In this episode, we discuss the Buddha's first sermon in Varanasi, Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion, or the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. | Questions for consideration: Have you ever felt like "life is suffering?" What does "the middle path" mean to you?
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Transcript
Welcome to the Religion of the Month Club, A podcast where we discuss texts from the world's scriptural traditions. Today marks the first day of the year 2078 in the Kala Chaka calendar in the year 2564 of the Buddhist era. In this episode, We will be discussing the Dhamma Chaka Pavata Masuta, Or Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion, Which tells of the Buddha's first sermon outside of Varanasi. Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living in the Deer Park at Isipatana, The resort of seers, Near Varanasi, Or Benares. Then he addressed the group of five monks, Or bhikkhus. Monks, These two extremes ought not to be practiced by one who has gone forth from the household life. What are the two? There is addiction to indulgence of sense pleasures, Which is low, Coarse, The way of ordinary people, Unworthy and unprofitable. And there is addiction to self-mortification, Which is painful, Unworthy and unprofitable. Avoiding both these extremes, The Tathagata, Or the Perfected One, Has realized the middle path. It gives vision, Gives knowledge, And leads to calm, To insight, To enlightenment, And to Nibbāna. And what is that middle path realized by the Tathagata? 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. This is the middle path realized by the Tathagata, Which gives vision, Which gives knowledge, And leads to calm, To insight, To enlightenment, And to Nibbāna. The Noble Truth of Suffering, Or Dukkha, Monks, Is this. Birth is suffering. Aging is suffering. Sickness is suffering. Death is suffering. Association with the unpleasant is suffering. Dissociation from the pleasant is suffering. Not to receive what one desires is suffering. In brief, The five aggregates subject to grasping are suffering. The Noble Truth of the origin, Or cause, Of suffering is this. It is this craving, Or thirst, Which produces re-becoming, Or rebirth, Accompanied by passionate greed and finding fresh delight now here and now there, Namely, Craving for sense pleasure, Craving for existence, And craving for non-existence, Or self-annihilation. The Noble Truth of the cessation of suffering is this. It is the complete cessation of that very craving, Giving it up, Relinquishing it, Liberating oneself from it, And detaching oneself from it. The Noble Truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering 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. This is the Noble Truth of suffering. Such was the vision, The knowledge, The wisdom, The science, The light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. This suffering, As a Noble Truth, Should be fully realized. Such was the vision, The knowledge, The wisdom, The science, The light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. This suffering, As a Noble Truth, Has been fully realized. Such was the vision, The knowledge, The wisdom, The science, The light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. This is the Noble Truth of the origin or cause of suffering. Such was the vision, The knowledge, The wisdom, The science, The light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. This origin of suffering as a Noble Truth should be eradicated. Such was the vision, The knowledge, The wisdom, The science, The light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. This origin of suffering as a Noble Truth has been eradicated. Such was the vision, The knowledge, The wisdom, The science, The light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. This is the Noble Truth of the cessation of suffering. Such was the vision, The knowledge, The wisdom, The science, The light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. The cessation of suffering as a noble truth should be realized. Such was the vision, The knowledge, The wisdom, The science, The light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. Cessation of suffering kit the noble truth, As it has been realized, Such was the vision the knowledge, The wisdom, The science, The light that arose in speaking concerning things not heard before. This is the noble truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering. Such was the vision, The knowledge, The wisdom, The science, The light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. This path leading to the cessation of suffering has a noble truth should be developed. Such was the vision, The knowledge, The wisdom, The science, The light that arose me concerning things not heard before. This path leading to the cessation of suffering, As a noble truth has been developed. Such was the vision, The knowledge, The wisdom, The science, The light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. As long as my knowledge of seeing things as they really are was not quite clear in these three aspects, In these twelve ways, Concerning the four noble truths, I did not claim to have realized the