The Buddha's first sutra: Wheel of Dharma

THE BUDDHA'S FIRST SUTRA (56.11) Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dhamma

Turning in the dreaded Wheel of Samsara

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Awakened One was dwelling at Baraṇasi (Varanasi) in the Deer Park at Isipatana (the Resort of Seers). There he addressed the Group of Five [wandering ascetics, his former companions in the spiritual life]:

“Meditators, these two extremes should be abandoned by one who has gone forth from the homelife to the left-home life. What are the two? The pursuit of sensual happiness in sensual pleasures, which is low, vulgar, the way of worldlings, ignoble, unbeneficial on the one hand and the pursuit of self-mortification, which is painful, ignoble, and unbeneficial on the other.

“Without veering off towards either of these extremes, the Tathagata (the Wayfarer, the Buddha) has awakened to the Middle Way, which gives rise to knowledge, which gives rise to vision, which leads to peace, to direct experience, to enlightenment, to nirvana.

“What, meditators, is that Middle Way awakened to by the Tathagata, which gives rise to knowledge and vision…and which leads to nirvana? It is this Ennobling Eightfold Path:

1. right view,
2. right intention,
3. right speech,
4. right action,
5. right livelihood,
6. right effort,
7. right mindfulness,
8. right stillness.

“This, meditators, is that Middle Way awakened to by the Tathagata, which gives rise to knowledge and vision, which leads to peace, to direct experience, to enlightenment, to nirvana.

“Now this, meditators, is the ennobling truth of disappointment (suffering, pain, misery, dukkha): rebirth is disappointing, aging is disappointing, illness is disappointing, death is disappointing; union with what is displeasing is disappointing; separation from what is pleasing is disappointing; not to get what one wants is disappointing; in brief, the Five Aggregates clung to as self are disappointing.

“Now this, meditators, is the ennobling truth of the origin of disappointment: It is this craving that leads to renewed becoming (rebirth), accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there; that is, craving for sensual pleasure, craving for eternal existence, craving for annihilation.

“Now this, meditators, is the ennobling truth of the cessation of disappointment: It is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that craving, the letting go and abandoning of it, freedom from it, nonreliance on it.

“Now this, meditators, is the ennobling truth of the way leading to the cessation of disappointment: It is this Ennobling Eightfold Path; that is (1-8), right view…right stillness.

“‘This is the ennobling truth of disappointment’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience (true knowledge), and light.

What does it take to be a "wise man"?

“‘This ennobling truth of disappointment is to be fully understood’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This ennobling truth of disappointment has been fully understood’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This is the ennobling truth of the origin of disappointment’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This ennobling truth of the origin of disappointment is to be abandoned’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This ennobling truth of the origin of disappointment has been abandoned’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This is the ennobling truth of the cessation of disappointment’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This ennobling truth of the cessation of disappointment is to be realized’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This ennobling truth of the cessation of disappointment has been realized’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This is the ennobling truth of the way leading to the cessation of disappointment’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This ennobling truth of the way leading to the cessation of disappointment is to be developed’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct epxerience, and light.

“‘This ennobling truth of the way leading to the cessation of disappointment has been developed’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“So long, meditators, as my knowledge-and-vision of these Four Ennobling Truths as they really are in their three phases and 12 aspects was not thoroughly purified in this way, I did not claim to have awakened to the unsurpassed supreme enlightenment in this world with its devas, maras, and brahmas (deities, demons, and divines), in this generation with its wandering ascetics and temple priests, its beings of light (devas) and humans.

I can get off this interminable wheel now.

“But when my knowledge-and-vision of these Four Ennobling Truths as they really are in their three phases and 12 aspects was thoroughly purified in this way, then I claimed to have awakened to the unsurpassed supreme enlightenment in this world with its devas, maras, and brahmas, in this generation with its wandering ascetics and temple priests, its beings of light and humans.

“Knowledge-and-vision arose in me: ‘Unshakable is my liberation of heart/mind. This is my final rebirth. Now there is no more again becoming.’”

