Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion []

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====== Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion ======
<span hide>Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta</span>

Summary: <span wrap_summarypic>[[.:index#sn56.011.than|{{en:img:question_16.gif}}]]</span>  This is the Buddha's first discourse, delivered shortly after his Awakening to the group of five monks with whom he had practiced the austerities in the forest for many years. The sutta contains the essential teachings of the Four Noble Truths and.


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<div #h_tipitakaid>SN 56.11 <span h_ptsid>PTS: [[:en:tipitaka:sltp:SN_V_utf8#pts.420|S v 420]]</span> <span h_altid>CDB ii 1843</span>

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<div #h_doctitle>Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion</div>

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<div #h_docby>translated from the Pali by</div>

<div #h_docauthor>Thanissaro Bhikkhu</div>

<div #h_copyright>[[#f_termsofuse|{{en:img:d2.png?16x18}}]][[#f_termsofuse| 1993-2018]]</div>

<div #h_docalttrans>Alternate translations: [[en:tipitaka:sut:sn:sn56:sn56.011.nymo|Ñanamoli]] | [[en:tipitaka:sut:sn:sn56:sn56.011.harv|Harvey]] | [[en:tipitaka:sut:sn:sn56:sn56.011.piya|Piyadassi]]</div>

<div #h_altformat>Alternate format: [[http://www.suttareadings.net/audio/index.html#sn56.011|{{en:img:listen_16x16.gif}}]]</div>

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<div #homagetext>[[en:homage|-  Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammā-sambuddhassa  -]]</div>

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I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying at <span anchor #varanasi>Varanasi</span> in the Game Refuge at <span anchor #isipatana>Isipatana</span>. There he addressed the group of five monks:

"<span anchor #extremes2>There are these</span> two extremes that are not to be indulged in by one who has gone forth. Which two? That which is devoted to sensual pleasure with reference to sensual objects: base, vulgar, common, ignoble, unprofitable; and that which is devoted to self-affliction: painful, ignoble, unprofitable. Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way realized by the Tathagata — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.

"<span anchor #eightfold>And what</span> is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding? Precisely this Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.

"<span anchor #nt4>Now this</span>, monks, is the noble truth of stress:<span notetag #fnt-1>([[#fn-1|1]])</span> Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are stressful; association with the unbeloved is stressful, separation from the loved is stressful, not getting what is wanted is stressful. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are stressful.

"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the origination of stress: the craving that makes for further becoming — accompanied by passion & delight, relishing now here & now there — i.e., craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming.

"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of stress: the remainderless fading & cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, & letting go of that very craving.

"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress: precisely this Noble Eightfold Path — right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.

"Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of stress.' Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This noble truth of stress is to be comprehended.' Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before:' This noble truth of stress has been comprehended.'

"Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of the origination of stress'... 'This noble truth of the origination of stress is to be abandoned'<span notetag #fnt-2>([[#fn-2|2]])</span> ... 'This noble truth of the origination of stress has been abandoned.'

"Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of the cessation of stress'... 'This noble truth of the cessation of stress is to be directly experienced'... 'This noble truth of the cessation of stress has been directly experienced.'

"Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress'... 'This noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress is to be developed'... 'This noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress has been developed.'<span notetag #fnt-3>([[#fn-3|3]])</span>

"And, monks, as long as this — my three-round, twelve-permutation knowledge & vision concerning these four noble truths as they have come to be — was not pure, I did not claim to have directly awakened to the right self-awakening unexcelled in the cosmos with its deities, Maras, & Brahmas, with its contemplatives & brahmans, its royalty & commonfolk. But as soon as this — my three-round, twelve-permutation knowledge & vision concerning these four noble truths as they have come to be — was truly pure, then I did claim to have directly awakened to the right self-awakening unexcelled in the cosmos with its deities, Maras & Brahmas, with its contemplatives & brahmans, its royalty & commonfolk. Knowledge & vision arose in me: 'Unprovoked is my release. This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming.'"

That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the group of five monks delighted at his words. And while this explanation was being given, <span anchor #victory>there arose</span> to <span anchor #kondanna>Ven. Kondañña</span> the dustless, stainless <span anchor #eye>Dhamma eye</span>: Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.

