Transcript Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta The First Discourse

Social background
 Distinguished philosophers and religious teachers
with diverse views on life & goals
 Extremes:
- Annihilism after death –end of all –eat, drink & be
merry – religion is foolish aberration, mental disease –
distrust for good, purity & compassion
- Strict ascetism -emancipation –purely religious –five
monks –austerity of self mortification
 Middle Path –desert futile austerity –
Departure from austerity
 Changed unsuccessful hard course –deserted 5
disciples –lost confidence in Buddha, criticised Him
returning to life of comfort
 Buddha happy alone – persisted in enlightenment –
object in life
 2 months after enlightenment on Asalha (July) full
moon day Buddha delivered First Discourse -5 monks
–Deer park in Isipatana near Benares
Dhammacakkapavattana
Definition
 Dhamma=wisdom or knowledge; truth
 Cakka=founding or establishment; wheel
 Dhammacakka= founding/establishment of wisdom
 Dhammacakkapavattana
=Exposition of the Establishment of Wisdom
=Turning /Establishment of the Wheel of Truth
Middle Path
 Avoid extremes of self indulgence & self-mortification
-> no perfect peace -retards spiritual progress
-> & enlightenment- weakens one’s intellect
 Realised that both futile
 Enunciated most practicable, rational and beneficial
path -> perfect purity & absolute deliverance
Five monks
 Closely associated with Buddha for 6 years
 Only humans present at sermon
 Books state many devas and brahmins also present
 Sermon meant for the monks
Outset of sermon
 Avoid extremes
 “The 2 extremes (anta) which should not be resorted
to by a recluse (pabbajitena)
 Anta=end/extreme
 Pabbajita=one who has renounced the world
Two extremes
**Attachment to sensual pleasures
 Base, vulgar, worldly, ignoble, profitless
 short-lived delusion
 Never completely satisfying
 Result in unpleasant reactions
 Worldly happiness=acquisition of wealth & enjoyment
of possessions -> pleasures for layman –delight in
fleeting pleasures
**Renunciation is pleasure
Middle Path
Majjhima Patipada
 Produces spiritual insight and intellectual wisdom to
see things as they truly are –see things in its true
perspective
 Leads to subjugation of passions ->peace
 Leads to attainment of the four supramundane paths
of sainthood, to the understanding of the Four Noble
Truths, and finally the realisation of the ultimate goal
(Nibbana)
Middle Path
 =Noble Eightfold Path
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Right understanding
Right thoughts
Right speech
Right action
Right livelihood
Right effort
Right mindfulness
Right concentration
1. Right Understanding
 Is the cognitive aspect of wisdom
 Clear doubts to guide them on the right way
 Deals with knowledge of oneself as one really is
 Leads to right thoughts
 Grasp the impermanent and imperfect nature of worldly
objects and ideas, and to understand the law of karma and
karmic conditioning.
 Is not necessarily an intellectual capacity,
 begins with the intuitive insight that all beings are subject
to suffering and it ends with complete understanding of
the true nature of all things.
2. Right Thoughts (a)
 Non-attachment or renunciation
 Loving kindness and harmlessness vs selfishness, ill-will
and cruelty – resulting in right speech - good will, meaning
resistance to feelings of anger and aversion –not thinking
or acting cruelly, violently, or aggressively, and to develop
compassion
 Refers the kind of mental energy that controls our actions.
 described best as commitment to ethical and mental selfimprovement.
2. Right Thoughts (b)
 Three types of right intentions:
 1. the intention of renunciation - resistance to the
pull of desire,
 2. the intention of good will, meaning resistance to
feelings of anger and aversion
 3. the intention of harmlessness, meaning not to
think or act cruelly, violently, or aggressively, and
to develop compassion.
3. Right Speech
 first principle of ethical conduct -viewed as a guideline to






moral discipline - essential, for mental purification
Words can break or save lives, make enemies or friends,
start war or create peace.
Right speech:
1. to abstain from false speech, especially not to tell
deliberate lies and not to speak deceitfully,
2. to abstain from slanderous speech and not to use words
maliciously against others,
3. to abstain from harsh words that offend or hurt others,
4. to abstain from idle chatter that lacks purpose or depth.
Positively phrased, this means to tell the truth, to speak
friendly, warm, and gently and to talk only when necessary.
4. Right Action






Second ethical principle -involves the body as natural
means of expression -deeds that involve bodily actions.
Unwholesome actions lead to unsound states of mind,
while wholesome actions lead to sound states of mind.
Explained in terms of abstinence:
1. to abstain from harming sentient beings -abstain from
taking life (including suicide) and doing harm
intentionally or delinquently,
2. to abstain from taking what is not given -includes
stealing, robbery, fraud, deceitfulness, and dishonesty,
3. Abstain from sexual misconduct -act kindly and
compassionately, be honest, respect the belongings of
others, keep sexual relationships harmless to others – 5
Precepts
5. Right Livelihood
 Earn one's living in a righteous way and that wealth
should be gained legally and peacefully
 four specific activities that harm other beings to avoid:
1. dealing in weapons,
 2. dealing in living beings (including raising animals
for slaughter as well as slave trade and prostitution)
 3. working in meat production and butchery
 4. selling intoxicants and poisons, such as alcohol and
drugs. -other occupation violating the principles of
right speech and right action should be avoided.
6. Right effort
 Prerequisite for the other principles of the path –in itself an





act of will, nothing can be achieved, whereas misguided
effort distracts the mind from its task, and confusion will
be the consequence.
Mental energy is the force behind right effort-can occur in
wholesome or unwholesome states - fuels desire, envy,
aggression, and violence can on the other side fuel selfdiscipline, honesty, benevolence, and kindness
Four types of endeavours in ascending order of perfection:
1. prevent the arising of unarisen unwholesome states,
2. abandon unwholesome states already arisen,
3. arouse wholesome states that have not yet arisen,
7. Right mindfulness (a)
 Is the controlled and perfected faculty of cognition -is
the mental ability to see things as they are, with clear
consciousness
 Begins with an impression induced by perception, or
by a thought, but does not stay with the mere
impression
 Conceptualise sense impressions and thoughts
immediately -interpret them and set them in relation
to other thoughts and experiences -go beyond the
facticity of the original impression
7. Right mindfulness (b)
 mind then posits concepts, joins concepts into constructs, and






weaves those constructs into complex interpretative schemes happens only half consciously, obscured views
is anchored in clear perception and it penetrates impressions
without getting carried away
Enables us to be aware of the process of conceptualisation to
actively observe and control the way our thoughts go.
four foundations of mindfulness:
1. contemplation of the body
2. contemplation of feeling (repulsive, attractive, or neutral)
3. contemplation of the state of mind, and 4. contemplation of
the phenomena.
8. Right concentration
 One-pointedness of the mind - the development of a
mental force that occurs in natural consciousness, at a
relatively low level of intensity - a state where all mental
faculties are unified and directed onto one particular object
–no distortion
 Combination of right effort and right mindfulness to
produce Right Concentration
 means wholesome concentration, i.e. concentration on
wholesome thoughts and actions –through meditation mind focuses on a selected object -first directs itself onto it,
then sustains concentration, and finally intensifies
concentration step by step. Through this practice it
becomes natural to apply elevated levels concentration also
in everyday situations.