This is what the Blessed One said. Elated, the Group of Five delighted in the Awakened One’s words.

The first hearer to awaken

And while this discourse (sutra) was being spoken, there arose in Venerable Kondañña the dust-free, stainless vision of the Dhamma: “Whatsoever originates also ceases.”

And when the Wheel of the Dhamma (Doctrine) had been set in motion by the Awakened One, the earth-dwelling beings of light (bhumi-devas) raised a cry:

• 

  The 31 Planes of Existence

  “At Baraṇasi, in the Deer Park at Isipatana, this unsurpassed Wheel of the Dhamma has been set in motion by the Awakened One, which cannot be stopped by any wandering ascetic or temple priest (shramana or brahmana) or deva or Mara or Brahma or by anyone in the world.”
• Having heard the cry of the earth-dwelling beings of light, the beings of light in the realm of the Four Great Kings raised [the same] cry: “At Baraṇasi…this unsurpassed Wheel of the Dhamma has been set in motion by the Awakened One.”
• Having heard the cry of the devas of the realm of the Four Great Kings, the Tavatiṁsa devas (the light beings of the World of the Thirty-Three)…
• the Yama devas…
• the Tusita devas…
• the Nimmanarati devas…
• the Paranimmitavasavatti devas…
• the devas of Brahma’s retinue raised [the same] cry: “At Baraṇasi, in the Deer Park at Isipatana, this unsurpassed Wheel of the Dhamma has been set in motion by the Awakened One, which cannot be stopped by any wandering ascetic or temple priest or deva or Mara or Brahma or by anyone in the world.”

Then at that moment, at that instant, at that very second, this cry spread as far as the brahma world, and this 10,000-fold world system shook, quaked, and trembled, and an immeasurable glory and radiance appeared in the world surpassing the divine majesty of the devas.

Then the Awakened One spoke this inspired utterance:

“Koṇḍañña, indeed, understood! Koṇḍañña, indeed, has understood!” In this way Venerable Koṇḍañña acquired the name “Añña Koṇḍañña—Koṇḍañña Who Has Understood.”

• SN 56.11: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta—Bhikkhu Bodhi (trans.), suttacentral.net, edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha's FIRST SUTRA

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly based on peculiar Peter Harvey translation of the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutra (SN 56.11) accesstoinsight.org

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: The setting IS seven weeks after the Buddha's enlightenment/awakening. He has traveled to his five former companions with whom he had previously practiced extreme asceticism (Vin i 8-10).

After trying extreme asceticism as a path to enlightenment, he found that it does not lead to awakening. So he abandoned the two extremes of indulgence (as a royal) and mortification (as an ascetic) for a moderate approach, a Middle Way, based on a healthy body and meditative absorptions (jhānas, calm and joyful altered states of consciousness based on samādhi or "mental unification").

The following is the first teaching he gave to anyone. In other contexts, the Buddha taught the Four True Realities for the Spiritually Ennobled Ones to people after first giving them a preparatory gradual discourse to ensure that they were in the right frame of mind/heart be able to fully benefit from the teaching, for example:

"Then the Blessed One gave the householder Upāli a step-by-step discourse, that is, a talk on giving, virtue, the heavenly worlds; he made known the danger, the inferior nature and tendency to defilement in sense-pleasures, and the advantage of letting them go. When the Blessed One knew that the householder Upāli's mind/heart was ready, open, without hindrances, inspired, and confident, then he expounded to him the elevated Dharma-teaching of the buddhas: pain/disappointment (dukkha), its origination, its cessation, and the path" (M i 379-80).

The Four True Realities taught by the Buddha are not things to "believe" as such but verifiable and liberating facts to be open to, see, contemplate, and respond to appropriately: by fully understanding dukkha/pain/the painful, abandoning what originates it, personally experiencing its complete cessation, and developing the path that leads to its cessation.

These Four True Realities are the fundamental dimensions of experience, as seen by a spiritually ennobled person with deep wisdom: the conditioned world, what originates it, the cessation/transcending of it (the unconditioned element nirvana), and the path. Indeed, it is by insight into these that a person becomes spiritually ennobled.

