find his five companions with whom he had traveled before his enlightenment. The disciples were overcome by the radiance of their companion and listened to him with great attention. At Deer Park in Sarnath, Siddhartha gave his first dharma talk, revealing the Four Noble Truths: the existence of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path which leads to the cessation of suffering.  Over a period of several months, Siddhartha, now called by his disciples Buddha, the awakened one, revealed to them what he had understood.  Deer Park in Sarnath is comparable to Mount Sinai or the Mount of Olives. It is the first revelation of the Buddhist teachings.  When Buddha left Deer Park to return to Sujata’s village, the five disciples had become enlightened.

Thay gave two dharma talks in Sarnath. At the stupa at Deer Park, he spoke about how many of us don’t want to look at our own suffering. We run away through consumption. We need, Thay said, to go home to our suffering, to embrace it tenderly as we would a crying child, and to look deeply into its roots, then the path to alleviate it will reveal itself. He suggested we tenderly recognize each part of our bodies, our heart or knee; to stay and attend to any aching part of our body and to be sure to have 15 minutes of total relaxation every day.

In almost all his talks Thay speaks about impermanence. The stupa at Deer Park, holding Buddha’s remains, embodies impermanence. A thousand years after Buddha, Buddhism disappeared from India . Hinduism took over most of Buddha’s teachings. Buddhism was so unknown in India that in the nineteenth century, no one in Benares knew what the one hundred and forty-five foot building contained. People thought it was the remains of a rajah’s concubine. Alexander Cunningham, a twenty year old British officer and engineer, began to explore the monument  but not until Xuan Zang’s book Records of Western Lands of the Great Tang was translated into English in 1840 was the mystery resolved: it was in this spot that Buddha gave his first discourse.

At the Tibetan Institute at Sarnath Thay spoke to the teachers advising them to learn how to handle their bodies and emotions before helping their students and not to be caught by any idea, even the idea of the Buddha. He also advised teachers to be open with their students and to speak to them about their own suffering and ask for their help.

There are many stupas and temples at Deer Park built from Buddhists from many countries commemorating Buddha’s first teachings. We were warmly received by the Tibetan Institute and each member of our retreat was given a small clay carving of the Buddha.

In the winter of 2004, I spent the three month winter retreat with Thay and the sangha at Deer Park in Escondido, CA. I had planned to go for three weeks, but when Thay in a dharma talk asked, “Where are you going? What are you rushing to do?” I thought he was addressing me personally. I realized how a great part of my life was formed on the habit energy of rush, rush, rush (and to where?). I looked around me. 250 monastics had come from Plum Village for the winter retreat to celebrate the new American dharma center. What an opportunity. I stayed for three months.

For the first month I carried on “the practice” and then went back to living. In the fifth week the practice and living began to integrate so that while “living” I was slowly becoming conscious of breathing. I did not leave the winter retreat an arhat. I left knowing that the practice is every minute and feeling the joy and peace that arises from living consciously every minute.

At right: sitting next to Thay as we rested during a walking meditation.