The Buddha’s fearless declaration of a freedom no world can contain
Introduction: The Sound That Shakes the Worlds
“Pubbe ananussutesu dhammesu cakkhuṃ udapādi, ñāṇaṃ udapādi, paññā udapādi, vijjā udapādi, āloko udapādi.” (SN 56.11)
“In the Dhamma not heard before, vision (cakkhu) arose, knowledge (ñāṇa) arose, wisdom (paññā) arose, true knowledge (vijjā) arose, light (āloka) arose.”
This declaration from the Buddha’s first sermon marks the moment of the lion’s roar. His realization was not a private insight, but the arising of a light that spread beyond himself—a cosmic announcement that the path to liberation exists and shines for all beings.
I. Cosmic Announcement: Liberation as Universal Truth
“Ayaṃ kho pana bhikkhave dukkhanirodhagāminī paṭipadā ariyasaccaṃ… etaṃ kho pana bhikkhave dukkhanirodhagāminī paṭipadā ariyasaccaṃ mayā abhisambuddhaṃ.” (SN 56.11)
“This, bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering… This Noble Truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering has been fully realized by me.”
The Buddha’s proclamation is a universal truth, not confined to any manussa or time. It is the roar that silences the illusion that saṃsāra is endless, announcing that a way out exists, leading beyond aging, sickness, and death.
II. The True Free Man
“Khīṇā jāti, vusitaṃ brahmacariyaṃ, kataṃ karaṇīyaṃ, nāparaṃ itthattāyāti pajānāti.” (MN 26, MN 36)
“Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more of this state of being.”
This is the lion’s roar in its purest form—the Buddha’s self-declaration as the true free manussa. Not a human enslaved to craving, nor merely a member of mankind seeking ascendance, but one who has broken every bond of becoming.
III. The Lion’s Roar: Fearless and Unshakable
“Sīhanādam nadati: añño samaṇo vā brāhmaṇo vā mama sāsane uttari manussadhammā alamariyañāṇadassanaṃ abhisamayo’ti paṭijānāti, natthi taṃ, na ca taṃ upalabbhati.” (MN 35)
“He roars his lion’s roar: If any ascetic or brahmin claims a superior human state (uttari manussadhamma) of noble knowledge and vision in my teaching, such a thing does not exist and is not found.”
Here the Buddha proclaims that no teaching of ascendance within manussa states surpasses the liberation he has realized. His roar is fearless, silencing promises of ascent to subtle realms, and declaring the only true refuge: the deathless.
IV. Not Bound: “I Am Unbound, I Am Free”
“Visaṃyuttaṃ vimuttaṃ vippamuttaṃ vimuccati, bhikkhave, tathāgato.” (SN 22.87)
“Freed, disentangled, released, the Tathāgata is liberated.”
The Buddha is not bound to craving, becoming, or non-becoming. He is the unbound one (visaṃyutta), no longer tied to any world. This is liberation not through ascendance, but through disentanglement from all worlds, the opening into Nibbāna-dhātu.
V. A Roar That Lasts a Moment, A Truth That Lasts Forever
“Saddhammo ca kho pana, bhikkhave, antaradhāyissati pañcahi kāraṇehi… pañcahi kāraṇehi saddhammo ciraṭṭhitiko hoti.” (AN 5.154)
“Bhikkhus, the true Dhamma will disappear for five reasons… and for five reasons the true Dhamma endures long.”
The Buddha’s lion’s roar is brief like the sound of a lion in the forest. In the Vinaya, he foretold that the true Dhamma would blaze clearly for only five hundred years. Yet the truth of liberation is timeless: though the roar fades in the world, the deathless it proclaims is eternal, ever awaiting each resonant soul to awaken and discover.
VI. The Path That Continues the Roar
“Sīlabbataṃ samādhi paññā—idaṃ buddhāna sāsanaṃ.” (AN 4.245)
“Virtue, concentration, and wisdom—this is the teaching of the Buddhas.”
The path of sīla → samādhi → paññā continues the lion’s roar. Every manussa who follows it adds their own echo of the Buddha’s proclamation. Even among mankind at large, and within degenerate humans, the noble lineage remains open—the deathless path awaits realization.
VII. Conclusion: The Roar That Still Resounds
“Atthi bhikkhave ajātaṃ abhūtaṃ akataṃ asaṅkhataṃ…” (Udāna 8.3)
“There is, bhikkhus, the unborn, the unbecome, the unmade, the unconditioned…”
This is the final roar: the Buddha’s proclamation that beyond the world there is the unconditioned realm. Whoever hears it deeply—deva, manussa, or even human—can turn toward the same freedom.
The lion’s roar was sounded once, briefly, but its echo is eternal. In every moment of letting go, in every fading of craving, in every realization of the deathless, the roar resounds again: “I am no longer bound. I am free.”
Gautama Dhamma 
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