Turning the Wheel

Last updated on: December 7, 2009 at 6:10 pm by Justin Whitaker

Turning the Wheel 2009-12-07T18:10:00-07:00 Justin Whitaker

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I’m grading student papers (Buddhist academic purgatory) now and one of the topics they could choose to write on was the Buddha’s first teaching, the Dhammacakkappavattana-sutta, the “Turning the Wheel of Dhamma Discourse.”

It’s a wonderful sutta to know, if not by heart, then at least conceptually. And there’s a handy trick for setting it to memory, using (Tom will love this) numbers. (numbers are in fact somewhat ubiquitous in early Buddhist teachings, as ways of setting the teachings to memory.)

Just remember: 1, 2, 4, 8. Easy enough, right?

This is the first teaching of the Buddha. It helps to know the basic bio of the Buddha, but this is a good start.

We are first presented with the 2 extremes that ought not be practiced: indulgence in sense-pleasures and self-mortification. And the Middle Way between these is what the Buddha has realized.

We’re taught the 4 Noble Truths and the 4th noble truth is,

the Noble 8-fold Path.

Everything else, we could say, is commentary and elaboration.

One of the great points of the sutta is the stress of moderation. The Buddha, both here and in his teachings as a whole, sought to be pragmatic or useful. He did not lay down a serious of absolutes with regard to truth or practice. Yet I find some Buddhists taking this practicality to an extreme of its own, it seems, toward relativism.

In the Buddha’s stress of practical, first-hand knowledge, the Buddha did not deny certain underlying truths about the way the world is. In fact he affirmed certain definite truths about existence and our experience. Among these, obviously, are the 4 Noble Truths mentioned above. Other truths discovered by the Buddha include the ti-lakhana, the 3-marks of existence, impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and not-self.

“Whether the Perfect Ones appear, or if the Perfect Ones do not appear, it still remains a firm condition, an immutable fact and fixed law: that all formations are impermanent, all formations are subject to suffering, that everything is without a self.” (A. III. 134, according to Nyanatiloka’s “Buddhist Dictionary” 2004, p.210)

Or (for you Pāli readers):

‘‘Uppādā vā, bhikkhave, tathāgatānaṃ anuppādā vā tathāgatānaṃ, ṭhitāva sā dhātu dhammaṭṭhitatā dhammaniyāmatā. Sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā. Taṃ tathāgato abhisambujjhati abhisameti. Abhisambujjhitvā abhisametvā ācikkhati deseti paññāpeti paṭṭhapeti vivarati vibhajati uttānīkaroti – ‘sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā’ti. Uppādā vā, bhikkhave, tathāgatānaṃ anuppādā vā tathāgatānaṃ ṭhitāva sā dhātu dhammaṭṭhitatā dhammaniyāmatā. Sabbe saṅkhārā dukkhā. Taṃ tathāgato abhisambujjhati abhisameti. Abhisambujjhitvā abhisametvā ācikkhati deseti paññāpeti paṭṭhapeti vivarati vibhajati uttānīkaroti – ‘sabbe saṅkhārā dukkhā’ti. Uppādā vā, bhikkhave, tathāgatānaṃ anuppādā vā tathāgatānaṃ ṭhitāva sā dhātu dhammaṭṭhitatā dhammaniyāmatā. Sabbe dhammā anattā. Taṃ tathāgato abhisambujjhati abhisameti. Abhisambujjhitvā abhisametvā ācikkhati deseti paññāpeti paṭṭhapeti vivarati vibhajati uttānīkaroti – ‘sabbe dhammā anattā’’’ti. Catutthaṃ. (which I found at A.III. 137 here)

Edited down to match the above, it looks like this:

‘‘Uppādā vā, bhikkhave, tathāgatānaṃ anuppādā vā tathāgatānaṃ, ṭhitāva sā dhātu dhammaṭṭhitatā dhammaniyāmatā: sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā, sabbe saṅkhārā dukkhā, sabbe dhammā anattā. (A.III. 137 here)

Getting back to the English, the superior language of Christianity, Democracy and the Übermensch… What the Buddha is saying here is that there are some real facts about reality. These are, dare I say, absolute facts. These are facts we can cling to, can hold onto for dear life in our stormy days and nights. Kind of like a raft we could cling to… until…

Well, in one sense it’s foolish for us (me and other very far from enlightened beings) to quibble so much about the very end of the path. The problem I see is that people want to jump to the end before doing the hard work in the middle.

For those at the end of the path, it might be fruitful to discuss how perhaps all things are actually permanent. This is what a group known as the Sarvāstivādins (Sanskrit for “All Exist-believers” or those who believe that things exist in all 3 times… long story). Or, one at the end of the path might debate whether the final view is a view at all, or is in fact no view at all. This is a distinction made in Mahāyāna between the Prāsangikas and Svātantrikas.

Okay, so maybe, at the very pinnacle of awakening, one experiences perfect viewlessness. Even if that is the case, it DOESNT mean that we’re to try to act viewless when we do in fact have views (most of them probably in the big category of micchā, or wrong.) A large part of Buddhist practice is about getting our views right. This doesn’t mean walking lockstep in some Buddhist marching line, but rather examining our own perceptions and understanding, which is both a meditative and conceptual process, to determine which of our views (of ourselves and the world) are skillful and which of them are not.

There is a certain developmental process of views that I think we go through (and I think Buddhism fits well within this).

First, we are a mess of views, all this way and that, contradicting and confusing. This is like a ball of yarn after a cat has had its way with it.
Next, we begin the hard work of ordering our views, determining what’s important and letting go of unimportant things. This is like pulling that mess of yarn back into a coherent ball.
Finally, we do the work of life, serving others, hopefully extinguishing clinging and craving in ourselves. This is like knitting a lovely sweater for the homeless guy or gal nearest you; in the end there is only your work or activity (the sweater), and no you, or view of you (ball of yarn).

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