Exhortation to the First Missioners

When there were sixty Arahants excluding the Buddha in this world, the Blessed One uttered the following memorable words and dispatched them in various directions to propagate the Sublime Dhamma:

"Free am I, O' Bhikkhus, from all bonds, whether divine or human. You, too, O Bhikkhus, are freed from all bonds, whether divine or human."

"Go forth, O Bhikkhus, for the good of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world, for the good, benefit, and happiness of gods and men... Let not two go by one way. Preach, O Bhikkhus, the Dhamma, excellent in the beginning, excellent in the middle, excellent in the end, both in spirit and in the letter. Proclaim the Holy Life, altogether perfect and pure."

"There are beings with a little dust in their eyes, who, not hearing the Dhamma, will fall away. There will be those who understand the Dhamma."

I, too, O Bhikkhus, will go to Uruvela in Senanigama, in order to preach the Dhamma." With this exhortation the Buddha dispatched His first sixty disciples in various directions.