Deer Park Sermon

• After Siddhartha’s enlightenment he could now be called the Buddha, which means awakened one
• The Buddha first explained his enlightenment to the five ascetics he spent his spiritual life with
• He met the ascetics in the Deer Park
• The ascetics did not believe him and mocked him for giving up his spiritual life
• Siddhartha explained to the ascetics that mocked him that hardship only clouded the mind
• Hardship made enlightenment harder as you cannot see things clearly
• In order to achieve enlightenment you have to follow the middle way
• Siddhartha taught the ascetics what he learnt about suffering, what is causes, and how to overcome it, the four noble truths