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THE CONVERSION OF THE PARIVRAJAKAS
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“There is hope in it because it shows the way to put an end to human suffering.
“Do you agree with this or not ? “And the Parivrajakas said, “Yes, we do.”
§ 7. The Response of the Parivrajakas
The five Parivrajakas at once realized that this was really a new Dhamma. They were so struck by this new approach to the problems of life that they were unanimous in saying : “Never in the history of the world has any founder of religion taught that the recognition of human suffering was the real basis of religion.
“Never in the history of the world has any founder of religion taught that the removal of this misery is the real purpose of it !
“Never in the history of the world had a scheme of salvation been put forth, so simple in its nature, so free from supernatural and superhuman agency, so independent of, even so antagonistic to, the belief in a soul, to the belief in God and to the belief in life after death !
“Never in the history of the world had a scheme of religion been put forth which had nothing to do with revelation and whose commands are born of the examination of the social needs of man and which are not the orders of a God !
“Never in the history of the world has salvation been conceived as the blessing of happiness to be attained by man in this life and on this earth by righteousness born out of his own efforts !”
These were the sentiments which the Parivrajakas uttered after they had heard the Buddha’s Sermon on his new Dhamma.
They felt that in him they had found a reformer, full of the most earnest moral purpose and trained in all the intellectual culture of his time, who had the originality and the courage to put forth deliberately and with a knowledge of opposing views, the doctrine of a salvation to be found here, in this life,
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