Dharma Sunday:Saṃyutta Nikāya 56 The Sun and Chavālāta, Aṅguttara Nikāya 4.p
Carlita
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As long as the Tathāgata, the Noble One, the fully enlightened Buddha, has not come to be, there is no shining forth of great light, no great radiance. Only darkness and blindness prevail. There is no proclaiming, no teaching, no explaining, no setting forth, no opening up, no analysis of or illuminating of the Four Noble Truths. But when the Tathāgata, the Noble One, the fully enlightened Buddha has come to be, there is a shining forth of great light, of great radiance; darkness and blindness are no more. There is a proclaiming, a teaching, an explaining, a setting forth, an opening up, an analysis, an illuminating of the Four Noble Truths.
Suriyūpama 1, Saṃyutta Nikāya 56.37
And
There are these four types of people found in the world. What four? Those who are concerned neither with their own good nor the good of others, those who are concerned with good of others but not their own, those concerned with their own good but not that of others, and those who are concerned with both their own good and the good of others. Just as a stick from a funeral pyre, burning at both ends and smeared with dung in the middle, serves no useful purpose as fuel in the village or as timber in the forest—using such a simile do I speak of those concerned neither with their own good nor the good of the others. Those concerned with the good of others but not their own are more excellent and higher than this. Those who are concerned with their own good but not that of others are more excellent and higher still. But those who are concerned with both their own good and the good of others—they are, of these four persons, the supreme, the highest the topmost and the best.
Comments
The first sutra though lovely and poetic, seems to describe something that is a little self-explanatory, that the Four Noble Truths and the dharma were not explained before the Buddha came. Perhaps something can be gleaned from the terms used, light, radiance, darkness, blindness?
The second sutra is one that came up in another thread just recently, it’s an interesting way to try and classify people, but not one that many people would think to use I reckon.