The Buddha's First Discourse
The following article, condensed slightly for publication in the Newsletter, is by Patrick Given-Wilson, who is Regional Teacher for Australia and New Zealand and author of the summaries of Goenkaji’s Satipatthana Sutta discourses.
After his enlightenment, the Buddha gave his first discourse to the five friends who had accompanied him during most of his years of searching. It is called the Dhamma Cakkappavattana Sutta, the discourse that set in motion the wheel of Dhamma. It summarizes the Buddha’s entire teaching.
The sutta starts:
Ekam samayam bhagava Baranasiyam viharati Isipatane Migadaye.
The scene is set in Isipathana, a sacred place near Varanasi frequented by recluses, hermits and other saintly people. Within it, Migada was a deer park and sanctuary where no animal could be killed.
Tatra kho bhagava pañcavaggiye bhikkhu amantesi.
The discourse was given to his five former companions. They were a skeptical audience, believing that the Buddha had failed in his quest because he had given up fasting and physical austerities. As they saw him approach, they agreed to show him no special respect. Nevertheless they listened, impressed by his serenity and the glow on his face.
He declared to them that he had become a Buddha. And to overcome their doubts, he explained how he had achieved enlightenment.
Dveme, bhikkhave, anta pabbajitena na sevitabba. Katame dve?
Two extremes, bhikkhus, should not be practiced by one striving for liberation. What two?
… yo cayam kamesu kamasukhallikanuyogo hino gammo pothujjaniko anariyo anatthasamhito ...
… attachment and clinging to sensual pleasures, which is low, coarse, vulgar, unworthy, and profitless …
He decisively repudiates the path of sensual pleasures. No one can attain liberation from sensual pleasures by indulging in them. This would have been obvious to his audience. But his second statement would have seemed radical: a decisive repudiation of the ascetic path they had been practicing together.
… yo cayam attakilamathanuyogo dukkho anariyo anatthasamhito
… attachment to self-torture, which is painful, unworthy, and profitless.
He then describes the actual path he took, the Middle Path, and states the result:
Ete kho, bhikkhave, ubho ante anupagamma majjhima patipada tathagatena abhisambuddha cakkhukarani ñanakarani upasamaya abhiññaya sambodhaya nibbanaya samvattati
Between these extremes the Middle Path, realized by the Tathagata, gives vision, gives knowledge, and leads to calm, to insight, to enlightenment and to nibbana.
“Tathagata” was the term the Buddha used to describe himself. It means literally “thus gone,” or one who has walked the path of truth.
He describes this Middle Path as the Eightfold Noble Path:
Ariyo atthaṅgiko maggo, seyyathidam – samma ditthi samma saṅkappo samma vaca samma kammanto samma ajivo samma vayamo samma sati samma samadhi.
This Noble Eightfold Path, namely – right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.
At one level, this was nothing new. The practice of morality already existed in India. Deep samadhis were also practiced, and Gotama himself had practiced these in the past. Pañña was also understood and accepted at least at the intellectual level.
However, the path starts with samma ditthi, and the ditthi (understanding) must be samma (right). That means not only must it be understood, it must also be experienced. Something can only be understood properly if it is actually experienced; otherwise it remains a mere philosophy or view. Similarly, every step on the Noble Eightfold Path is preceded by the word samma: to be right, it has to be experienced.
He then states the keystone of his teaching, the Four Noble Truths. He describes each in turn:
Idam kho pana, bhikkhave, dukkham ariyasaccam: jatipi dukkha, jarapi dukkha, byadhipi dukkho, maranampi dukkham, appiyehi sampayogo dukkho, piyehi vippayogo dukkho, yampiccham na labhati tampi dukkham – samkhittena pañcupadanakkhandha dukkha.
This, bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of Suffering: 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 of clinging are suffering.
Again at a mundane level, much of this was familiar to his audience. But there was a widespread belief that beings of the highest celestial realms were immortal. And here he states that all birth is dukkha and ends with a comprehensive rejection of clinging to any kind of existence.
Working deep inside, he had realized that any clinging to anything in the field of mind and matter was dukkha, suffering. The truth of dukkha had to be accepted in every aspect of existence. Even the most pleasant, subtle, tranquil experience had to be accepted as dukkha because of its impermanence.
… dukkhasamudayam ariyasaccam: yayam tanha ponobbhavika nandiragasahagata tatratatrabhinandini, seyyathidam kamatanha, bhavatanha, vibhavatanha.
The Noble Truth of the Arising of Suffering is this craving, leading to rebirth, bound up with pleasure and desire, finding delight now here, now there, namely, craving for sense pleasure, craving for existence, and craving for annihilation.