 

SUTRA: Turning the Wheel of the Dharma

The Buddha teaches the Five Wandering Ascetics until they gain enlightenment (Nomu420).

Dhammacakkappavattana Sutra: "The Discourse on the Setting in Motion of the Wheel (or Vision) of the Basic Pattern: The Four True Realities of the Spiritually Ennobled Ones"

.

Mara: Don't bother teaching. They'll never understand.

Thus have I heard. At one time the Blessed One was dwelling at Bārāṇasī in the Deer Park at Isipatana. There he addressed the group of five ascetics: "Ascetics, these two extremes should not be followed by one who has gone forth (from the home-life into the left-home life).

"What two? They are the pursuit of sensual happiness in sense pleasures, which is low, vulgar, the way of ordinary folk, ignoble, not connected to the goal [of enlightenment and complete liberation, bodhi and nirvana] or the pursuit of self-mortification, which is painful, ignoble, [the way of many struggling ascetics,] not connected to the goal.

"Ascetics, without veering toward either of these two extremes, the Awakened One has awakened to the Middle Way, which gives rise to vision, gives rise to knowledge, leads to peace, to higher-knowledge, to complete awakening, to nirvana.

 

"And what, ascetics, is that Middle Way awakened to by the Awakened One which gives rise to vision, gives rise to knowledge, leads to peace, to higher-knowledge, to complete awakening, to nirvana?

"It is this Noble Eight-Factored Path, that is:

1. right view
2. right intention
3. right speech
4. right action
5. right livelihood
6. right effort
7. right mindfulness
8. right mental unification.

"...Ascetics, this for noble ones (spiritually enlightened/ennobled ones) is the reality of what pain (dukkha) is:

• Birth is painful,
• aging is painful,
• illness is painful,
• death is painful;
• sorrow,
• lamentation,
• physical pain,
• unhappiness and distress are painful;
• union with the disliked is painful;
• separation from the liked is painful;
• not getting what one wants is painful;
• in brief, the Five Bundles of Grasping-Fuel are painful.

What rises is of a nature to fall away.

"Ascetics, this for noble ones is the reality of the origin-of-pain. It is craving (thirst, tanha) that leads to renewed becoming (incessant rebirth), accompanied by delight and clinging that seeks more delight now here now there, namely:

• craving for sense-pleasures
• craving for rebirth
• craving for annihilation (of what is disliked).

"Ascetics, this for noble ones is the reality of the end-of-pain. It is the remainderless fading away and cessation of craving [as brought about by liberating-insight], letting go, and relinquishing it, freedom from it, non-reliance on it.

 

"Ascetics, this for noble ones is the reality of the way leading to the complete cessation of pain. It is the Noble Eight-Factored Path, which is, right view...and right mental unification.

 

"'This for noble ones is the reality of pain' -- ascetics, with regard to things never heard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, higher-knowledge, and light.

 

"'This for noble ones is the reality of pain, this is to be fully understood' -- ascetics, with regard to things never heard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, higher-knowledge, and light.

 

"'This for noble ones is the reality of pain, this has been fully understood' -- ascetics, with regard to things never heard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, higher-knowledge, and light.

 

The oldest artifacts representing the Buddha in human form are from his native Afghanistan.

.

I get it! He didn't claim to be awake till he was sure.

"[Likewise,] ascetics, with regard to things never heard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, higher-knowledge, and light with regard to:

"'This for noble ones is the reality of the origin-of-pain, this is to be abandoned.' 'This for noble ones is the reality of the origin-of-pain -- this has been abandoned.'

 

"[Likewise,] ascetics, with regard to things never heard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, higher-knowledge, and light with regard to:

"'This for noble ones is the  reality of the ceasing-of-pain,' this is to be personally experienced.' 'This for noble ones is the reality of the ceasing-of-pain -- this has been personally experienced.'

 

"[Likewise,] ascetics, with regard to things never heard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, higher-knowledge, and light, with regard to:

"'This for noble ones is the reality that is the way leading to the cessation of pain,' this is to be developed. 'This for noble ones is the reality that is the way leading to the cessation of pain,' this has been developed.

