Section outline
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Lesson 1.3.2 Orimatīrasuttam - The Hither and the Farther Shore
The Orimatīrasutta presents another angle to the the previous lesson about beings who want to reach the ‘other shore’ and the necessary actions to do so. The sutta also introduces the shortcut … pe … (an abbreviation of peyyāla meaning ‘repetition, phrase, succession, formula’), which is often used in today’s digital and printed versions of the Tipiṭaka. The Introduction further pursues the request of Brahma Sahampati, the ruler of the Brahma worlds, to the Buddha to teach the Dhamma. The Buddha first declined but finally agreed after surveying the world of beings and their capacity to learn the sublime Dhamma. He perceived beings whose mental capacities were only slightly covered by dust: …bhagavā … viditvā satte apparajakkhe … tikkhindriye …. It is due to the efforts of Brahma Sahampati that the Dhamma is still available even today!