Where the discourse sits in the Canon
The discourse belongs to the Saṃyutta Nikāya of the Theravāda Pāli Canon: chapter 56, the Linked Discourses on the Truths, in the section «Rolling Forth the Wheel of Dhamma», number 56.11. In Ven. Thích Minh Châu's translation it is headed «Như Lai Thuyết (1)», «Spoken by the Tathāgata (1)». The Pāli name Dhammacakkappavattana means setting the wheel of the Dhamma rolling.
The first chapter of the Great Chapter (Mahāvagga) of the Vinaya tells the same event: after his awakening at Uruvelā, the Buddha thinks of the five who had attended him while he was striving, and goes to the Deer Park at Isipatana to teach them first. This is why the discourse is regarded as the Buddha's first.
Structure: from the two extremes to the three turnings and twelve aspects
The translation has 20 numbered paragraphs. It opens with the Buddha telling the five monks of two extremes that one who has gone forth should not follow: indulgence in sensual pleasures, and self-mortification; neither is noble, neither leads to the goal. Avoiding both is the Middle Way the Tathāgata awakened to, leading to peace, direct knowledge, awakening and Nibbāna: the Noble Eightfold Path, from right view to right concentration.
Then come the Four Noble Truths. Suffering: birth, ageing, sickness and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and distress, meeting the disliked, parting from the loved, not getting what one wants; in short, the five aggregates of clinging are suffering. Its origin: craving that leads to renewed existence – for sensual pleasures, for existence, for non-existence. Its cessation: the fading away and ending of that craving, giving it up, release. The way to its cessation: the Noble Eightfold Path.
What sets the discourse apart is the three turnings and twelve aspects. For each truth the Buddha describes three layers of understanding that arose in him: this is the noble truth; what is to be done with it – suffering is to be fully understood, its origin abandoned, its cessation realised, the path developed; and that this has been done. Four truths times three make twelve. He says that only when this knowledge and vision was purified did he claim to have awakened to the supreme perfect awakening, and he knew that his liberation of mind was unshakable.
While listening, Venerable Koṇḍañña gains the pure eye of the Dhamma, seeing that whatever has the nature to arise has the nature to cease. The earth devas proclaim aloud that the wheel of the Dhamma has been set rolling, the cry rises up to the Brahmā world and ten thousand world-systems shake. The Buddha exclaims that Koṇḍañña has understood; from then on he is called Aññā Koṇḍañña, «Koṇḍañña who understood».
Meaning: the Middle Way and four tasks
The Middle Way in this discourse is not a half-hearted compromise but a concrete path of eight factors, from view, intention, speech, action and livelihood to effort, mindfulness and concentration. The Four Noble Truths are also four tasks, not just four facts to know: fully understand suffering, abandon craving, realise the ending of suffering, develop the path. The three turnings show the difference between knowing a truth, knowing what is to be done, and knowing that it has been done.
Reading and chanting it in the app
On the text's page you can read the Vietnamese, the English, or both side by side. The page shows about 1,300 words, some 5 minutes of silent reading. The «…» marks stand for repeated sentences written in short, mostly in the three turnings; when chanting aloud, slow down there. Press «Chant» for the text to scroll and a wooden fish to keep the beat. The library does not yet have the Pāli original to chant along with, a recording or a download.
Parallels in the library
«Phật Thuyết Chuyển Pháp Luân Kinh» in the Chinese canon (Linh Sơn Vietnamese translation) has its own setting: the Buddha sits under a tree in the Deer Park with a thousand monks, a Dharma wheel appears and turns before him, and he tells it to stop; he then teaches the two side-paths, the path in the middle and the four truths in three turnings. At the end the thousand monks become arahants.
«Phật Thuyết Tam Chuyển Pháp Luân Kinh» and sūtra 379 of the Saṃyukta Āgama go straight to the four noble truths with their three turnings and twelve aspects, without the two extremes; the Buddha twice asks Kauṇḍinya whether he has understood the Dharma.
