The Four Noble Truths

The Artistry Behind Preaching the Four Noble Truths In the Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta as in his other sermons

Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta : The Sermon : The Dhammacakka : Transport to Nirvana

The word ‘cakka’ means a ‘wheel’ a wheel in just the same way as a cartwheel or a car wheel

The Fruits of Merit are Not a Miracle

Those people who are habitually pessimistic, angry, greedy, etc, always attract negative things to themselves

Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta: The Sermon : The Components of the Noble Eightfold Path

The Lord Buddha explained that the Noble Eightfold Path comprises: 1. Right View [Samma Ditthi] 2. Right Intention [Samma Sankappa]

The Ten Ways to accrue Merits can be summarized into Three Simple Ways

Generosity helps to dissolves our stinginess, or our unwillingness to help others

Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta: The Sermon : 3. The Noble Middle Way [majjhima patipada]

Anyone who wishes to escape from the Cycle of Existence [vadda samara], who has gone to all the trouble to re-nounce the life of a householder

Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta: The Sermon : 2. Self-Mortification [attakilamathanuyoga]

This is the practice of self-denial or self-mortification which is a non-Buddhist practice. It is one of many practices favoured by non-Buddhist ascetics such as Niganthas

Examples of the outcome of Merit:

1. A long life because one did not kill in the past 2. Freedom from illness because one did not treat animals badly or cause them distress

Commentorial Metaphors: Indulgence in sensual pleasures:

A pig content to wallow in dung: Indulging in sensual pleasures is rather like a pig, which spends all its life wallowing in the warm mud and dung of its pigsty because it thinks that this is the ultimate happiness.

Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta: The Sermon

Something which you will find at the beginning of every sutta are Ananda’s words ‘Euam me sutam…’: i.e. ‘Thus have I heard (directly from the Lord Buddha)