Sutra on the Turning of the Wheel of Dharma (Southern Tradition)

Translation by Qiu Paibo, Republic of China

Thus have I heard. At one time, the Blessed One was staying in the Deer Park, at Isipatana, near Varanasi. There, the Blessed One addressed the group of five harmonious monks, saying:

"Monks, these two extremes are to be avoided by one who has renounced worldly life. What are the two? One is devotion to sense-pleasures—low, vulgar, worldly, and unbeneficial. The other is devotion to self-mortification—painful, base, and also unbeneficial.

"Monks, the Tathagata, the Fully Enlightened One, has discovered the Middle Way, avoiding both these extremes. This Middle Way gives clear vision, generates understanding, and leads to peace, direct knowledge, full enlightenment, and nirvana.

"Monks, what is this Middle Way discovered by the Tathagata, the Fully Enlightened One, that gives clear vision, generates understanding, and leads to peace, direct knowledge, full enlightenment, and nirvana? It is the Noble Eightfold Path: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. Monks, this is the Middle Way discovered by the Tathagata, the Fully Enlightened One, that gives clear vision, generates understanding, and leads to peace, direct knowledge, full enlightenment, and nirvana.

"Monks, this is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; being with what we dislike is suffering, separation from what we love is suffering; the five aggregates of clinging are suffering.

"Monks, this is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: it is craving, which leads to continued rebirth, bound up with desire and attachment, finding delight in every sensual experience. This craving is desire for sense-pleasures, craving for existence, and craving for non-existence.

"Monks, this is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: it is the complete fading away and cessation of that very craving—its abandoning, relinquishment, release, and non-attachment.

"Monks, this is the noble truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering: it is the Noble Eightfold Path: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration."