Toh 337 — The Sūtra of the Wheel of Dharma
Dharmacakrasūtra
Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
The Sūtra of the Wheel of Dharma
F.275.a Homage to the Omniscient One!
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One, the Buddha, was residing in the Deer Park at Ṛṣivadana by Vārāṇasī. [1]At that time the Blessed One spoke to the group of five monks:[2]
“Monks, regarding things[3] that I had not previously heard,[4]F.275.b as I reflected thoroughly, the vision arose, and the insight, knowledge, understanding, and realization[5] arose: ‘This is suffering, the truth of noble beings.’
“Monks, regarding things that I had not previously heard, as I reflected thoroughly, the vision arose, and the insight, knowledge, understanding, and realization arose: ‘This is the origin of suffering,[6] this is the cessation of suffering, and this is the path leading to the cessation of suffering.’
“Monks, regarding things that I had not previously heard, as I reflected thoroughly, the vision arose, and the insight, knowledge, understanding, and realization arose: ‘With higher knowledge I should comprehend suffering, that truth of noble beings.’
“Monks, regarding things that I had not previously heard, as I reflected thoroughly, the vision arose, and the insight, knowledge, understanding, and realization arose: ‘With higher knowledge I should relinquish the origin of suffering, that truth of noble beings.’
“Monks, regarding things that I had not previously heard, as I reflected thoroughly, the vision arose, and the insight, knowledge, understanding, and realization arose: ‘With higher knowledge I should actualize[7] the cessation of suffering, that truth of noble beings.’
“Monks, regarding things that I had not previously heard, as I reflected thoroughly, the vision arose, and the insight, knowledge, understanding, and realization arose: ‘With higher knowledge I should cultivate the path leading to the cessation of suffering, that truth of noble beings.’
“Monks, regarding things that I had not previously heard, as I reflected thoroughly, the vision arose, and the insight, knowledge, understanding, and realization arose: ‘With higher knowledge I have comprehended suffering, that truth of noble beings.’
“Monks, regarding things that I had not previously heard, as I reflected thoroughly, the vision arose, and the insight, knowledge, understanding, and realization arose: ‘With higher knowledge I have relinquished the origin of suffering, that truth of noble beings.’ F.276.a
“Monks, regarding things that I had not previously heard, as I reflected thoroughly, the vision arose, and the insight, knowledge, understanding, and realization arose: ‘With higher knowledge I have actualized[8] the cessation of suffering, that truth of noble beings.’
“Monks, regarding things that I had not previously heard, as I reflected thoroughly, the vision arose, and the insight, knowledge, understanding, and realization arose: ‘With higher knowledge I have cultivated the path leading to the cessation of suffering, that truth of noble beings.’
“Monks, until I had achieved the vision, insight, knowledge, understanding, and realization of these four truths of noble beings that are turned in three phases and comprise twelve aspects,[9] I had not been freed from this world with its devas, from its living beings including māras and brahmās as well as mendicants and brahmins, from its gods and humans. I had not escaped from it, severed ties with it, or been delivered from it. Nor did I dwell extensively with a mind free from error. Monks, I did not have the knowledge that I had fully awakened to unsurpassed and perfect buddhahood.
“Monks, once I had achieved the vision, insight, knowledge, understanding, and realization of turning these four truths of noble beings in three phases with twelve aspects, I was freed from this world with its devas, from its living beings including māras and brahmās as well as mendicants and brahmins, from its gods and humans. I had escaped from it, severed ties with it, and been delivered from it. I dwelled extensively with a mind free from error. F.276.b Monks, I then had the knowledge that I had fully awakened to unsurpassed and perfect buddhahood.”[10]
When the Blessed One had given this Dharma discourse, venerable Kauṇḍinya, along with eighty thousand gods, achieved the Dharma vision that is free from dust and stainless with regard to phenomena.
The Blessed One now asked venerable Kauṇḍinya, “Kauṇḍinya, did you understand the Dharma?”
“Blessed One,” he replied, “I understood.”
“Kauṇḍinya, did you understand? Did you understand?”
“Well-Gone One,” he replied, “I understood. I understood.”
“Because venerable Kauṇḍinya has understood the Dharma, venerable Kauṇḍinya shall now be known as Ājñātakauṇḍinya.”[11]
At that point the terrestrial yakṣas called out, “Venerable Kauṇḍinya has understood the Dharma!” And they continued, “Friends, in the Deer Park at Ṛṣivadana by Vārāṇasī, the Blessed One has turned the wheel of Dharma in three phases with twelve aspects. He has turned the wheel of Dharma in a way that no mendicant or brahmin, and no god, māra, or Brahmā in the world could ever do in accord with the Dharma. He has done so for the benefit of many beings, for the happiness of many beings, out of love for the world, and for the welfare, benefit, and happiness of gods and humans. Hence, the gods will flourish and the demigods will be on the wane.”
