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The Buddha’s First Sermon (Annotated)
Introduction
This is the first and earliest of the surviving account of the teachings of The Buddha.
All Black text indent text is from on the Buddha.net version of this sutra. All the rest text is my annotation. And is just my ideas, doubt everything, be your own light:)
Setting in Motion the Wheel of Dharma
I see this as a contrast between the doctrines of nihilism and mysticism and The Buddha’s discovery of a path between the two doctrines.
One might say that he is not referring to Mysticism but specifically self-mortyfication. I don’t reallt see how that makes senseconsidering a)Its clearly not all
The Middle Path
This passage is often over looked, but it states the objectives of The Middle Path and they are not simply the attainment of Nirvana but also of vision, knowledge, calm, insight and enlightenment in itself. So, the first stage of his enlightenment can be seen as the recognition of the extremes between nihilism and mysticism. The next stage is to see that there is a path between the two extremes and that this path leads to vision, knowledge, calm, insight and enlightenment.
The Noble Eightfold Path is the moral, mental, philosophical and spiritual path that is composed of practicing the techniques and intuitions of right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.
That short passages above contain Buddhism, in a nutshell: Simply follow the middle path between nihilism and mysticism and get closer to vision, knowledge, calm, insight and enlightenment.
Thats it! But there is more... The Buddha then goes on to explain why The Middle Path is the right path, and the answer is that it leads from suffering towards vision, knowledge, calm, insight and enlightenment. In other words, he is getting down into not just the prescription but the mediicn and cause itself. He starts:
The First Noble Truth Stated
The last line “the five aggregates subject to grasping are suffering.” Captures the entire problem if suffering from the perspective of the Buddha’s new theory of mind as being made of five aggregates and how this illusionary ego will always be grasping for more. And that grasping is suffering. He goes on to show this in the Second Noble Truth:
The Second Noble Truth Stated
The more we want the more we want. The more we need newness the more newness we need. Greed makes more greed. As long as there is an ego that craves the cravings will feedback into the ego and the world and make more and more suffering. This is the ultimate causes of suffering. It creates a cycle that will keep producing more ego and more suffering.
The Third Noble Truth Stated
The Fourth Noble Truth Stated
Those are the four noble truths, the above is pretty much all of Buddhism in a single page. But such is their important we are told them again, not just to clarify, but to show method of how they should be approached.
The First Noble Truth Realised
The Second Noble Truth Eradicated
The Third Noble Truth Realised
The Fourth Noble Truth Practiced
Finally The Buddha brings this all together and back to the start. This passage can be read many ways:
We saw above how the Buddha showed middle path away from the mystical life. I don’t think it is too preposterous to assume that when he speaks in the above passage about “recluses” and religious teachers and mythical beings he is making the same statement as with his first statement about the middle path away from self-mortification. He saw the path between nihilism and mysticism and then he realised it with certainty that The Four Noble Truths confirm his insight that there is no rebirth.
Finally, the Suttra Ends:
This is the first and earliest of the surviving account of the teachings of The Buddha.
All Black text indent text is from on the Buddha.net version of this sutra. All the rest text is my annotation. And is just my ideas, doubt everything, be your own light:)
Setting in Motion the Wheel of Dharma
Thus have I heard:
On one occasion the Blessed One was living in the Deer Park at Isipatana (the Resort of Seers) near Varanasi (Benares). Then he addressed the group of five monks (Bhikkhus):
'Monks, these two extremes ought not to be practiced by one who has gone forth from the household life. (What are the two?) There is addiction to indulgence of sense-pleasures, which is low, coarse, the way of ordinary people, unworthy, and unprofitable; and there is addiction to self-mortification, which is painful, unworthy and unprofitable.
I see this as a contrast between the doctrines of nihilism and mysticism and The Buddha’s discovery of a path between the two doctrines.
One might say that he is not referring to Mysticism but specifically self-mortyfication. I don’t reallt see how that makes senseconsidering a)Its clearly not all
The Middle Path
Avoiding both these extremes, the Buddha has realized the Middle Path; it gives vision, gives knowledge, and leads to calm, to insight, to enlightenment and to Nibbana.
This passage is often over looked, but it states the objectives of The Middle Path and they are not simply the attainment of Nirvana but also of vision, knowledge, calm, insight and enlightenment in itself. So, the first stage of his enlightenment can be seen as the recognition of the extremes between nihilism and mysticism. The next stage is to see that there is a path between the two extremes and that this path leads to vision, knowledge, calm, insight and enlightenment.