In the Buddha's Words (Bhikkhu Bodhi)

"Ascetics, as long as my knowledge and vision of these four realities for noble ones, as they truly are in their three phases [each] with 12 modes [altogether], was not thoroughly purified in this way, then for so long -- in this world with its devas, māras, and brahmās, in this generation with its wandering ascetics (renunciants) and Brahmins (temple priests), its devas and humans -- I did not claim to be fully awakened to the unsurpassed perfect awakening.

"But when, ascetics, my knowledge and vision of these four realities for noble ones, as they truly are in their three phases and 12 modes was thoroughly purified in this way, then -- in this world with its devas, māras, and brahmās, in this generation with its wandering ascetics and Brahmins, its devas and humans -- I did claim to be fully awakened to the unsurpassed perfect awakening.

"Indeed, knowledge and vision arose in me: 'Unshakeable is the liberation of my mind/heart; this is my last rebirth: now there is no more renewed becoming (continued rebirth).'"

  

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This is what the Blessed One said and, elated, the group of five ascetics delighted in the Blessed One's words. And while this explanation was being spoken, there arose in Venerable Koṇḍañña the dust-free, stainless vision of the basic pattern: "Whatever is originated, all of that comes [by its intrinsic nature] to cessation."

Let the other devas know that finally a fully-enlightened teacher has awakened on earth!

 
And when the Wheel [of Vision] of the basic pattern [of things] had been set in motion by the Blessed One, the earth-dwelling devas raised a cry:

"At Bārāṇasī, in the Deer Park at Isipatana, the unsurpassed Wheel [of Vision] of the Basic Pattern [of things] has been set in motion by the Blessed One, which cannot be stopped by any renunciant or Brahmin or māra or brahmā or by anyone in the world!"

The devas cried out. And a great arose.

Having heard the cry of the earth-dwelling devas, the devas of the Realm of the Four Great Kings raised the same cry. Having heard it, the Thirty-Three devas took it up, then the Yāma devas, then the Contented devas, then the devas Who Delight in Creating, then the devas with Mastery over the Creations of Others, and then the devas of the brahmā group.

Thus at that second, at that moment, at that instant the cry spread as far as the brahmā world, and this ten-thousandfold world-system shook, quaked, and trembled, and an immeasurably glorious radiance appeared in the world, surpassing the shining majesty of the devas.

 

The Buddha and Añña Koṇḍañña

Then the Blessed One voiced this inspired utterance: "Indeed, the honorable Koṇḍañña has understood! Indeed, the honorable Koṇḍañña has understood! In this way, Venerable Koṇḍañña acquired the name Koṇḍañña [the first disciple to become enlightened], which means "Who Understood."

• The first arhat and first monk, Añña Koṇḍañña
• Alternate translation by Ven. Ñanamoli 
• Alternate translation by Ven. Piyadassi
• Wiki quick version: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutra

The First Sutra (Turning the Dharma Wheel)

Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly, Bhikkhu Bodhi (trans.), Dhammacakkapavattana Sutra (SN LVI.11, Budsas.org/ebud)

Gold Buddha in Sarnath, India near Varanasi/Benares (chandrasekaran a flickr.com)

Theravada monks visit Sarnath stupa, Uttar Pradesh, India (Stefaan & Eric/flickr)

 

Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dharma

The Buddha teaches the Five Ascetics

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Varanasi in the Deer Park at Resort of the Seers (Isipatana, Sarnath). There the Blessed One addressed the five ascetics:

"Meditators, these two extremes should not be followed by one who has [renounced and] gone forth into homelessness. What two? The pursuit of sensual delight in sensual pleasures, which is low, vulgar, the way of worldlings, ignoble, unbeneficial, and the pursuit of self-mortification, which is painful, ignoble, and unbeneficial. Without veering towards either of these extremes, the Wayfarer (Tathagata, i.e., the Buddha) has awakened to the Middle Way, which gives rise to direct vision, which gives rise to knowledge [knowing and seeing], which leads to peace, to wisdom, to enlightenment, to nirvana.

