Summary | Setting in Motion the Dharma Wheel

We have talked about numerous things from the turning of the Dharma Wheel, to engaging the path, to attaining arhatship through cessation. So far we have only given a brief summary of the Four Noble Truths. Nevertheless, by the time I finished talking about the three turnings you should have all become aryas like the five monks. (Laughter) But in case there are some of you who have not attained enlightenment, and if today’s talk sounded pretty enticing, please come back next Sunday, and we will talk in more detail about the Four Noble Truths. I hope to describe the Fou0r Noble Truths as a group and reveal their different levels, layer after layer, of their subtle implications. If I say the levels get deeper and deeper, I might scare you off, so I will just say I will just try to make them clearer and clearer.

Now we have some time for a few questions. Questioner: How can we relieve day-to-day suffering Shifu: We experience day-to-day life as a burden of body and mind that may seem to come from the environment, but it mainly originates in our own body and mind. This burden is the reality of impermanence. Because of this particular burden that we feel and experience, we take suffering to be inherent in our lives. Happiness is temporary relief from this burden, after which the sense of impermanence and through it, suffering, reappears.

One can, however, experience happiness that is less subject to impermanence. The particular happiness the Buddha discusses is the joy of Dharma. The more we practice the Dharma, the more happiness we Will have. If we really engage in the Dharma to the point of full liberation, we will be extremely happy, even elated.

Questioner: In daily life, we often encounter the suffering of the sick, such as a terminally ill relative who wants to be relieved of their suffering. What is the correct view for a Buddhist who truly grasps the essence of the Four Noble Truths? What can relieve his fellow being of such suffering, whatever the cause?

Shifu: One engages the Four Noble Truths by oneself; you understand suffering and the way out of suffering, as it relates to you. If a sick person is still conscious and is receptive, there may be an opportunity to help that person practice. We cannot implant the Four Noble Truths in another person, but we can at least help them understand some of the origins of suffering, and begin practicing the Four Noble Truths. But if that person is not receptive or able to comprehend, then the Four Noble Truths will not help. we can relieve their pain and so on, that is not the end of existential suffering or liberation from it. Medication and other methods of relief are not What we mean by cessation. only by engaging in practice can someone be freed from the suffering described in the Four Noble Truths.

When a friend was on the edge of death I tried to convey some the teachings, but this person was quite agitated, in agony and pain, and was not receptive. Since that would not work, I simply sat next to my friend and started to quietly recite the Buddha’s name. This worked to a certain extent because my Presence at his bedside and the stability of my mind perhaps influenced him directly, in a non-verbal way so that he was able gradually to calm down.

If reciting the Buddha’s name is not effective, you can try meditating next to that person. This may sound far-fetched but it can be effective. The prerequisite is that you are really engaging in mediation, so that with a very stable, calm mind, your mind and the other person’s can come to a mutual response. That person may directly calm down as a result. But if your mind is scattered or unduly influenced by the environment or lots of wandering thoughts, this will probably not work.

Thank you for your questions. So I encourage you to come back next Sunday… or you will not be liberated!(Laughter and applause) Kondanna, Asaji, Wappa, Mahanama, and Bhaddiya (names in Pali), the five early followers of the Buddha during his ascetic practice, which was characterized by extreme austerity and belief in the soul (atman). Subsequently recorded as The Sutra Setting in Motion the Dharma Wheel. (Pali: Dhammacakka-pattavana Sutta)

The eightfold noble path consists of the practices of: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right meditation.
See The way to Buddhahood, Ven. Yin-shun, Wisdom Publications, l998, PP. 174-178

The three turnings and twelve processes are summarized below: First noble truth: This is the noble truth of suffering The truth of suffering must be understood The truth of suffering has been understood. Second noble truth: This is the noble truth of the cause of suffering The cause of suffering must be abandoned The cause of suffering has been abandoned. Third noble truth: This is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering The cessation of suffering must be experienced The cessation of suffering has been experienced. Fourth noble truth: This is the noble truth of the path out of suffering The path out of suffering must be practiced The path out of suffering has been realized.

The order of enlightenment of the monks (according to The Life of the Buddha by Edward Thomas, p. 88) suggests there were three teachings, or turnings of the Dharma Wheel before all five monks became awakened. First Kondanna alone, then Vappa and Bhaddiya, and then Mahanama and Asaji.

The tripitaka, the ‘three baskets’ of the Buddhist canon, consists of the vinaya (rules of discipline for monastics), the sutras (the discourses of the Buddha), and the abhidharma (Philosophical and psychological analysis).

The twelve links (nidanas) of conditioned arising are the basic causal forces in samsara, the cycle of birth and death. They are called ‘links’ because they sequentially form the causal chain of sentient existence. The links are: (1) fundamental ignorance, (2) action, (3) consciousness, (4) name-and-form, (5) the six sense faculties, (6) contact, (7) sensation, (8) desire, (9) grasping, (10) coming into existence, (11) birth, and (12) old age and death. ‘Conditioned arising’ refers to the fact that all phenomena are the result of the interplay between countless factors, interrelating in a nexus of cause and effect. Also referred to as the twelve links of dependent origination.

The fourth talk in this series includes a discussion of the contemplation of the twelve links.

Theravada: early Buddhism espousing the way of the arhat. Mahayana: later Buddhism espousing the way of the bodhisattva. Vajrayana: branch of Mahayana espousing esoteric cultivation. Sudden and gradual schools: two approaches to enlightenment within Chinese Chan Buddhism, often associated with Linji and Caodong schools (Zen: Rinzail and Soto).

The five methods of stilling the mind: (1) mindfulness of breath, (2) contemplating the impurity of the body, (3) mindful recollection of the buddhas/bodhisattvas, (4) meditation on the four limitless mentalities (loving-kindness, compass ion, joy, equanimity), and (5) contemplating causes and conditions.

The four foundations of mindfulness, described in the Sattipattbana-sutta (pali) are: (1) mindfulness of breath, (2) mindfulness of sensation/feeling, (3) mindfulness of mind, and (4) mindfulness of mental objects (dharmas).

The sixteen aspects or attributes of the Four Noble Truths are: first noble truth-impermanence, suffering, emptiness, selflessness, second noble truth-cause, origin, condition, completion; third noble truth-cessation, peace, bliss, emergence (renunciation); fourth noble truth-true path, knowing, attaining, elimiation (of delusion). For a more detailed discussion of the sixteen aspects, see The Four Noble Truths, Ven. Lobsang Gyatso, Snow Lion Publications, 1994.

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