Gotama
Buddha explained this about the Pacceka-Buddhas!
The muni Vedeha (Ānanda) bowing his body, asked the
Tathagata, who was
staying at the
Jetavana
monastery:
Pacceka-Buddhas exist, yet by what
reasons
do they
arise, 0h wise one? Then the best of the omniscient, the
great wise one
told
the following to Ānanda in a sweet calm voice:
Those who paid honour to all former Buddhas, without
attaining liberation
during the period in which their teaching was known, who
are wise by means
of sense of urgency, whose intelligence is very sharp,
also without the
instruction of Buddhas, these attain insight alone even
by means of a tiny
limited object of meditation... And furthermore, in this
whole world, there
is no one except me, equal to these
Pacceka-Buddhas. I
shall clearly express
the following, only a short description of the
fine distinction of these great
heroic Munis (silenced ones)...
Listen, all of you, who wish for the highest medicine,
your attention should
be very calm, always directed to their good words, which
are sweet like
fine
honey of those great wise men, who are fully and
perfectly enlightened
all
by themselves!
These are the explanations of Pacceka-Buddhas, who
assembled on the Himalaya
Mount
Gandhamadana, pronounced one after the other, about the
sorrow of any
desire, and the cause of the overcoming of all craving,
and
how they attained
their insight. Conscious of the absence of lust, while
being in the midst of
the
objects of lust, their minds are dispassionate in an
otherwise infatuated world,
having dumped the mental proliferations, and subdued all
obstructions, they all
attained insight thus:
Putting aside any violence to all beings, not hurting
any of them, gentle and kind,
with a mind filled with friendliness, one
should live, alone,
like the horn of a rhinoceros...
Their morality are pure, their wisdom purified, their
minds are
concentrated,
practicing awareness, reflecting,
seeing the
3
characteristics of the Dhamma,
they understand it,
having developed all the
elements of the Noble Way, and
the
7 Links to
Enlightenment...
Having perfected the fulfillment of
merit, with the
sole motive to become a
solitary conqueror, they become
Pacceka-Buddhas,
self-existent,
independent,
such is destination of these wise, who does not gain disciple-ship during the time
in which, there still
remains the knowledge of
the
SammāsamBuddha's teaching...
Their Dhamma being great, being all sublime
manifestations of the
essential
dhamma, powerful are their minds, having
overcome the flood of
suffering,
their minds are exalted, seeing the highest and
deepest truth, they
are like
lions,
like the horn of a rhinoceros...
With serene senses, calmed, concentrated, remembering all
beings in remote
border districts, illuminating like lamps all in the other
world, and in this world,
thus are these
Pacceka-Buddhas, always good...
Having destroyed all hindrances, these kings of men,
illuminators of the
world,
shining like pure solid gold, undoubtedly worthy
of any gifts in this
world, are
these
Pacceka-Buddhas, always good...
There are in this world together with the divine world,
good teachings of these
Pacceka-Buddhas. Those fools, who after having heard
these, do not act
accordingly,
whirl around in Samsaric Suffering again and again...
Those who act accordingly, having heard the good words
of the
Pacceka-Buddhas,
which are like pure streaming honey of
small delicate
bees, become seers of the truths,
possessing Wisdom!
Thus spoke the
Gotama
Buddha about those
finest solitary ones
Awakened like a
rhinoceros horn...
Source: The
Canonical
Apadāna I 7-14