The second Noble Truth is that suffering arises with tanha, craving. Sometimes samudayam is translated as “the cause” of dukkha, but more precisely it means “arising.” Dukkha, the agitation, starts as soon as craving, tanha, starts: they are simultaneous. This is experienced by a meditator at a subtle level. This craving is the actual problem that leads to rebirth, ponobbhavika.
He describes three types of craving, or tanha. The first is the craving for sensual pleasures, kamatanha. This can be easily understood, but eradicating it alone is not enough. The second is the craving for any kind of existence, bhavatanha. Even if someone is free of sensual pleasures, there is the craving for survival: “The ‘I’ must survive. No matter what happens to the world or to other beings, I must be there in whatever plane of existence, to witness it and see it continue. Even liberation is something that ‘I’ must experience, ‘I’ must enjoy.” This craving gives rise to further rebirths, and so the round of suffering continues. The third and final craving is the desire for annihilation, vibhavatanha. Even craving for the end of existence is still craving.
Idam kho pana, bhikkhave, dukkhanirodham ariyasaccam: yo tassayeva tanhaya asesaviraganirodho cago patinissaggo mutti analayo.
This, bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the Eradication of Suffering: it is the complete eradication of that very craving, giving it up, relinquishing it, the liberation and detachment from it.
This craving must be totally eradicated, so that no root is left. Elsewhere, in the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha describes in more detail how the eradication must be complete at every step of the mental process: in every part of the mind, at every sense door.
The fourth Noble Truth is the way to reach that goal, the Eightfold Noble Path.
… dukkhanirodhagamini patipada ariyasaccam: ayameva ariyo atthaṅgiko maggo, seyyathidam—samma ditthi, samma sankappo, samma vaca, samma kammanta, samma ajivo, samma vayamo, samma sati, samma samadhi.
The Noble Truth of the Path leading to the eradication of suffering is this Eightfold Path, namely right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration
In essence, the four Noble Truths are very simple: accept the fact of suffering, understand how it arises, totally eradicate it, and so realize the path to its eradication. But the Buddha’s enlightenment was actually to experience it. He elaborated, saying that each Noble Truth has to be realized in three different ways. Each truth is not a reality unless it is witnessed, or experienced.
Idam dukkham ariyasaccam … pariññeyam…pariññatam.
This Noble Truth of suffering … is to be experienced fully … is experienced fully.
The fact of suffering, dukkha, had to first be accepted. But that was mere intellectual knowledge, merely a starting position. The second part was to understand the need to experience directly the entire field of dukkha—pariññeyam—because unless the entire field is experienced, there might be some aspect, some part of dukkha, still considered free from dukkha. However, this was still an intellectual decision. The third step was pariññatam—he had explored the entire field of dukkha only when he had gone beyond dukkha. So even in this first Noble Truth, all the Four Noble Truths are included.
Idam dukkham samudayam ariyasaccam … pahahatabbam … pahinam.
This Noble Truth of the arising of suffering … has to be eradicated … has been eradicated.
The same applies to the second Noble Truth, dukkha samudaya. Mere acceptance that craving is the cause of dukkha does not help. The craving has to be eradicated:pahahatabbam. But even this is insufficient. The third part must be completed—pahinam—tanha must actually be eradicated at the root level, so that not a trace is left. So the second Noble Truth also completes all the Four Noble Truths. If it is pahinam, totally eradicated, one is free from misery.
Idam dukkhanirodham ariyasaccam … sacchikatabbam … sacchikatam.
This Noble Truth of the eradication of suffering … has to be witnessed … has been witnessed.
The third Noble Truth is the stage where there is no more misery at all—the stage of nibbana. Mere acceptance that there is a stage beyond mind and matter is not enough. It has to be witnessed—sacchikatabbam. Then the third part is sacchikatam—it is witnessed. When that was witnessed, he became free of all misery. All the four Noble Truths are included.
Idam dukkhanirodhagamini patipada ariyasaccam … bhavetabbam … bhavitam.
This Noble Truth of the path leading to the eradication of suffering … has to be developed … has been developed.
The fourth Noble Truth is the path. Again it has to be experienced fully. Only then can it be said to have been completed. The first step is acceptance that this is the path. The second is the intellectual decision that it has to be developed, bhavetabbam. Both are necessary. But only actually covering the entire path—bhavitam—could liberate him, and by walking it he had accomplished the other three Noble Truths. So all four Noble Truths, when actually experienced, are each complete in themselves and contain all the others.
Therefore, unless each Noble Truth is worked out in three ways, and the four Noble Truths thus become a twelvefold Noble Truth, they cannot give the result of liberation from suffering. If someone merely accepted the truth that there is misery, that there is a cause of misery, that there is total eradication of misery and that there is a way to eradicate the misery, the acceptance would be no more than a philosophy—logical but otherwise no different from any other philosophy. It could not have liberated him.