And when the Blessed One had set the Wheel of Dhamma in motion, the earth devas cried out: "At Varanasi, in the Game Refuge at Isipatana, the Blessed One has set in motion the unexcelled Wheel of Dhamma that cannot be stopped by brahman or contemplative, deva, <span anchor #mara>Mara</span> or God or anyone in the cosmos." On hearing the earth devas' cry, the devas of the Four Kings' Heaven took up the cry... the devas of the Thirty-three... the <span anchor #yama>Yama</span> devas... the <span anchor #tusita>Tusita</span> devas... the <span anchor #nimmanarati>Nimmanarati</span> devas... the <span anchor #paranimmita-vasavatti>Paranimmita-vasavatti</span> devas... the devas of <span anchor #brahma>Brahma</span>'s retinue took up the cry: "At Varanasi, in the Game Refuge at Isipatana, the Blessed One has set in motion the unexcelled Wheel of Dhamma that cannot be stopped by brahman or contemplative, deva, Mara, or God or anyone at all in the cosmos."

So in that moment, that instant, the cry shot right up to the Brahma worlds. And this ten-thousand fold cosmos shivered & quivered & quaked, while a great, measureless radiance appeared in the cosmos, surpassing the effulgence of the devas.

Then the Blessed One exclaimed: "So you really know, Kondañña? So you really know?" And that is how Ven. Kondañña acquired the name Añña-Kondañña — Kondañña who knows.

==== Notes ====
<div notes>


  ? <span fn #fn-1>[[#fnt-1|1]]</span>.
  :: The Pali phrases for the four noble truths are grammatical anomalies. From these anomalies, some scholars have argued that the expression "noble truth" is a later addition to the texts. Others have argued even further that the content of the four truths is also a later addition. Both of these arguments are based on the unproven assumption that the language the Buddha spoke was grammatically regular, and that any irregularities were later corruptions of the language. This assumption forgets that the languages of the Buddha's time were oral dialects, and that the nature of such dialects is to contain many grammatical irregularities. Languages tend to become regular only when being used to govern a large nation state or to produce a large body of literature: events that happened in India only after the Buddha's time. (A European example: Italian was a group of irregular oral dialects until Dante fashioned it into a regular language for the sake of his poetry.) Thus the irregularity of the Pali here is no proof either for the earliness or lateness of this particular teaching.

  ? <span fn #fn-2>[[#fnt-2|2]]</span>.
  :: Another argument for the lateness of the expression "noble truth" is that a truth — meaning an accurate statement about a body of facts — is not something that should be abandoned. In this case, only the craving is to be abandoned, not the truth about craving. However, in Vedic Sanskrit — as in modern English — a "truth" can mean both a fact and an accurate statement about a fact. Thus in this case, the "truth" is the fact, not the statement about the fact, and the argument for the lateness of the expression does not hold.

  ? <span fn #fn-3>[[#fnt-3|3]]</span>.
  :: The discussion in the four paragraphs beginning with the phrase, "Vision arose...," takes two sets of variables — the four noble truths and the three levels of knowledge appropriate to each — and lists their twelve permutations. In ancient Indian philosophical and legal traditions, this sort of discussion is called a wheel. Thus, this passage is the Wheel of Dhamma from which the discourse takes its name.

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<div #f_sourceCopy>The source of this work is the gift within Access to Insight "Offline Edition 2012.09.10.14", last replication 12. March 2013, generously given by John Bullitt and mentioned as: ©1993 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.</div>

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<div #f_citation>**How to cite this document** (one suggested style): "Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion" (SN 56.11), translated from the Pali by  Thanissaro Bhikkhu. //Access to Insight//, 11 February 2012, [[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.than.html|http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.than.html]] . Retrieved on 10 September 2012 (Offline Edition 2012.09.10.14), republished by //Zugang zur Einsicht// on  
[[http://www.zugangzureinsicht.org/html/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.than_en.html|http://www.zugangzureinsicht.org/html/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.than_en.html]] retreived on:
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