Varanasi (Benares)- Buddha preached the first Dhamma sermon.

Sacred places to visit in varanasi;
1. Dharmarajika Stupa
2. Damsabha Mandapaya
3. Mulagandha Kuti Viharaya
4. Nawa Mulaganda Kuti Viharaya & Museum
5. Dhammika Cetiya
6. Samukha Seya

• Every Buddha(including gautama buddha) preaches the first Dhamma sermon here.
• There is a place where the five ascetics were present to hear the Dhamma – Samyuka stupa made by King Ashoka.
• Asoka pillar is made to prove people that this is the location where certain incidents happened.
• Next to it there is the first kuti which Blessed One resided during rains retreat after enlightenment.
• Dhamsabha mandapaya is where Yasakula puthraya listened to Dhamma, first female and male lay disciples started here, first 60 Arahants that were told to go on Charika was preached here.
• The walking meditation inside the earth, many monks become Arahants through this.

Dharmarajika Stupa (ධම්මරාජික ස්ථූපය)

• In the middle of the foundation, there is a golden colour ball or similar, this is where Supreme Buddha was seated.
• This is where the first Dhamma sermon was preached to the five ascetics.
• Deer can still be seen in this location.

This is where the first Dhamma sermon, the Dhammachakkapavatana Sutta (ධම්මචක්කප්පවත්තන සුත්තං) was taught to the five ascetics , thus setting the wheel of Dhamma in motion ☸️

දම්සක් පැවතුම් සූත්‍රය (ධම්මචක්කප්පවත්තන සුත්තං) දේශනා කල තැන – සංයුක්ත නිකාය 5.2 සච්ච සංයුක්තය (ධම්මචක්කප්පවත්තන සුත්තං)

Damsabha Mandapaya (දම් සභා මණ්ඩපය)

This is where Yasa, the son of Sujata met the Supreme Buddha.

it is also here where the Buddha compared Arahant Sariputta Thera to a mother because He trains His pupils in the fruition of sotapanna, the first stage of liberation.

• This is where Yasa, the son of Sujata met the Supreme Buddha.
• Supreme Buddha preached the Dhamma, about Dana-katha, sila-katha, sagga-katha, magga-katha. Having heard this sermon, Yasa became a stream-entrant. When the father came to this place in search of his son, Supreme Buddha through psychic powers made the father not be able to see his son and preached the Dhamma to the father. The father became a stream-entrant upon hearing the Dhamma, and Yasa who heard the same Dhamma became an Arahant. Afterwards, Yasa’s father invited the Buddha to their house for alms giving, upon the Dhamma heard during the dana, Arahant Yasa’s mother too became a stream-entrant. After hearin Arahant Yasa is a monk, his fifty four friends also became monks with fruits of enlightenment.

• යස කුල පුත්‍රයා පැවිදි වී අරහත්වයට පත් වීම.
• යස මහ රහතන් වහන්සේගේ ගිහිකල යහළුවන් ද පැවිදිව රහත් ඵලය සාක්ෂාත් කිරීමෙන් රහතුන් හැට නමක් බිහිවීම.
• බුදුරජාණන් වහන්සේ එම රහතුන් හැට නම ධර්ම චාරිකාව සඳහා පිටත්කොට හැරීම.
• ප්‍රථම තේවාචික උපාසකයා සහ උපාසිකාවන් (යස මහරහතන් වහන්සේගේ දෙමාපියන් සහ ගිහිකළ බිරිඳ) බිහිවීම.

Mulagandha Kuti Viharaya (මූලගන්ධ කුටි විහාරය)

This is the chamber in which Supreme Buddha dwelt in during the first rains retreat.

• This is the chamber in which Supreme Buddha dwelt in.
• Many devas have visited this chamber to listen to Dhamma.

මෙය බරණැස ඉසිපතන මිගදායේ සම්බුදුරජාණන් වහන්සේ වැඩ සිටි කුටියයි. බුදු රදුන් ප්‍රථම වරට වැඩහුන් ගන්ධ කුටිය නිසා මෙයට මූල ගන්ධකුටිය යයි කියනු ලැබේ. පසුව මේ ස්ථානයේ ධර්මාශෝක රජතුමා කරවූ විහාරයේ නටඹුන්ය අද දක්නට ලැබෙන්නේ. මෙහි ලලාට ධාතූන් වහන්සේ ද වැඩ සිටි බව ‘ධාතු වංශයේ’ සඳහන් වේ.

Nawa Mulaganda Kuti Viharaya & Anagarika Dharmapalathumas Museum (නව මූල ගන්ධ කුටි විහාරය)

• This temple was opened by Venerable Anagarika Dharmapala in 1932. The temple also has a Bodhi tree that stands outside and was grown from a sapling from the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi tree in Sri Lanka. There are also sacred relics of the Supreme Buddha that can be worshipped here.

Dhammika Cetiya (ධම්මික සෑය)

• The name Dhamek has been connected to Buddha’s ‘Dharma’
• After Dhammachakkapavattana sutta was preached, Arahant Kondanna became a stream entrant and millions of devas attained fruits of enlightenment. Once all five ascetics attained a fruit of enlightenment, King Ashoka made this stupa.
• This is where Supreme Buddha recited Anatta Lakkhana sutta. This is how five ascetics eradicated defilements.
• Gautama Buddha’s dispensation was established here.
• All the worlds trembled here, even hell worlds were illuminated.
• The Dhamma was heard to all the worlds from here (from earth-bound devas until the highest Brahma world).
• The Dhamma, the Buddha’s dispensation began, the great Sangha, the first disciple with fruit of enlightenment, the Noble Triple Gem was established here.
• The future Buddha will arise here too.
• All the Buddhas preached the first Dhamma sermon here.

Samukha Seya (Chaukandi Seya) (සම්මුක සෑය)

• This is the place where Supreme Buddha met the group of 5 ascetics to whom the Dhammachakkappavattana sutta was later preached to at a different location.

භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේට පස්වග මහණුන් මුණ ගැසුණු ස්ථානය. කොණ්ඩඤ්ඤ, වප්ප, භද්දිය, මහානාම, අස්සජී යන භික්ෂූන් කරා වැඩම කළ භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේට එම පිරිස හමු වූ ස්ථානය මෙයයි. එම සිදුවීම සිහිවීම පිණිස ධර්මාශෝක අධිරාජයා විසින් ඉදිකළ ස්ථූපය “සම්මුඛ චේතිය” ලෙස හැඳින්වෙන අතර අද එය “චෞකණ්ඩි ස්ථූපය” කියා ද හඳුන්වයි