“Sir, we go for refuge to the Buddha and the Teaching. Please accept us as lay followers who have gone for refuge for life.” By means of the double refuge, they became the first lay followers in the world. The account with the ape-flower tree is finished. 5. The account of the supreme being’s request After seven days, the Buddha came out from that stillness and went from the ape-flower tree to a goatherd’s banyan tree, and he stayed there. Then, while reflecting in private, the Buddha thought this: “I have discovered this profound truth, so hard to see, so hard to comprehend. It’s peaceful and sublime, subtle, beyond the intellect, and knowable only to the wise. But human beings delight in holding on, find pleasure in holding on, rejoice in holding on, and because of that it’s hard for them to see causal relationships, dependent origination.