After his Enlightenment, the Buddha delivered his first sermon as follows: "Go ye O Bhikkhus, for the gain of the many, out of compassion for the world, for the good, for the gain, for the welfare of men. Proclaim O Bhikkhus the doctrine glorious, preach ye a life of holines, perfection and purification.

The heart of the Buddha's teaching lies in the Four Noble Truths which he expounded in his very first sermon to his disciples. The Four Noble Truths which he expounded in his very first sermon to his disciples. The Four Noble Truths are: (1) Dukkha, (2) Dukkha Samudaya the arising or origin of Dukkha, (3) Dukkha Nirodha -- the cessation of dukkha, (4) Dukkha Patipada Magga -- the way leading to the cessation of dukkha. Among these, the fourth noble truth maga -- is very important for everybody, because it is known as the 'Middle Path'. It avoids two extremes: one extreme being the search for happiness through the pleasures of the senses, which is low, common, unprofitable; the other being the search for happiness through self mortification in different forms of asceticism, which is painful unworthy and unforgettable.

Having himself first tried these two extremes, and having found them to be useless, the Buddha discovered through personal experience the Middle Path 'which gives vision and knowledge, which leads to Calm, Insight, Enlightenment, Nirvana. This middle path is geenrally referred to as the Noble Eight-fold Path because it is composed of eight categories or divisions: namely (1) Right Understanding, (2) Right Thought, (3) Right Speech, (4) Right Action, (5) Right Livelihood, (6) Right Effort, (7) Right Mindfulness, (8) Right Concentration.

The eight factors aim at promoting and perfecting the three essentials of Buddhist training and discipline: namely (a) Ethical conduct, (Sila), (b) Mental discipline (Samadhi) and (c) Wisdom (Panna). Practically the whole teaching of the Buddha to which he devoted himself 45 years, deals in some way or other with this path.

According to Buddhism, for a man to be perfect there are two qualities that he should develop equally: compassion (Karuna) on one side, and wisdom (Panna) on the other. Here compassion represents love, charity, kindness, tolerance and such noble qualities on the emotional side, and wisdom (Panna) on the other. Here compassion represents love, charity, kindness, tolerance and such noble qualities on the emotional side, or qualities of the heart, while wisdom would stand for the intellectual side or the qualities of the mind. If one develops only the emotional, neglecting the intellectual, one may become a good hearted fool; while to develop only the intellectual side neglecting the motional may turn one into a hard-hearted intellect without feeling for others. To be perfect, therefore, one has to develop both equally. That is the aim of the Buddhist way of life.

Those who think that Buddhism is interested only in lofty ideals, high normal and philosophical values and that in ignores the social and economic welfare of people are wrong. The Buddha was interested in the happiness of men. To him happiness was not possible without leading a pure life based on moral and spiritual principles. But he knew that leading such a life was hard in unfavourable material and social conditions. Buddhism does not consider material welfare as an end in itself: it is only a means to an end -- a higher and nobler end. But it is a means which is indispensable, indispensable in achieving a higher purpose for man's happiness. So Buddhism recognises the need of certain minimum material conditions favourable to spiritual success.

A man named Dighajanu once visited the Budha and said: 'Venerable sir, we are ordinary lay men leading the family life with wife and children. Would the blessed one teach us some doctrines which will be conducive to our happiness in this world and hereafter?'

In reply the Buddha tells him that there are four things which are conducive to a man's happiness in this world.

First: He should be skilled, efficient, earnest, and energetic in whatever profession he is engaged, and he should know it well.

Second: He should protect his income, which he has thus earned righteously, with the sweat of his brow. This refers to protecting wealth from thieves etc. All these ideas should be considered against the background of the period.

Third: He should have good friends who are faithful, learned, virtuous, liberal and intelligent, who will help him along the right path away from evil.

Fourth: He should spend reasonably in proportion to his income, neither too much nor too little, i.e. he should not hoard wealth avariciously nor should he be extravagant -- in other words he should live within his means.

Then the Buddha expounds the four virtues conducive to a lay man's happiness hereafter: (1) Saddha: He should have faith and confidence in moral, spiritual and intellectual values: (2) Sila: He should abstain from destroying, from adultery, from falsehood and from intoxicating drinks; (3) Caga: He should practice charity, generosity without attachment and craving for his wealth; (4) Panna: He should develop wisdom which leads to the complete destruction of suffering to the realisation of Nirvana.

Buddha encouraged and stimulated each person to develop himself and to work out his own emancipation for man has the power to liberate himself from all bondage through his own personal effort and intelligence.

Today, we hope, with a better understanding of our common humanity and common values, we can say 'hatred does not cease by hatred, but it ceases by love and compassion". Buddha's verse is as follows:

Nahi verena verani
sammantidha kudha canam
Averena ca sammanti
eso dhammo sanamtano.

Conquer anger by love and compassion, evil by good; conquer the miser with liberality and the lair with truth. Let us think good, do good and pray good for the welfare of mankind.

Sabbe satta sukhita bhavantu -- May all beings be happy. Nibbanam Paramam Sukham --Nirvana is the supreme bliss of the world.

Dr. Sukomal Barua is Professor, Department of Sanskrit and Pali, University of Dhaka