matchless Supreme Enlightenment in this world with its gods, With its Maras and Brahmas, In this generation with its recluses and Brahmanas, With its Devas and humans. But when my knowledge of seeing things as they really are was quite clear in these three aspects, In these twelve ways, Concerning the four noble truths, Then I claimed to have realized the matchless Supreme Enlightenment in this world with its gods, With its Maras and Brahmas, In this generation with its recluses and Brahmanas, With its Devas and humans. And a vision of insight arose in me thus. Unshakeable is the deliverance of my heart. This is the last birth. Now there is no more re-becoming or re-birth. This the Blessed One said. The group of five monks was glad, And they rejoiced at the words of the Blessed One. When this discourse was thus expounded, There arose in the venerable Kondanya the passion-free, Stainless vision of Truth, Or Dhamma-cakku. In other words, He attained Sottapati, The first stage of sanctity, And realized, Whatever has the nature of arising has the nature of ceasing. Now when the Blessed One set in motion the wheel of truth, The Bhumata Devas, The earth deities proclaimed, The matchless wheel of Truth that cannot be set in motion by Recluse, Brahmana, Deva, Mara, Brahma, Or anyone in the world is set in motion by the Blessed One in the Deer Park at Isipatana near Varanasi. Hearing these words of the earth deities, All the Caturmaharajika Devas proclaimed, The matchless wheel of Truth that cannot be set in motion by Recluse, Brahmana, Deva, Mara, Brahma, Or anyone in the world is set in motion by the Blessed One in the Deer Park at Isipatana near Varanasi. These words were heard in the upper deva realms, And from Caturmaharajika it was proclaimed in Tavatimsa, Yama, Tusita, Nimanarati, Paranimita Vasavati, And the Brahmas of Brahma, Parisaja, Parahita, Mahabrahma, Paritabha, Apamanabha, Abhasara, Paritasubha, Apamanasubha, Subhakina, Vehapala, Avija, Atapa, Sudhasa, Sudhasi, And in Akanita, The matchless wheel of Truth that cannot be set in motion by Recluse, Brahmana, Deva, Mara, Brahma, Or anyone in the world is set in motion by the Blessed One in the Deer Park at Isipatana near Varanasi. Thus at that very moment, At that instant, The cry that the wheel of Truth is set in motion spread as far as the Brahma realm, The system of ten thousand worlds trembled and quaked and shook, A boundless sublime radiance surpassing the effulgence, Power, Of Devas appeared in the world. Then the Blessed One uttered this peyana of joy, Verily, Kondanya has realized, Verily, Kondanya has realized the Four Noble Truths. Thus it was that the venerable Kondanya received the name, Anya Kondanya, Kondanya who realizes. This is referred to as the setting in motion of the wheel of Dharma Sutra. It is the first sermon that was given by the Buddha, That is Gotama Buddha, Also known as Siddhartha, Around the fourth century BCE, That is before the common era, Or before Christ. In it, He lays down what is referred to generally as the middle way, With its Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. This sutra is essentially the foundation, The cornerstone of Buddhism. Other later forms of Buddhism go on to elaborate and in some ways actually challenge this, Which I'll get to when we get to the Mahayana forms of Buddhism. This version comes from the Pali, Which is from the Theravada tradition. Buddhism basically comes in two flavors, Arguably more, But we'll start with just two. Theravada and Mahayana. The Mahayana distinguished itself first from the traditional form of Buddhism, And Mahayana literally means great vehicle. They referred to the earlier form of Buddhism as the smaller vehicle, Which as you can imagine was not taken very well by the Hinayana or smaller vehicle Buddhists. They called themselves Theravada, Which refers to the forest monk's tradition. The Theravada Buddhism is the, Arguably the older form. It hasn't changed as much as the Mahayana tradition. All of the Theravada sutras are included in the Mahayana tradition, But not the opposite. You might think of it kind of like how the Hebrew Bible is included in the Christian Bible but not vice versa, Although any time you make a comparison like that it's a little dangerous. So the story of the Buddha, Or Siddhartha, Is kind of interesting. He was a prince, As is pretty well known, Pretty well established, Although some historians have questioned whether he was really a prince, Or if that version has been elaborated or expanded to kind of add more of a mythic quality to the story. But we'll go with the original story. So the idea is he's a prince, And before he's born the court astrologer or some other kind of seer basically says, Your son is going to be either a great leader or a great wise person. And the king would rather him be a leader. He wants his heir to lead the kingdom. And he knows that what makes somebody a philosopher is suffering, Essentially. He's wise enough to know that it's when things go wrong that you start to question, And this is where philosophy comes from. So he tries to protect his son. He tries to give his son a perfect life and have his son not see any form of suffering. Until one day, Incidentally just