Dharmacakrapravartanasutram
“Alas! This truth that I realised and awakened to is profound, peaceful, tranquil, calm, complete, hard
to see, hard to comprehend, and impossible to conceptualise since it is inaccessible to the intellect.
Only wise noble ones and adepts can understand it. It is the complete and definite apprehension
of the abandonment of all aggregates, the end of all sensations, the absolute truth, and freedom
from a foundation. It is a state of complete peace, free of clinging, free of grasping, unobserved, undemonstrable, and ineffable. It is indescribable, inexpressible, and incapable of being illustrated. It is unobstructed, beyond all references, a state of interruption through the path of tranquility, and imperceptible like emptiness. It is the exhaustion of craving and it is cessation free of desire. It is nirvana. If I were to teach this truth to others, they would not understand it. Teaching the truth would tire me out and be wrongly contested, and it would be futile. Thus I will remain silent and keep this truth in my heart.”
Lalitavistara Sutra
Thus spoke the Buddha shortly after His enlightenment, in response to the Lord Brahma’s exhortation to teach His newly-realised Truth. But so intense were Brahma’s supplications that the Buddha, generating boundless compassion, finally acquiesced to his request, and determined that He would teach His Dharma
to those with little dust in their eyes. As the stage for
this historic happening, the Buddha chose the hallowed
Deer Park in Varanasi.
Pondering upon whom He would first impart this
priceless teaching, His mind settled upon his former
five companions in austerities, who were still pursuing
their ascetic practices at Sarnath. And so the Buddha
set off for Varanasi, stopping here and there in order
to satisfy the many eager invitations to stop and rest at
the homes of devotees. As He reached the shores of the
Ganges, he was accosted by the local ferryman, who
demanded his crossing fee. The Buddha answered that
he was carrying no money and, without further ado,
flew across the river, leaving the ferry man utterly perplexed and repentant. When he was told of this incident,
King Bimbisara then and there abolished the crossing
fee for monks. As the Buddha approached the Deer Park, his former five companions caught sight of Him and, resentlful that He had abandoned them and their abstemious path, resolved to ignore Him. But, as the Holy One came nearer, the five were so mesmerised by His countenance that they couldn’t help but throw themselves at His feet and confess their wrong behaviour.
To pay tribute to the Buddha’s decision to Turn the
Wheel of Dharma, all the gods adorned the universe
with wondrous signs and and offered the Enlightened One many millions of lion thrones, while numberless bodhisattvas of the past appeared before Him and
payed homage, adding their ardent entreaties for the
Holy One to blow the great conch of the Dharma.
And so, that very night, the Buddha preached His
first sermon to the five adepts, expounding His view of
the Middle Way through the teaching of the Four Noble Truths, the Eight-Fold Noble Path and the Twelve Aspects of Interdependent Origination.
In this most profound teaching of the Four Truths,
the Buddha described how the very nature of all conditioned existence is suffering, samsara, and proceded to
explain that the cause of our suffering is our false belief
that we, and all phenomena, have an inherent, independent existence. The Buddha then added that there is a
definitive cure for our suffering and that this cure, nirvana, is to be found in our adherence to the Eight-Fold
Noble Path.
“Monks, there are two extremes that you should
avoid when you have taken ordination. First do not
follow self-indulgence, which is shallow, worldly,
ordinary, unworthy of a noble one, and attended by
undesired consequences. In the long run it will prevent
you from practicing your religion. You will become distracted and unable to develop nonattachment. You will
not enter into the state of cessation nor develop higher knowledge, or attain the perfect awakening of nirvana.
On the other hand, straying from the middle way, you
will not pass beyond suffering. If you mistreat your
body so that it suffers and is harmed, you will face difficulties as can be observed right now, and in the future
even further misery will fall on you.
“Monks, the Bliss-Gone One teaches the Dharma
by showing the middle way that does not fall into either of the two extremes. The Dharma that he teaches
is one of correct view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration.
“Monks, there are also four truths of the noble ones. What are these four? Suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path that
leads to the cessation of suffering.
“What is suffering? It is the pain that accompanies birth, growing old, falling sick, and dying. It also
includes the suffering of meeting the unpleasant and
parting from the pleasant. Not finding what is being
sought is also suffering. In short the five perpetuating
aggregates are suffering. This is what we call suffering.