As the voices of the terrestrial yakṣas rang out—at that very moment, in that very instant, and at that very time—the news passed to the celestial yakṣas, as well as to the gods in the Heaven of the Four Great Kings, the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, the Heaven Free from Strife, the Heaven of Joy, the Heaven of Delighting in Emanations, the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations, and all the way to the Brahmā realm. Thus, also the gods in the Brahmā realm announced, “Friends, in the Deer Park at Ṛṣivadana by Vārāṇasī, F.277.a the Blessed One has turned the wheel of Dharma in three phases with twelve aspects. He has turned the wheel of Dharma in a way that no mendicant or brahmin, and no god, māra, or Brahmā in the world could ever do in accord with the Dharma. He has done so for the benefit of many beings, for the happiness of many beings, out of love for the world, and for the welfare, benefit, and happiness of gods and humans. Hence, the gods will flourish and the demigods will be on the wane.”
In the Deer Park at Ṛṣivadana by Vārāṇasī, the Blessed One turned the wheel of Dharma in three phases with twelve aspects. Therefore, this Dharma teaching was named Turning the Wheel of Dharma.[12]
This completes “The Sūtra of the Wheel of Dharma.”
Notes
The equivalent section in Toh 1 begins at this point (p. 42b.3) and in Toh 301 (p. 60a.1).
backAt this point, the corresponding passage in the Lalitavistarasūtra begins (Lefmann, p. 417; Dharmachakra Translation Group, 26.65).
backHere “things” translates the Sanskrit dharma (Pali: dhamma, Tibetan: chos). Some commentaries suggest that dharma is used here in the sense of “truth.” For example, the Puggalapaññattipakaraṇa-mūlaṭīkā says: ananussutesu dhammesūti ca ananussutesu saccesūti attho. However, teachings on the four truths also present them not so much as general statements of what is “true,” but more as four categories into which all phenomena can be classified and distinguished in terms of their function with regard to suffering, i.e. in constituting it, causing it, being beyond it, or being the means to end it, respectively.
backThe Tibetan here and in most other versions of this repeated passage places the first person pronoun nga with this phrase. However, in the various Sanskrit versions (typically pūrvam ananuśruteṣu dharmeṣu) there is no indication of whether the phrase means the Buddha had not himself previously heard these dharmas or whether they had more generally never been heard before by anyone.
backThe Saṅghabhedavastu does not include “realization” (Tibetan: rtogs pa) in this or the following several repetitions of this phrase. Instead the list only includes “insight (jñāna), knowledge (vidyā), and understanding (buddhi)” (Gnoli 1977, p. 135). Skilling (1993), pp. 105 and 194, discusses the significance of the four to seven “epithets of insight” found in the parallel versions of this passage in Sanskrit, Pali, and Tibetan but his notes do not include this difference between the Sanskrit of the Saṅghabhedavastu and its Tibetan translation, nor the version in the Karmaśataka (see Introduction #UT22084-072-037-109).
backBefore the phrase “This is the origin of suffering,” Toh 337 in the Degé Kangyur includes the phrase “This is suffering.” However, here we have omitted it, as it is absent in all other versions of this passage, including the recensions of this sūtra in the Yongle, Lithang, Coné, Narthang, and Peking Kangyurs; the Sanskrit of the Saṅghabhedavastu; and the Tibetan of both Toh 1 and Toh 301 in D and other Kangyurs.
backAt this point Toh 337 includes the words “the knowledge of…” However, we have omitted this, since the phrase is absent in Toh 1 and Toh 301, as well as the Saṅghabhedavastu.
backAt this point Toh 337 includes the words “the knowledge of…” However, we have omitted this, since the phrase is absent in Toh 1 and Toh 301, as well as the Saṅghabhedavastu.
backThe three phases refer to the three stages of (1) identifying the four truths, (2) understanding how to relate to each of the four truths, and (3) knowing that the respective goals of the four truths have been accomplished. When these three stages are applied to each of the four truths, there are twelve aspects in all. For a classical explanation of this enumeration by Haribhadra (eighth cent.), see Sparham 2008, p. 264. See also Anderson 1999, p. 70. Note that these twelve aspects are unrelated to the alternative enumeration of sixteen aspects associated with the four truths (four for each truth). The sixteen aspects counteract sixteen incorrect views associated with the four truths. On the sixteen aspects, see Buswell 2013, p. 304-305. For a classical account by Candrakīrti (c. 570-650 ce), see May 1959, p. 212-216.
backAt this point, the corresponding passage in the Lalitavistarasūtra ends (Lefmann, p. 418, and The Play in Full, Toh 95, 26.78).
backThis name means “Kauṇḍinya who has understood.”
backThe equivalent passages in the Saṅghabhedavastu, Toh 1 ch. 17, (vol. nga, F.44.a.5) and the Abhiniṣkramaṇasūtra, Toh 301, (F.61.b.3) end at this point.
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