Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: The Buddha's FIRST SUTRA

Friday, October 6, 2017

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:

right view
right intention
right speech
right action
right livelihood
right effort
right mindfulness
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).'"

Reaction

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."