"And what, meditators, is that Middle Way awakened to by the Wayfarer, which gives rise to vision... which leads to nirvana? It is this Noble Eightfold Path, that is: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. This, meditators, is that Middle Way awakened to by the Wayfarer, which gives rise to vision, which gives rise to knowledge, which leads to peace, to wisdom, to enlightenment, to nirvana.

The unseen devas are also eager to learn.

"Now this, meditators, is the noble truth of suffering (unsatisfactoriness, disappointment, dissatisfaction, distress, lack of fulfillment): Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the Five Aggregates of Clinging are suffering.

"Now this, meditators, is the noble truth of the origin of suffering (disappointment): It is this craving [rooted in ignorance, delusion, wrong view, greed, and aversion] which leads to re-becoming, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking satisfaction here and there, that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for continued becoming [everlasting existence], craving for annihilation.

Devotees at Sarnath stupa (Stefaan & Eric/flickr)

"Now this, meditators, is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: It is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that very craving, the letting go and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, non-reliance on it.

"Now this, meditators, is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering: It is this very Noble Eightfold Path, that is, right view...right concentration.

"'This is the noble truth of suffering': thus, meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

"'This noble truth of suffering is to be fully understood': thus, meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision...and light.

"'This noble truth of suffering has been fully understood': thus, meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision...and light.

"'This is the noble truth of the origin of suffering': thus, meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

"'This noble truth of the origin of suffering is to be abandoned': thus, meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision...and light.

"'This noble truth of the origin of suffering has been abandoned': thus, meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision...and light.

Dharma wheel (hmhalff/flickr.com)

"'This is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering': thus, meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

"'This noble truth of the cessation of suffering is to be realized': thus, meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision...and light.

"'This noble truth of the cessation of suffering has been realized': thus, meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision...and light.

"'This is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering': thus, meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

"'This noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering is to be developed': thus, meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision...and light.

"'This noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering has been developed': thus, meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

"So long, meditators, as my knowledge and vision of these Four Noble Truths as they really are in their three phases and 12 aspects was not thoroughly purified in this way, I did not claim to have awakened to the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment in this world with its devas, Mara, and Brahma, in this generation with its ascetics and Brahmins, its [earthly] devas and humans.

• NOTE: The "three phases" (ti-pariva) are: (i) the knowledge of each truth (sacca-nana), for example, "This is the noble truth of suffering"; (ii) the knowledge of the task to be accomplished regarding each truth (kicca-nana), for example, "This noble truth of suffering is to be fully understood"; and (iii) the knowledge of accomplishment regarding each truth (kata-nana), for example, "This noble truth of suffering has been fully understood." The "12 modes" (dvadasakara) are obtained by applying the three phases to the Four Noble Truths.

"But when my knowledge and vision of these Four Noble Truths as they really are in their three phases and 12 aspects was thoroughly purified in this way, then I claimed to have awakened to the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment in this world with its devas, Mara, and Brahma, in this generation with its ascetics and Brahmins, its [earthly] devas and humans.

"The knowledge and the vision arose in me: 'Unshakeable is this liberation of mind/heart. This is my last birth. Now there is no more re-becoming."

This is what the Blessed One said. Being pleased, the group of five ascetics delighted in the Blessed One's words. And while this sutra was being spoken, there arose in Kondanna the dust-free, stainless vision of the Dharma: "Whatever is subject to origination is also subject to cessation."

Word gets around

And when the Wheel of the Dharma had been set in motion by the Blessed One, the Earth devas shouted: "At Varanasi, in the Deer Park at Isipatana, this unsurpassed Wheel of the Dharma has been set in motion by the Blessed One, which cannot be stopped by any ascetic or Brahmin or deva or Mara or Brahma or by anyone in the world!" Having heard the shout of the Earth devas, the devas of the realm of the Four Great Sky Kings shouted: "At Varanasi...this unsurpassed Wheel of the Dharma has been set in motion by the Blessed One, which cannot be stopped...by anyone in the world." 

