Two Dhammas

The Buddha taught the world for forty five years, so he is regarded as the longest teaching religious teacher in the world. As he gave a thousand Dhamma talks, can his talks be summarised? Yes, of course, they can be. In Itivuttaka, the Buddha said to his disciples that his Dhammadasana, Dhamma talk, always had two aspects, firstly to make the world realise what is wrong, and, secondly, to avoid doing the wrong thing which leads to suffering.

This is a great method of teaching, as to show wrong and right is the first thing to do. It is because of not knowing wrong from right, that life can be at risk, as in the Zen story, Right and Wrong as follows;

When Bankei held his seclusion-weeks of meditation, pupils from many parts of Japan came to attend. During one of these gatherings a pupil was caught stealing. The matter was reported to Bankei with the request that the culprit be expelled. Bankei ignored the case.

Later the pupil was caught in a similar act, and again Bankei disregarded the matter. This angered the other pupils, who drew up a petition asking for the dismissal of the thief, stating that otherwise they would leave in a body.

When Bankei had read the petition he called everyone before him. "You are wise brothers," he told them. "You know what is right and what is not right. You may go somewhere else to study if you wish, but this poor brother does not even know right from wrong. Who will teach him if I do not? I am going to keep him here even if all the rest of you leave." A torrent of tears cleansed the face of the brother who had stolen. All desire to steal had vanished.

To teach people to know right from wrong must be put first. To know wrong and not to repeat it is the first thing that the Buddha taught the world to do. There are the two dhammas.