“What is the origin of suffering? It is the craving that perpetuates existence, which is attended upon by the passion for enjoyment, and which finds pleasures here and there. This is the origin of suffering.
“What is the cessation of suffering? It is the complete and dispassionate cessation of craving that perpetuates existence, which is attended upon by the passion for enjoyment, and which finds pleasures here and
there. This is the cessation of suffering.
“What is the path that leads to the cessation of suffering? It is exclusively the eightfold path of the noble ones. This is the path that starts with correct view and
ends with correct concentration. It is called ‘the path
that leads to the cessation of suffering - a noble truth.
“Monks, these four truths are the truths of the
noble ones.
“Monks, this teaching I had not heard previously. I
understood it by intensely and introspectively focusing
my mind on suffering. In this way my wisdom, vision,
understanding, intellect, intelligence, knowledge, and
insight became manifest.
“Monks, this teaching I had not heard previously.
I understood it by focusing intently on the origin of suffering. In this way my wisdom, vision, understanding,
intellect, intelligence, knowledge, and insight became manifest.
“Monks, this teaching I had not heard previously.
I understood it by focusing intently on the cessation of suffering. In this way my wisdom, vision, understanding, intellect, intelligence, knowledge, and insight became manifest.
“Monks, this teaching I had not heard previously. I understood it by focusing intently on the path
that leads to the cessation of suffering. In this way my
wisdom, vision, understanding, intellect, intelligence,
knowledge, and insight became manifest.
“Monks, within this teaching that I had not heard
previously, suffering must be known. This I understood by focusing intently on suffering. In this way my
wisdom, vision, understanding, intellect, intelligence,
knowledge, and insight became manifest.
“Monks, within this teaching that I had not heard
previously, the origin of suffering must be abandoned.
This I understood by focusing intently on the origin of suffering. In this way my wisdom, vision, understanding, intellect, intelligence, knowledge, and insight became manifest.
“Monks, within this teaching that I had not heard
previously, the cessation of suffering must be actualized. This I understood by focusing intently on the
cessation of suffering. In this way my wisdom, vision,
understanding, intellect, intelligence, knowledge, and
insight became manifest.
“Monks, within this teaching that I had not heard
previously, the path that leads to the cessation of suffering must be practiced. This I understood by focusing
intently on the path that leads to the cessation of suffering. In this way my wisdom, vision, understanding,
intellect, intelligence, knowledge, and insight became
manifest.
“Monks, within this teaching that I had not heard
previously, I have fully understood suffering. This I
did by focusing intently on suffering. In this way my
wisdom, vision, understanding, intellect, intelligence,
knowledge and insight became manifest.
“Monks, within this teaching that I had not heard
previously, I have abandoned the origin of suffering.
This I did by focusing intently on the origin of suffering. In this way my wisdom, vision, understanding,
intellect, intelligence, knowledge and insight became
manifest.
“Monks, within this teaching that I had not heard
previously, I have actualized the cessation of suffering.
This I did by focusing intently on the cessation of suffering. In this way my wisdom, vision, understanding,
intellect, intelligence, knowledge and insight became
manifest
“Monks, within this teaching that I had not heard
previously, I have practiced the path that leads to the
cessation of suffering. This I did by focusing intently on
the path that leads to the cessation of suffering. In this
way my wisdom, vision, understanding, intellect, intelligence, knowledge and insight became manifest.
“Monks, in this way I genuinely contemplated each
of the four truths of the noble ones while I recited them
three times. Still I did not develop the wisdom that sees
their twelve aspects. Monks, therefore I did not make
any claims of having awakened to unsurpassable, perfect and complete buddhahood, and I still lacked the
insight of wisdom.
“However, monks, once I had recited the four truths of the noble ones three times, I developed the
wisdom that sees their twelve aspects. At that point my
mind was free and my insight was now free and pure.
Monks, at that point I declared that I had awakened to
unsurpassable, perfect and complete buddhahood. My
wisdom vision had been developed, my births had been
exhausted, I had carried out my religious practice, I
had done what needed to be done, and I will not have
another life.”