Having heard the cry of the devas of the realm of the Four Great Kings, the devas of the realm of the Thirty-Three...the Yama devas... the Contented devas... the devas Delighting in Creation... the devas Delighting in the Creations of Others... the devas of Brahma's company raised a cry: "At Varanasi, in the Deer Park at Isipatana, this unsurpassed Wheel of the Dharma has been set in motion by the Blessed One, which cannot be stopped by any ascetic or Brahmin or deva or Mara or Brahma or by anyone in the world."

So at that moment, at that instant, at that second, the shout spread as far as the Brahma-world, and this ten thousandfold world-system shook, quaked, and trembled, and an immeasurable glorious radiance appeared in the world surpassing the divine majesty of the devas [the "shining ones"].

Then the Blessed One uttered this inspired utterance: "Kondanna has indeed understood! Kondanna has indeed understood!" In this way Kondanna acquired the name "Anna Kondanna -- Kondanna Who Has Understood."

The World Rulers (Buddhist "chakravartins")

Seth Auberon, Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; G.P. Malalasekera; John Kelly

Asia 200 BC showing outlines of "great footholds of clans" (maha-janapadas) and empires (consolidated lands), like the Greco-Bactria Kingdom in Indo-Greek Afghan Gandhara.

Afghan (Gandharan) Buddhist monks with Greek King Menander (Milinda), Bactria (WHP)

 

Chakra at center of Indian flag

The special name given in Buddhist texts to a world ruler or monarch is cakka-vatti. It means "Turner of the Wheel," the Wheel (cakka, chakra) being the well known Indian symbol of empire. 

More than 1,000 sons are his; his dominions extend throughout the Earth to its ocean bounds (sāgarapariyantam) [a reference either to space and the planet in the Milky Way ocean or to the subcontinent of India bounded by seas]; and [the ruler's empire] is established not by the scourge nor by the sword, but by righteousness...

 

...When the world monarch is about to die, the Wheel slips down from its place and sinks down slightly. When the king sees this he leaves the household life, and retires into homelessness, to taste the joys of contemplation [meditation], having handed over the kingdom to his eldest son. At the king's death, the Elephant, the Horse and the Gem return to where they came from, the Woman loses her beauty, the Treasurer his divine vision, and the Adviser his efficiency (DA.ii.635).

 

Golden Buddha (Boddo) coin (miami.edu)

The world monarchs (cakka-vattis) are rare in the world, born in ages/aeons (kalpas) in which buddhas do not arise (SA.iii.131).

The Cakkavattisīhanāda Sutta gives the names of seven who succeeded one another. In the case of each of them, the Wheel (cakka, chakra) disappeared. But when his successor practiced the noble (ariyan) duty of a world monarch, honoring the Dharma and following it to perfection, the Wheel reappeared.

In the case of the seventh, his virtues gradually disappeared through forgetfulness; crime spread among his subjects, and the Wheel vanished forever. More

King Milinda questions Ven. Nagasena

John Kelly (trans.) Milindapañha or "Questions of King Milinda" (excerpts)

The metallic Milinda/Menander I coin

The Milinda-pañha, the 18th book of the Khuddaka Nikaya (Burmese version of the Pali canon), consists of seven parts (see further on).

The conclusion states that it contains 262 questions, but the editions available today only contain 236. Although not included as a canonical text in the traditions of all the Theravada countries, this work is much revered throughout and is one of the most popular and authoritative Buddhist works in Pali [a uniquely Buddhist language very similar to Sanskrit].
 
Composed around the beginning of the common era and of unknown authorship, it is set up as a compilation of questions posed by King Milinda [Greek King Menander I] to a revered senior monk named Ven. Nagasena.

Nagasena answers the king's many questions

Milinda is identified by scholars with considerable confidence as the Greek King Menander of Bactria, a dominion founded by Alexander the Great.

The area corresponds with much of present day Afghanistan. King Menander's realm would have included Gandhara, where Buddhism was flourishing at that time.
 
