Turning the Dharma Wheel

SN 56.11

This is what I heard. 

One time the Buddha was with five seekers at Isipatana Deer Park, near Benares. 

He said,

“There are two useless extremes for seekers. Seeking sensual pleasure is low, useless, trivial and worthless. Punishing the body is painful, low, and pointless. 

By avoiding these, I woke up to the middle way and reached knowledge, peace, and nirvana.

This middle way is the noble eightfold path: right view, right intent, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right unification. This is how one wakes up and attains nirvana.

Now, these are the four noble truths:

Suffering is being born, getting old and dying. It is sadness, grieving, stress and pain. It’s when something happens that we don’t want, or when we lose something we love.

Suffering is when we want something and can’t get it. Basically, suffering is the five heaps of grasping.

The second truth is the source of suffering. This is when craving leads to a further greedy existence, and you keep trying to look for pleasure everywhere. It is craving for pleasures, craving to exist and craving to end existence.

The third truth is the total fading away of craving. It’s letting go, not clinging, and being craving free.

Finally, the fourth truth is the way that takes you to the end of suffering. This is the noble eightfold path.

This was the vision and knowledge that I realized on my own: 

I saw that suffering has to be fully recognized and I fully recognized it. 

I realized that the source of suffering has to be let go of, and that I had let it go. 

I knew that the ending of suffering follows from that. I experienced the ending of suffering. 

Also, I saw that the eightfold path has to be cultivated and that I had done that. 

That was my insight.

I didn’t claim to be perfectly awakened until my knowledge was pure in these three ways and twelve aspects

After I attained this, I claimed perfect awakening. In this universe filled with gods, demons, humans, ascetics and priests, I realized an unshakable freedom. I knew that this is my last birth, with no future lives left.”

This is what Buddha said and the five seekers were happy. One of them, venerable Koṇḍañña, had a Dharma vision that was stainless and pristine. He said,

“Whatever arises must end.”

With this turning of the Dharma wheel, the gods of the earth shouted across the universe. This was repeated by the Tusita gods, the Yama gods, the happy gods, the maker gods, the controller gods and the gods of Brahma:

“The Buddha has turned the Dharma wheel! It can’t be rolled back by gods, ascetics, demons or anyone else!”

This reached the highest realms. The universe shook and trembled. A glorious light arose, superior to all gods.

The Buddha said, 

“Koṇḍañña got it! He really knows it!” 

Koṇḍañña was then known as “Koṇḍañña who knows.”