… pubbe ananussutesu Dhammesu cakkhum udapadi, ñanam udapadi, pañña udapadi, vijja udapadi, aloko udapadi.
… I had never heard such Dhammas before: vision arose, knowledge arose, wisdom arose, understanding arose, light arose.
This is repeated for each part of each Noble Truth. These were truths, Dhammas that he had never heard before: pubbe ananusuttesu Dhammesu. When he actually experienced them: cakkhum udapadi, ñañam udapadi, pañña udapadi, vijja udapadi, aloko udapadi, vision arose, knowledge arose, wisdom arose, understanding arose, light arose. Each was his own direct realization.
The Buddha describes this path as dukkhanirodhagamini patipada, the path to the cessation of all misery. Elsewhere he describes the same path as vedananirodhagamini patipada, the path to the cessation of all sensations. This is because the path has to be experienced. The word used for experience in those days was vedana, which also means sensation. So pariññatam means that the entire field of vedana, sensation, has to be experienced. Elsewhere, he says, Yam kiñci vedayitam, tam dukkhasmin—every sensation is connected with dukkha, with misery. Even the most pleasant sensation has to be understood as dukkha because it is anicca. There is the danger of clinging to this impermanent experience and of generating tanha, craving, toward it. Unless all sensation is understood as misery, there might remain a delusion that some sensation really does give happiness.
Yavakivañca me, bhikkhave, imesu catusu ariyasaccesu evam tiparivattam dvadasakaram yathabhutam ñanadassanam na suvisuddham ahosi, neva tavaham, bhikkhave … ‘anuttaram sammasambodhim abhisambuddho’ti paccaññasim.
As long as my knowledge and insight into reality “as it is” was not pure in these three aspects, in these twelve ways, concerning the four Noble Truths, I did not claim to have realized matchless, supreme Enlightenment.
The Buddha describes his commitment to truth, the acceptance of reality “as it is,” yathabutha, at every stage—a commitment that underpinned his exploration and his practice. This led to ñana dassanam—knowledge with insight, and purification. This had been his method of investigation: he remained always with the reality “as it is,” without getting carried away by any philosophical belief, desire, speculation or imagination. Every meditator who wishes for enlightenment has to do the same.
Yato ca kho me, bhikkhave, imesu catusu ariyasaccesu evam tiparivattam dvadasakaram yathabhutam ñanadassanam suvisuddham ahosi, athaham, bhikkhave, ... ‘anuttaram sammasambodhim abhisambuddho’ti paccaññasim
But now that it was so purified, he declared that “the matchless supreme enlightenment,” anuttaram sammasambodhim abhisambuddho'ti, had been realized. It is an emphatic declaration of his enlightenment.
Then finally comes the statement of the result:
Ñanañca pana me dassanam udapadi – ‘akuppa me vimutti, ayamantima jati, natthidani punabbhavo’’’ti
Knowledge and insight arose in me: “Unshakable is my liberation. This is the last birth. There is no more birth for me now.”
This concluded the discourse, and the five companions were delighted. All their skepticism was gone.
Imasmiñca pana veyyakaranasmim bhaññamane ayasmato kondaññassa virajam vitamalam dhammacakkhum udapadi: ‘‘yam kiñci samudayadhammam, sabbam tam nirodhadhamma’’nti.
While this discourse was being given, the pure, stainless Eye of Dhamma arose in the Venerable Kondañña, that: “Whatever has the nature of arising, has the nature of ceasing.”
The Eye of Dhamma, dhammacakkhum, now arose in Kondañña, one of the five companions; that is, he experienced nibbana. He understood that whatever has the nature of arising also has the nature of passing away.
This was a turning point because the discourse set in motion the Wheel of Dhamma. After an unimaginably long period of preparing and developing his paramis, after successfully overcoming all obstacles to achieve enlightenment, the Buddha now had the capacity to teach others.
It must be understood that Kondañña did not become enlightened simply by listening to what the Buddha was teaching. Instead, as he heard the Buddha’s words, Kondañña would have started focusing inside. He would have followed the same path, observing the reality, yatha bhuta, “as it is,” arising and passing throughout the mind-matter structure. Continuing to observe, he could reach the stage of experiencing dukkha nirodha, total cessation.
Kondañña now worked vigorously and within a short time became fully liberated. He became known as “ Kondañña the Wise.”
Kondañña was the first of many who became liberated at that time. The path is the same for all, and we are fortunate that the technique is still available today. It is therefore incumbent on all meditators to make best use of this path, for their own liberation. It is a rare opportunity.