after he's gotten married and had his child, He gets exposed to suffering. He goes out on the town and he sees somebody dying, He sees somebody who's sick, He sees somebody who's old, And he starts to question. Because these are all things that he's somehow miraculously never seen before. And he realizes that he doesn't really know anything. And so he abandons his wife and child and goes off into the forest to seek enlightenment. And he comes across some renunciates, Sadhus if you will, Who teach him the way of self-mortification. And he does that for a while and he nearly dies. He is so extreme, He is so devoted to this path that he literally nearly starves himself to death. And would have starved to death if not for somebody giving him something to eat, As he is so emaciated, So on death's door, That his body eats even though he wasn't going to eat. So he comes back from near death and realizes that he still doesn't know anything more than he did than when he set out. So he decides to sit under a tree and says, I'm not going to leave this tree until I figure out what's going on. That tree becomes known as the Bodhi tree, You might have heard of. While he's sitting there, He gets tempted by the demon Mara. This episode is actually somewhat similar to Jesus's trip to the desert to wander around and gets tempted by the devil there. So this is a theme that appears in both texts, Which is kind of interesting since they were developed in very different contexts, Pretty far apart from one another. But of course, People communicate, So it's not as though they were in entire isolation, But there's no way to know if there's a direct connection or not. But let's assume there isn't. Either way, In both cases, The hero of the story is tempted by a demon who tries to throw them off the path, And they say, No. They don't give in. And they stick to it. And they reach their goal. And in the case of Siddhartha, He reaches enlightenment. He sees the truth. And he steps out from under the tree and goes down to Varanasi, Where he finds some of his old friends, The renunciates, The monks who had been self-mortifying. And he tells them this sermon that you just heard. And the first part of this sermon basically says, Self-mortification doesn't work, But neither does hedonism. So the path is this middle way. The path involves this eightfold path that is right view, Right intention, Right speech, Right action, Right livelihood, Right effort, Right mindfulness, And right concentration. These eight things that you're supposed to cultivate are often grouped. So there's right view and right intention. So that is kind of, That's your internal process, Having the right view of reality and having a good intention. Of course, Good intention doesn't matter much if you don't get the other things right. The next set is speech, Right action, And right livelihood. So this is putting that right view and right intention into action. So that is speaking well, Acting well, And living well. And then finally, Right effort, Right mindfulness, And right concentration. So this is where you're actually on the path towards liberation, Putting your effort in the right place, Composing your mind correctly, Being mindful, And concentrating on the right thing. Now, Moving on to the Four Noble Truths. The first noble truth is that life is suffering. That's the basic, The short version of the first noble truth. The way it's written here is, Suffering as a noble truth is this. Worth is suffering, Aging is suffering, Sickness is suffering, Death is suffering, Sorrow and lamentation, Pain, Grief, And despair are suffering. Association with the load that is suffering, Dissociation from the love that is suffering, Not to get what one wants is suffering. In short, Suffering is the five categories of clinging objects. A lot of people bristle at this. They say, Well, What a terrible way of looking at the world, That life is suffering. And I think it's a valid criticism. I think that it's also important to recognize that there is some truth to it. Anyone who's lived long enough has probably had a moment where they felt like life was suffering. And everybody has experienced suffering, For sure, Obviously. Although it's also worth noting that the word for suffering in Pali Dukkha, Some have argued that suffering is maybe not the best translation for that word, That a better translation might be stress. And when you put it that way, I think it becomes a lot less contentious. To say that life is stressful is kind of a no-brainer. Life is obviously stressful. And I think this is also a good time to bring up Steven Prothero's theory about religion. This is a theory about all of the world's religions. And he posits that a religion is a solution or answer to a question or problem. And every religion is a solution or answer to a different question or problem or a different solution. It's a little bit reductive, But I think it's a. . . Well, It's very reductive. But I think it's a good way to look at religions. It's a useful tool to have. In some cases, The problem solution setup is very clear. In other cases, It's not so clear. In Buddhism, It is probably more clear than anywhere else. The four noble truths lay out quite explicitly the