And what is that Middle Path realized by the Buddha….? It is the Noble Eightfold path, and nothing else, namely: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. This is the Middle Path realized by the Tathagata which gives vision, which gives knowledge, and leads to calm, to insight, to enlightenment, and to Nibbana.
The Noble Eightfold Path is the moral, mental, philosophical and spiritual path that is composed of practicing the techniques and intuitions of right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.
That short passages above contain Buddhism, in a nutshell: Simply follow the middle path between nihilism and mysticism and get closer to vision, knowledge, calm, insight and enlightenment.
Thats it! But there is more... The Buddha then goes on to explain why The Middle Path is the right path, and the answer is that it leads from suffering towards vision, knowledge, calm, insight and enlightenment. In other words, he is getting down into not just the prescription but the mediicn and cause itself. He starts:
The First Noble Truth Stated
It is easy to equate Suffering directly with suffering in the senses we traditionally think. But in the above passage we can also see how suffering is more complex. Its not just the pain and aging that is suffering but its inevitable failure to receive ones desires and the lack of the pleasant that is suffering.The Noble Truth of Suffering, monks, is this: Birth is suffering, ageing is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, association with the unpleasant is suffering, dissociation from the pleasant is suffering, not to receive what one desires is suffering - in brief the five aggregates subject to grasping are suffering.
The last line “the five aggregates subject to grasping are suffering.” Captures the entire problem if suffering from the perspective of the Buddha’s new theory of mind as being made of five aggregates and how this illusionary ego will always be grasping for more. And that grasping is suffering. He goes on to show this in the Second Noble Truth:
The Second Noble Truth Stated
The Noble Truth of the Origin (cause) of Suffering is this: It is this craving (thirst) which produces re-becoming (rebirth) accompanied by passionate greed, and finding fresh delight now here, and now there, namely craving for sense pleasure, craving for existence and craving for non-existence (self-annihilation).
The more we want the more we want. The more we need newness the more newness we need. Greed makes more greed. As long as there is an ego that craves the cravings will feedback into the ego and the world and make more and more suffering. This is the ultimate causes of suffering. It creates a cycle that will keep producing more ego and more suffering.
The Third Noble Truth Stated
The Second Noble truth gave us the cause of the problem. The Third Noble Truth (above) tells us, simply and obviously, completely detach oneself from the cause of craving, that is to not let the ego, that illusion of the five aggregates, have any chance to grasp. I like to think that up until here we are like, OK, that makes sense, but now what? How can we end the cycle of negativity? The answer was already in terms of the Middle Path, ie, The Noble Eightfold Path, which is, the Fourth Noble Truth.The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering is this: It is the complete cessation of that very craving, giving it up, relinquishing it, liberating oneself from it, and detaching oneself from it.
The Fourth Noble Truth Stated
The Noble Truth of the Path Leading to the Cessation of Suffering is this: It is the Noble Eightfold Path, and nothing else, namely: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.
Those are the four noble truths, the above is pretty much all of Buddhism in a single page. But such is their important we are told them again, not just to clarify, but to show method of how they should be approached.
The First Noble Truth Realised
Here he states the truth, as before, but then he goes on to say how it must be realised and that it has been realised. In other words he is saying don’t just accept the truth because it is his “light” (I take this to mean Dharma) but rather realise it yourself. And how to realise it? He answers this clearly, realise it with vision, knowledge , wisdom, science under your own light.. So he saw the truth and then he realised it and then he realised it was “fully realised” which I think means he couldn’t doubt it.
"This is the Noble Truth of Suffering": such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the science, the light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. "This suffering, as a noble truth, should be fully realized": such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the science, the light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. "This suffering, as a noble truth has been fully realized": such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the science, the light that arose in me concerning things not heard before.
The Second Noble Truth Eradicated
Here The Second Noble Truth is stated but the method is different, it doesn’t use “realisation” but the idea of knowing one must eradicate the cause. The Origin itself, the second Noble truth, the fact that suffering has a cause, must be eradicated. When he says erridcated he means literally remove it from the world. Suffering has an inevitable cause, this cannot be solved, it can only be eradicated.
"This is the Noble Truth of the Origin (cause) of Suffering": such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the science, the light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. "This Origin of Suffering as a noble truth should be eradicated": such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the science, the light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. "This Origin of suffering as a noble truth has been eradicated": such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the science, the light that arose in me concerning things not heard before.
