In the Buddha's Words - Bhikkhu Bodhi [27]
This sutta is included here as Text II,5. When the sutta opens, the Buddha announces to the five ascetics that he has discovered “the middle way,” which he identifies with the Noble Eightfold Path. In the light of the preceding biographical account, we can understand why the Buddha should begin his discourse in this way. The five ascetics had initially refused to acknowledge the Buddha’s claim to enlightenment and spurned him as one who had betrayed the higher calling to revert to a life of luxury. Thus he first had to assure them that, far from reverting to a life of self-indulgence, he had discovered a new approach to the timeless quest for enlightenment. This new approach, he told them, remains faithful to the renunciation of sensual pleasures yet eschews tormenting the body as pointless and unproductive. He then explained to them the true path to liberation, the Noble Eightfold Path, which avoids the two extremes and thereby gives rise to the light of wisdom and culminates in the destruction of all bondage, Nibbāna.
Once he has cleared up their misunderstanding, the Buddha then proclaims the truths he had realized on the night of his enlightenment. These are the Four Noble Truths. Not only does he enunciate each truth and briefly define its meaning, but he describes each truth from three perspectives. These constitute the three “turnings of the wheel of the Dhamma” referred to later in the discourse. With respect to each truth, the first turning is the wisdom that illuminates the particular nature of that noble truth. The second turning is the understanding that each noble truth imposes a particular task to be accomplished. Thus the first noble truth, the truth of suffering, is to be fully understood; the second truth, the truth of suffering’s origin or craving, is to be abandoned; the third truth, the truth of the cessation of suffering, is to be realized; and the fourth truth, the truth of the path, is to be developed. The third turning is the understanding that the four functions regarding the Four Noble Truths have been completed: the truth of suffering has been fully understood; craving has been abandoned; the cessation of suffering has been realized; and the path has been fully developed. It was only when he understood the Four Noble Truths in these three turnings and twelve modes, he says, that he could claim that he had attained unsurpassed perfect enlightenment.
The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta illustrates once again the blending of the two stylistic modes I referred to earlier. The discourse proceeds almost entirely in the realistic-naturalistic mode until we approach the end. When the Buddha completes his sermon, the cosmic significance of the event is illuminated by a passage showing how the deities in each successive celestial realm applaud the discourse and shout the good news up to the deities in the next higher realm. At the same time, the entire world system quakes and shakes, and a great light surpassing the radiance of the gods appears in the world. Then, at the very end, we return from this glorious scene back to the prosaic human realm, to behold the Buddha briefly congratulating the ascetic Koṇḍañña for gaining “the dust-free, stainless vision of the Dhamma.” In one split-second, the Lamp of the Doctrine has passed from master to disciple, to begin its journey throughout India and across the world.
II. THE BRINGER OF LIGHT
1. ONE PERSON
“Monks, there is one person who arises in the world for the welfare of the multitude, for the happiness of the multitude, out of compassion for the world, for the good, welfare, and happiness of devas and humans. Who is that one person? It is the Tathāgata, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One. This is that one person.
“Monks, there is one person arising in the world who is unique, without a peer, without counterpart, incomparable, unequalled, matchless, unrivalled, the best of humans. Who is that one person? It is the Tathāgata, the Arahant, the Perfectly