4. Main doctrines (2). Four Noble truths, Illumination and Nirvana

Excerpts from
"Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta:

Excerpts from "Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta:

The Discourse on the Setting in Motion of the Wheel (of Vision) of the Basic Pattern: the Four True Realities for the Spiritually Ennobled Ones" (SN 56.11)

This Sutra is entitled
Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta ("The Discourse on the Setting in Motion of the Wheel of Dharma") because it is purportedly the first sermon delivered by the Buddha, who thus "set in motion the Wheel of Dharma", a Buddhist idiomatic expression meaning the spreading of the Buddha's teachings.
It contains the pivotal points of the Buddhist doctrine. It was probably written in the 1st century BCE.

"Thus have I heard. At one time the Blessed One was dwelling at Baraṇasi in the Deer Park at Isipatana. There the Blessed One addressed the monks of the group of five thus: "monks, these two extremes should not be followed by one gone forth (into the homeless life). What two? That which is this pursuit of sensual happiness in sense pleasures, which is low, vulgar, the way of the ordinary person, ignoble, not connected to the goal; and that which is this pursuit of self-mortification, which is painful, ignoble, not connected to the goal. Monks, without veering towards either of these two extremes, the One Attuned to Reality has awakened to the middle way, which gives rise to vision, which gives rise to knowledge, which leads to peace, to higher knowledge, to full enlightenment, to Nirvana.

"And what, monks, is that middle way awakened to by the One Attuned to Reality which gives rise to vision, which gives rise to knowledge, which leads to peace, to higher knowledge, to full enlightenment, to Nirvana? It is just this Noble Eight-factored Path, that is to say, right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right mental unification. This, monks, is that middle way awakened to by the One Attuned to Reality, which gives rise to vision, which gives rise to knowledge, which leads to peace, to higher knowledge, to full enlightenment, to Nirvana.

"Now this, monks, for the spiritually ennobled ones, is the true reality which is pain: birth is painful, aging is painful, illness is painful, death is painful; sorrow, lamentation, physical pain, unhappiness and distress are painful; union with what is disliked is painful; separation from what is liked is painful; not to get what one wants is painful; in brief, the five bundles of grasping-fuel are painful.

"Now this, monks, for the spiritually ennobled ones, is the pain-originating true reality. It is this craving which leads to renewed existence, accompanied by delight and attachment, seeking delight now here now there; that is, craving for sense-pleasures, craving for existence, craving for extermination (of what is not liked).

"Now this, monks, for the spiritually ennobled ones, is the pain-ceasing true reality. It is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, non-reliance on it.

"Now this, monks, for the spiritually ennobled ones, is the true reality which is the way leading to the cessation of pain. It is this Noble Eight-factored Path, that is to say, right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right mental unification. 

Excerpts from "Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: The Discourse on the Setting in Motion of the Wheel (of Vision) of the Basic Pattern:
the Four True Realities for the Spiritually Ennobled Ones" (SN 56.11)
Translated from the Pali by Peter Harvey
Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 2 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.harv.html
(Translation slightly modified)

Dharma Wheel

Dharma Wheel

Wheel of Samsara

A graphical representation of the Dharma Wheel, the foremost symbol of Buddhism.

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