The Third Noble Truth Realised
"This is the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering": such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the science, the light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. "This Cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, should be realized": such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the science, the light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. "This Cessation of suffering, as a noble truth has been realized": such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the science, the light that arose in me concerning things not heard before.
The Fourth Noble Truth Practiced
So what is being said here, is that these realisations and eradications are not enough. They must be developed and integrated into one singular path of practice, The Noble Eightfold Path developed and illuminated by vision, knowledge, wisdom and science."This is the Noble Truth of the Path leading to the cessation of suffering": such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the science, the light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. "This Path leading to the cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, should be developed": such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the science, the light that arose in me concerning things not heard before. "This Path leading to the cessation of suffering, as a noble truth has been developed": such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the science, the light that arose in me concerning things not heard before.
Finally The Buddha brings this all together and back to the start. This passage can be read many ways:
As long as my knowledge of seeing things as they really are, was not quite clear in these three aspects, in these twelve ways, concerning the Four Noble Truths, I did not claim to have realized the matchless, supreme Enlightenment, in this world with its gods, with its Maras and Brahmas, in this generation with its recluses and brahmanas, with its Devas and humans. But when my knowledge of seeing things as they really are was quite clear in these three aspects, in these twelve ways, concerning the Four Noble Truths, then I claimed to have realized the matchless, supreme Enlightenment in this world with its gods, with its Maras and Brahmas, in this generation with its recluses and brahmanas, with its Devas and humans. And a vision of insight arose in me thus: "Unshakable is the deliverance of my heart. This is the last birth. Now there is no more re-becoming (rebirth)."
We saw above how the Buddha showed middle path away from the mystical life. I don’t think it is too preposterous to assume that when he speaks in the above passage about “recluses” and religious teachers and mythical beings he is making the same statement as with his first statement about the middle path away from self-mortification. He saw the path between nihilism and mysticism and then he realised it with certainty that The Four Noble Truths confirm his insight that there is no rebirth.
Finally, the Suttra Ends:
This the Blessed One said. The group of five monks was glad, and they rejoiced at the words of the Blessed One.
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Comments
&um the awakened one yes, this is the first awakenedist teaching, at least to the public. sid's first inlightened experience was private, not public though i personally do not think publicprivate experience is actually real in the long sense, if noses go farther back than i imagine, back beyond all time and all space of spaces. ha ha oh anyways ok yeah, good, interesting, tell me why again that you identify sensual pleasure and self-mortification with nihilism and mysticism whatever that stands for? anyways good anyways
Thanks for the comments and encouragement. I agree, practice is the hardest part of Buddhism.
I am very open to debate on the self-mortification equalling mysticism idea. My reasons for thinking this, from within the Suttra itself, are that:
1: In the "this is my last rebirth" passage he alludes to mystical "roles" ie recluses and brahmanas, who would have practised self-mortification. When seen in this way the start of the suttra closes with the end.
2:"Self-mortification" has always struck me as a small part of the extreams. We can see clearly how the nihilistic and headonistic paths fit within the dharnic world (or not within!). But if we take self-mortification to mean merely "taking oneself close to death" it doesn't seem to balance.
3: Self-mortification is a technique rather than a doctrine or way of life. I am not convinced that in fact the doctrine had been replaced by the technique and in the original sense the Buddha was refering to the doctrine. That is the Mystical world view of which self-mortification is just one part.
As you can see, i am not yet convinced of my reading:)
Thanks
mat
I do not see nihilism & mysticism. Then Buddha advised the extremes are sensuality & self-mortification.
There is no evidence the five aggregates are novel to the Buddha. If the listeners already did not know what the five aggregates were, the Buddha would have probably listed them, which he did not.
Mind is not made of the five aggregates. One aggregate is physical and four aggregates are mental.
The ego does not create craving. It is the contrary. Craving creates ego. For example, a small child is hungry and craving arises. Then the child states: "I am hungry, I want food".
The five aggregates are not really an illusion. It is ego that is the real illusion. The illusion is regarding the five aggregates as permanent & "I" and "mine".
Kind regards
>>>I do not see nihilism & mysticism. Then Buddha advised the extremes are sensuality & self-mortification.
Bear in mind that this realisation comes at the end of a period of many years of "soul searching" in the tradition of the time. It has always struck me as a bit strange that the middle path is an avoidance of one particular physical technique. is that it? Don't flog yourself and starve your self? Hmmm.. that doenst convince me:)
Further, When you consider that the self-mortification is the pratcie of the Mystics he mentions later in the suttra, and when he specifically says in a number of places that he teaches nothing mystical, I am much more inclided to believe my interpretation.