What is most interesting about the Milindapañha is that it is the product of the encounter of two great civilizations -- Hellenistic Greece and Buddhist India [which in ancient times included all of modern Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan, which is what Gandhara was]. So it is of continuing relevance as the Wisdom of the East meets the modern Western world.

• [NOTE: It is more likely that Buddhism co-arose in Afghanistan because the Buddha was from there. The evidence for this is more archeological than anything. Afghanistan contains the earliest anthropomorphic depictions of the Buddha, the largest Buddha figures, the richest and most massive temple complexes, such as the incomprehensible finds at 2,600-year-old Mes Aynak near the modern capital of Kabul. Buddhism is currently thought to be 2,600-years old. Is it reasonable to believe that the first year the Buddha began teaching in India, someone thought to found a massive temple with monastic residences?]

King Milinda poses questions about dilemmas raised by Buddhist philosophy that we might well ask today. And Ven. Nagasena's responses are full of wisdom, wit, and helpful analogies. More

• Other translations from I.B. Horner and Andrew Olendzki
  

The Buddha's first sutra

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly translation based on Ven. Piyadassi (ATI), "Setting in Motion the Wheel of Truth," Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56.11)

Golden Buddha on the River Kwai Giant Buddha Temple (Marc_Wisniak/flickr)

 

(ursulasweeklywanders.com)

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One (Buddha) was living in the Deer Park at the Resort of Seers (Isipatana) near Varanasi (Benares, India). There he addressed the group of five ascetics:

 

"Meditators, these two extremes ought to be avoided by one who has gone forth from the household life. What are the two?

"There is devotion (addiction) to indulgence of sense-pleasures -- which is low, coarse, the way of ordinary people, unworthy, and unprofitable. And there is devotion to severe asceticism (self-mortification, self-abuse beyond the 13 kinds of "sane" ascetic practices), which is painful, unworthy, and unprofitable [and the way of many penitents, hermits, and religieux].
 

Discourse (sutra) to the Five Ascetics (MT)

"Avoiding both of these extremes, the Wayfarer (the Tathagata, the Perfect One) has realized the Middle Path; it gives knowledge, gives vision, and leads to calm, to liberating-insight, to enlightenment, and to nirvana. And what is that Middle Path realized by the Wayfarer...?

It is the Noble Eightfold Path, and nothing else, namely: (1) right understanding, (2) right thought (intention), (3) right speech, (4) right action, (5) right livelihood, (6) right effort, (7) right mindfulness, and (8) right concentration (absorption).

This is the Middle Path realized by the Wayfarer, which gives knowledge and vision (knowing and seeing), and leads to calm, to insight, to enlightenment, and to nirvana.
 
I.
"The noble truth of disappointment (dukkha), meditators, is this: Birth is disappointing, aging is disappointing, sickness is disappointing, death is disappointing, association with the unpleasant is disappointing, separation from the pleasant is disappointing, not getting what one desires is disappointing -- in brief the Five Aggregates subject to clinging are disappointing.

II.
"The noble truth of the origin (cause) of disappointment is this: It is this craving (thirst), which produces re-becoming (rebirth) accompanied by passionate greed, finding fresh delight now here, now there -- namely, craving for sense pleasure, craving for [eternal] existence, and craving for non-existence (self-annihilation).

III.
"The noble truth of the cessation of disappointment is this: It is the complete cessation of this very craving, giving it up, relinquishing it, liberating oneself from it, and detaching from it (letting go by dispassion brought on by insight into the true nature of all phenomena).
 
IV.
"The noble truth of the path leading to the cessation of disappointment is this: It is the Noble Eightfold Path, and nothing else, namely: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

The Five Ascetics became the first monastic disciples (earthyogi)

 
"'This is the noble truth of disappointment' -- such was the knowledge, the vision, the wisdom, the certainty, the light that arose in me concerning things never heard before. 'This disappointment, as a noble truth, should be fully realized' -- such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the certainty, the light that arose in me concerning things never heard before. 'This disappointment, as a noble truth has been fully realized' -- such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the certainty, the light that arose in me concerning things never heard before.
 
