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[Alexandr Korol]

Chapter 27. Outside of Time

• Watch the Discovery program “Is Eternal Life Possible?”

Here’s the interesting and important material I’ve gathered on the internet:

— Is there a text somewhere that describes how, when Buddha awakened, he began to see 7 of something, or something happened, or seven times, or seven days.

Dear friend…
Yes, such a text exists — it’s the classical Buddhist story of the seven weeks (49 days) after the Buddha’s Awakening under the Bodhi tree. Immediately after enlightenment, the Buddha did not begin to teach people, but spent seven weeks in deep bliss and contemplation not far from the Bodhi tree. In each of the seven weeks he spent seven days in different places and postures. This is described in several traditional sources.

The main text (a popular account):
“The Seven Weeks after the Awakening” (from Buddhist commentaries and biographies, such as the Nidānakathā, the Mahāvastu, the Lalitavistara, and others):

• The first week: The Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree, enjoying the bliss of liberation (without disturbing thoughts, in complete peace).
• The second week: He stood and gazed motionlessly at the Bodhi tree in a sign of gratitude (without blinking).
• The third week: The Buddha walked along the “golden bridge” (or path) and reflected.
• The fourth, fifth, sixth weeks: He was under other trees (for example, under the Ajapala tree, the Mucalinda — where a naga serpent sheltered him during the rain).
• The seventh week: Under the Rajayatana tree. At the end of these seven weeks the first disciples came to him, the merchants Tapassu and Bhallika.