In the Buddha's Words - Bhikkhu Bodhi [43]
“‘This noble truth of the origin of suffering has been abandoned’: thus, monks, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, penetration, and light.
“‘This is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering’: thus, monks, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, penetration, and light.
“‘This noble truth of the cessation of suffering is to be realized’: thus, monks, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, penetration, and light.
“‘This noble truth of the cessation of suffering has been realized’: thus, monks, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, penetration, and light.
“‘This is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering’: thus, monks, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, penetration, and light.
“‘This noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering is to be developed’: thus, monks, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, penetration, and light.
“‘This noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering has been developed’: thus, monks, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, penetration, and light.
“So long, monks, as my knowledge and vision of these Four Noble Truths as they really are in their three phases and twelve aspects was not thoroughly purified in this way,35 I did not claim to have awakened to the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment in this world with its devas, Māra, and Brahmā, in this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its devas and humans. But when my knowledge and vision of these Four Noble Truths as they really are in their three phases and twelve aspects was thoroughly purified in this way, then I claimed to have awakened to the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment in this world with its devas, Māra, and Brahmā, in this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its devas and humans. The knowledge and vision arose in me: ‘Unshakable is the liberation of my mind. This is my last birth. Now there is no more renewed existence.’”
This is what the Blessed One said. Elated, the monks of the group of five delighted in the Blessed One’s statement. And while this discourse was being spoken, there arose in the Venerable Koṇḍañña the dust-free, stainless vision of the Dhamma: “Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.”36
And when the wheel of the Dhamma had been set in motion by the Blessed One, the earth-dwelling devas raised a cry: “At Bārāṇasī, in the Deer Park at Isipatana, this unsurpassed wheel of the Dhamma has been set in motion by the Blessed One, which cannot be stopped by any ascetic or brahmin or deva or Māra or Brahmā or by anyone in the world.” Having heard the cry of the earth-dwelling devas, the devas of the realm of the Four Great Kings raised a cry: “At Bārāṇasī … this unsurpassed wheel of the Dhamma has been set in motion by the Blessed One, which cannot be stopped ... by anyone in the world.” Having heard the cry of the devas of the realm of the Four Great Kings, the Tāvatiṃsa devas … the Yāma devas … the Tusita devas … the devas who delight in creating … the devas who wield power over others’ creations … the devas of Brahmā’s company37 raised a cry: “At Bārāṇasī, in the Deer Park at Isipatana, this unsurpassed wheel of the Dhamma has been set in motion by the Blessed One, which cannot be stopped by any ascetic or brahmin or deva or Māra or Brahmā or by anyone in the world.”
Thus at that moment, at that instant, at that second, the cry spread as far as the brahma world, and this ten-thousand-fold world system shook, quaked, and trembled, and an immeasurable great radiance surpassing the divine majesty of the devas appeared in the world.
Then the Blessed One uttered this inspired