I simply think in translation its been a bit distorted from the ways of Mysticism to a particular l, trivial, practice of the Mystics of the time.
Do you know anywhere else where he says why self-mortification, specifically, is the "bad boy"?
>>>There is no evidence the five aggregates are novel to the Buddha.
I really don't know about what came before him in this sense. I do know that as someone who studied and taught philosophy of mind when I first understood these it was very much a "wow" moment. I am inclined to believe they are original to the Buddha and this was a revolution in cognitive science..
>>>If the listeners already did not know what the five aggregates were, the Buddha would have probably listed them, which he did not.
I think its hard to make suppositions about what he may have said or intended with such a distant ancestor of his original teachings.
>>Mind is not made of the five aggregates. One aggregate is physical and four aggregates are mental.
I belive that mind is the flow of the expeince of these five aggrigates, that is all it is, to me:) Incidentally, i dont really take "physcial" in at the level of abstraction we commonly use with the skhanddas. Form and structure is what I believe is more closely fitting.
>>The ego does not create craving. It is the contrary. Craving creates ego. For example, a small child is hungry and craving arises. Then the child states: "I am hungry, I want food".
I am not sure on that. As I see it it is the various illusions and delusions of ego and persistence that create the various cravings. Its a vast and complex web of Karmic interactions of which the systemiastion of the 12 Niddanyas is just one possible structure.
>>>The five aggregates are not really an illusion. It is ego that is an illusion.
yes, have I said otehrwise?
>>>Thus, negating your inaccuracies above, you have not added anything to the First Sermon.
Can you correct my innacuracies please, rather than just highlight them as you see them. Its easy to shout and run, as it seems is common practice:)
This is The New Buddhist forum, about making Buddhism accessible, It seems many here would rather have the Dhamara hidden away in the closed fists of their scared lineages and certain understandings.
Why cant we talk openly and critically about dhrama? Try to pick it to bits so that what remains we can be so sure of?
This is what I belive the Buddha wanted and it is what I belive is necessary if we are to move Buddhism out of the mystical and innacessable and into the Great Benefit of the eightfold path.
Mat
As said:)
Naturally, how you see can differ from how a Buddha sees.
Your point above in irrelevent and inaccurate. Buddhism here is accessible but your version is your version.
I have been open in respect to your post. From the viewpoint of spiritual insight, I disagree with what you said. The Buddha also disagreed with what you said.
Fundamentally, ego arises from craving and craving arises from ignorance.
For example, if ignorance thinks sensuality will bring happiness, craving will arise. If ignorance thinks sensuality will not bring happiness, then craving will not arise. This has nothing do with ego.
The actor happens after the action. From love comes the 'lover', from hate comes the 'hater'.
I disagree:) But let us agree to disagree on this as neither can know what he really thought - I see that path of Buddhism for each of us is simply to rediscover what the buddha discovered, not have it fed to us as dogma and certain doctrine:)
Salome!:)
Mat
However, your commentary or annotation is confusion & delusion.
I would say certainly, you need to discover what the Buddha was teaching about.
However, for some of "us", we have. The First Sermon is fine. It needs no amendments.
It is reliable but what you have said is inaccurate according to insight & reality.
I do wish you would loose your attempst at meanness DD:) They are futile.
I may be a fool. You certainly may think that and I wont quibble with you:)
Where I take issue is with the idea that you think I think I have the answers and my way is right. Thats not what I am saying or have been saying, so please don't misrepresent me, in fact, forget about me and you, this isn't an ego issue. Its about Dharma.
I am not saying I have any great wisdom on Dharma, I am saying I belive Dharma is simple,, nonmysterious, deep, special and enlightenment mundane and that all of this mystical sytuff that butters so many muffins in not just Buddhists is the same old same old deperatioons of the ego begging and weeping for more than this.
From cave men to Scientologists and all new ages and all between, its the same same same motivation that is clear for us all to see.
The big existential yawn that builds Great pyramids and guns down shopping malls.
Its all the same, and yet it seems you wont even entertain this notion. You shoot me down with sophestires and cheeky grins at every chance, but really, what are you doing?
Is it not more Buddhist to ask about these doubts?
I dont see why you speak to me like i am some petulant schoolboy when fool or not I am as dedicated to the path as I imagine you are. Be nice:)
Doubt is as much a hindrance when it is underexercised as when overexercised.
With peace,
Mat