"'This is the noble truth of the origin (cause) of disappointment': such was the knowledge, the vision, the wisdom, the certainty, the light that arose in me concerning things never heard before. 'This origin of disappointment as a noble truth should be eradicated' -- such was the knowledge, the vision, the wisdom, the certainty, the light that arose in me concerning things never heard before. 'This origin of disappointment as a noble truth has been eradicated' -- such was the knowledge, the vision, the wisdom, the certainty, the light that arose in me concerning things never heard before.
 
"'This is the noble truth of the cessation of disappointment' -- such was the knowledge, the vision... the light that arose in me concerning things never heard before.
 
"'This is the noble truth of the path leading to the cessation of disappointment' -- such was the knowledge, the vision... the light that arose in me concerning things never heard before.

"As long as my knowledge of seeing things as they really are was not clear in these three aspects, in these 12 ways, concerning the Four Noble Truths, I did not claim to have realized the matchless, supreme enlightenment, in this world with its devas (fairies), with its maras (killers), and brahmas (divinities), in this [human] generation with its wandering ascetics and Brahmins, with its devas and human beings.

"But when my knowledge of seeing things as they really are was clear in these three aspects, in these 12 ways, concerning the Four Noble Truths, then I claimed to have realized the matchless, supreme enlightenment in this world with its fairies, with its killers and divinities, in this generation with its wandering ascetics and Brahmins, with its devas and human beings. And a vision of insight arose in me:

"'Unshakable is the deliverance of my heart. This is the final birth. Now there is no more re-becoming (rebirth).'"
 
This is what the Blessed One said. The group of five ascetics was gladdened, and they rejoiced in the words of the Blessed One.
 
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Buddha, ascetics, devas (sundaytimes.lk)

When this (first) discourse was expounded, there arose in Kondañña the passion-free, stainless vision of Truth (dhamma-cakkhu). In other words, he attained stream entry, the first stage of enlightenment, realizing: "Whatever has the nature of arising has the nature of ceasing."
 
When the Blessed One set in motion the Wheel of Truth (Dharma), the earthbound devas proclaimed: "The matchless Wheel of Truth that cannot be set in motion by any (ordinary) wandering ascetic, Brahmin, deva, killer, divinity, or anyone in the world, is set in motion by the Blessed One in the Deer Park at the Resort of Seers near Varanasi."
 
Hearing these words of the earthbound devas, all the devas of the Realm of the Four Great Kings (of the four quarters) proclaimed: "The matchless Wheel of Truth that cannot be set in motion by any ordinary wandering ascetic, Brahmin, deva, killer, divinity, or anyone in the world, is set in motion by the Blessed One in the Deer Park at the Resort of Seers near Varanasi."

These words were heard in the upper deva realms, and from Realm of the Four Great Sky Kings it was proclaimed in deva Realm of the Thirty-Three... Contented... Tusita (Joyful)...Delighting in Creating... Delighting in the Creation of Others... and the Divinities of Brahma's Retinue... Brahma Ministers... Great Brahma... Limited Radiance... Limitless Radiance... Feeding on Delight (Splendid)... Limited Beauty... Limitless Beauty... Total Beauty... Of Great Fruit... Insensate... [The Pure Abodes:] Not Falling Back... Beautiful... Clear-Seeing... and Equal-in-Rank:

"The matchless Wheel of Truth that cannot be set in motion by any ordinary wandering ascetic, Brahmin, deva, killer, divinity, or anyone in the world, is set in motion by the Blessed One in the Deer Park at the Resort of Seers near Varanasi."
 
At that very moment, at that instant, the cry (that the Wheel of Truth had been set in motion) spread as far as Brahma world [in space], and the system of 10,000 worlds trembled and quaked and shook.

And an unbounded sublime radiance surpassing the effulgence (power) of (self-luminous) devas appeared in the world-system.
 
Then the Blessed One uttered this paean of joy: "Truly Kondañña knows, truly Kondañña knows (has penetrated these four ennobling truths)." So it was that Ven. Kondañña received the name Añña Knondañña -- "Kondañña who knows."

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