problem and the solution. The problem is suffering. The solution is Nibbana or Nirvana, Which literally means extinguishing. Going back to life of suffering, Another thing that people don't really like about Buddhism, Some people don't like about Buddhism is, And this applies to some forms of Hinduism as well, Is the idea of this goal of being extinguishing, Of getting off of the wheel of samsara. The wheel of samsara is this idea of this life-death-rebirth cycle. Buddhists and Hindus, Like many people, Believe in reincarnation. What reincarnation means, Maybe we can talk about it another time, But for now, Just consider it. Whatever your understanding of reincarnation, Let's just go with that. The idea is you get reborn. You live, You die, You get reborn. Now if life is suffering, That's a pretty rotten deal, But if you question whether or not life is suffering, Or maybe you think that life is not just suffering, Maybe nirvana doesn't sound so appealing. In fact, The idea of ceasing to exist is, I think for a lot of people, One of the most terrifying concepts. We have such a strong association with our identity, Our ego, That the idea to cease to exist is not something that many people would necessarily desire. And then of course the desire for nirvana is its own paradox. But sticking with the problem of nirvana right now, I think that, And for some people, I think part of why they believe in an afterlife, Whether it's reincarnation or going to heaven, Is because of the unwillingness to consider the possibility that they may simply cease to exist after they die. Now in this sutra, And in Buddhism in general, And again in some forms of Hinduism, The goal is actually to cease existing, Which might seem kind of strange. It might almost seem suicidal in a way. But I think that there is a step in between that is maybe not entirely clear. And that kind of touches upon the paradox that I just mentioned about desiring the cessation. If the cause of suffering is desire, Then wouldn't it be paradoxical to desire to cease suffering? And it is in a way. But the thing that needs to be understood is that this is a process. So it is the eightfold path. It's not the eightfold location. You are not, You know, When you're on a path, You are moving somewhere, And things are changing. And as things are changing, Your perception of the path also changes. And I think this is heavily emphasized when we get into the Mahayana sutras, Because they have this sort of critical view of the early sutras saying, Well, That was true at that point, Or at that stage of enlightenment. But it keeps going, And it evolves. So we'll stop there, But I'm going to read the sutra again, But I'm going to read a different translation this time. That one was by Piyadasi Thera, And this one I'm going to read is by Panisaro Bhikkhu. And in this translation, He does use the translation of stress instead of suffering for the word dukkha. I have heard that on one occasion, The Blessed One was staying at Varanasi in the game refuge at Isikatana. There he addressed the group of five monks. There are these 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. And what 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. Now this, Monks, Is the noble truth of stress. Birth is stressful. Aging is stressful. Death is stressful. Sorrow, Lamentation, Pain, Distress, And 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 the further becoming, Accompanied by passion and delight, Relishing now here and 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 in cessation, Renunciation, Relinquishment, Release, And 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. This noble truth of the origination of stress has been abandoned. Vision arows. Inside arows. 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. 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. And, Monks, As long as this, My three-round, Twelve-permutation knowledge and 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, Mahras, And brahmas, With its contemplatives and brahmins, Its royalty and common folk. But as soon as this, My three-round, Twelve-permutation knowledge and 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, Mahras, And brahmas, With its contemplatives and brahmins, Its royalty and common folk. Knowledge and 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, There arose to venerable kondanya the dustless, Stainless dharma-eye. Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation. And when the Blessed One had set the wheel of dharma 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 dharma that cannot be stopped by brahman or contemplative, Deva, Mara, 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 yama-devas, The tusita-devas, The nimmanarati-devas, The paranimattavasavati-devas, The devas of brahman'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 dharma 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 and quivered and 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, Kondanya? So you really know? And that is how Venerable Kondanya acquired the name Anya Kondanya. Kondanya who knows. Thank you for listening. We hope you will join us next month when we discuss a chapter from the Bhagavad Gita.
