ཆས་ཀྱ་འཁར་ལའ་མད intro: 84000's introduction
The Sūtra of the Wheel of Dharma intro
- Language
- English
84000's introduction
intro.1
The Sūtra of the Wheel of Dharma contains the Buddha’s teaching to his five former spiritual companions on the four truths that he had discovered as part of his awakening: (1) suffering, (2) the origin of suffering, (3) the cessation of suffering, and (4) the path leading to the cessation of suffering. According to all the Buddhist traditions, this is the first teaching the Buddha gave to explain his awakened insight to others.
intro.2
The Sūtra of the Wheel of Dharma contains one of the most well-known teachings of Buddhism: the four truths of the noble ones. These four truths are: (1) the truth of suffering, (2) the truth of the origin of suffering, (3) the truth of the cessation of suffering, and (4) the truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering. According to traditional accounts, this is the first teaching taught by the Buddha following his attainment of awakening. The Buddha is said to have journeyed from the seat of awakening in Bodhgaya to the Deer Park outside Varanasi, where he delivered this teaching to his five former spiritual companions. Since this was the first time the Buddha turned the wheel of Dharma, this discourse also became known as The Sūtra of the Wheel of Dharma, or, more commonly, The Sūtra of the Turning of the Wheel of Dharma.
intro.3
Although very brief, this classical presentation of the four truths has remained central to the Buddhist tradition since its very early days. As such, this teaching is included in all the major canons of Buddhism, so that versions in Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan are found.¹ As far as translations into Tibetan are concerned, we find the classical presentation of the four truths embedded in no fewer than seven individual works in the Kangyur. Of these, the following four contain accounts of this first teaching in passages that are clearly closely related, being almost verbatim identical:²
intro.4
• The Chapter on Schism in the Sangha (Saṅghabhedavastu). This very long text forms the 17th chapter of the Mūlasarvāstivādin vinaya scripture Chapters on Monastic Discipline (Vinayavastu, Toh 1), and includes, interspersed with all sorts of other material, passages recounting the life and deeds of the Buddha.³
intro.5
• Foundations of the Minor Monastic Discipline (Vinayakṣudrakavastu, Toh 6). Another Mūlasarvāstivādin vinaya scripture that includes episodes from the life and deeds of the Buddha as well as other material amplifying the history and rules of the monastic community.⁴
intro.6
• The Sūtra on Going Forth (Abhiniṣkramaṇasūtra, Toh 301). In this text all the passages in The Chapter on Schism in the Sangha recounting the Buddha’s life have been extracted verbatim to form a continuous narrative, including the passage on this teaching.⁵
intro.7
• The Sūtra of the Wheel of Dharma (Dharmacakrasūtra, Toh 337). This text (translated here) is also a verbatim extract from the account of the teaching as found in Toh 1, but this time only of this particular episode. However, it does add a brief introduction and conclusion to give to the account the form of an independent sūtra.
intro.8
In addition, the Kangyur also contains a translation of the Dhammachakkappavattanasutta from the Pali canon:
intro.9
• The Sūtra of the Turning of the Wheel of Dharma (Dharmacakrapravartanasūtra, Toh 31). This is one of only fourteen texts in the Kangyur that were translated into Tibetan from the Pali. It therefore mirrors closely the Dhammachakkappavattanasutta of the Saṃyuttanikāya, although some differences exist.⁶
intro.10
Another version of this episode in the Kangyur is embedded in one of the long collections of avadāna:
intro.11
• The Hundred Deeds (Karmaśataka, Toh 340). This anthology of stories compiled to illustrate the cause and effect of karmic action from one life to another contains—among several other kinds of narrative—accounts of many of the best known episodes from the life of the Buddha, and many of these are closely related and similarly worded parallels to the same episodes as told in the texts of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. The account of the first turning of the wheel of Dharma is followed by an account of the Buddha's relationship to the five first monks in their previous lives in the distant past, told to explain the karmic reasons underlying the present episode.⁷
intro.12
Lastly, the teaching is also found as part of the Lalitavistarasūtra:
intro.13
• The Play in Full (Lalitavistara, Toh 95). In this lengthy account of the Buddha’s deeds the teaching on the four truths has many similarities with the other texts, yet clearly belongs to another manuscript tradition as there are a number of significant differences as well. Here the teaching is found in the penultimate chapter (ch. 26), entitled “Turning the Wheel of Dharma.”⁸
intro.14
In general, the plethora of versions that exist of this teaching in Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan are very similar, yet all of them contain a number of idiosyncrasies—some minor, others significant—that set them apart from the rest. These differences have been studied in great detail over the last two centuries and a rich body of scholarship on the philological and theoretical aspects of this teaching has emerged.⁹ As a result, we now know that the teaching on the four truths as we today find it included in the various canons is the product of several editorial revisions over the centuries. The “original” version of this teaching consequently remains elusive, as does the role played by this teaching in the earliest days of the Buddhist tradition.¹⁰
intro.15
As these scriptures became the focus of scholarly attention, a number of translations both from the Pali¹¹ and Sanskrit¹² have been produced. The translation presented here has been made on the basis of the Tibetan translation of The Sūtra of the Wheel of Dharma (Toh 337). As mentioned above, this text is with minor exceptions identical to the corresponding sections in Toh 1, Toh 6, and Toh 331. Toh 337 contains no mention of the translators, but the translator of Toh 1 is listed as the Tibetan Kawa Paltseg (ka ba dpal brtsegs), who was a prolific translator during the early period of Tibetan translations, which took place at the beginning of the ninth century. Unfortunately, the Sanskrit version that formed the basis for Kawa Paltseg’s translation of Toh 1 is no longer extant. The Sanskrit manuscript of the Saṅghabhedavastu that is available to us today (Gnoli 1977) has enough differences from the Tibetan translation for us to conclude that it was not the text that was used to produce the Tibetan translation. Nevertheless, it does represent an important witness of the Sanskrit, and our translation benefitted greatly from comparing it with the Tibetan. Our main sources were the Degé prints of Toh 1, Toh 301, and Toh 337, taking into account the variants noted in the Pedurma comparative edition of each.