" The account
which follows of the opening of the "kingdom of righteousness"
presents many analogies to the early stages of other spiritual
movements. The founder, immovably sure of himself and of his
doctrines, goes from place to place, spending the rainy season in
town, and preaching everywhere. It is at Benares that the "wheel of
the law" is first set in motion; there the first sermon was preached.
The circumstances are also narrated under which other sermons were
delivered, details being given as to time, place, the persons who
heard them, the incidents which occasioned them. His converts at
first are few and their names are recorded, but by degrees they
become more numerous. The more devoted of them become members of his
order, Bhikkus (for Bhikshus), mendicants; they forsake domestic
life, shave their heads, adopt the yellow dress and the alms-bowl.
They also are sent out to preach. "Go ye, O Bhikkus, and wander, for
the welfare of many, out of compassion for the world, for the gain
and for the welfare of gods and men. Let not two of you go the same
way. Preach, O Bhikkus, the doctrine which is glorious in the
beginning, glorious in the middle, glorious in the end, in the
spirit, and in the letter; proclaim a consummate, perfect, and pure
life of holiness. There are beings whose mental eyes are covered with
scarcely any dust, but if the doctrine is not preached to them they
cannot attain salvation." The incidents narrated in this part of the
story are mostly connected with persons seeking admission to the
order, or persons requiring to be convinced; the doctrine and its
spread are everything. That spread takes place, as it is desired by
the Buddha, chiefly among the higher classes of society; a great
triumph is reached when Bimbisara, king of Magadha, becomes a patron
of the order, and some accounts tell of the conversion of the
Buddha's own father and mother. The work of the mission is of a
peaceful nature; the Buddha lives on good terms with the Brahmans and
with other teachers and their pupils. The only formidable opposition
he had to meet arose within the order. His cousin Dewadatta, who had
become a monk, wished to found a new order with much stricter rules
than those of the original one. The Buddha refused to attach
importance, as was proposed, to matters of clothes and food, or
living in the open air; to do so would have made his movement
narrower and less universal than he desired.

[Footnote 4: Mahavagg