<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation:  Sutta Interpretations > Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta > Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta Interpretation – Uddesa, Niddesa, Paṭiniddesa

January 16, 2016; revised February 20, 2020

Introduction

Please download and print the pdf of the sutta (or open in another window) for reference. You may need to click the link on the new page again:

Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta Text

1. I have divided the sutta to 13 sections, and I will go through some parts in this essay. There are more posts on other section of the sutta. As explained in the “Sutta Interpretation – Uddesa, Niddesa, Paṭiniddesa” post, a sutta gives only a short summary of the original desanā. It needs detailed explainations.

▪It may be helpful to listen to the chanting of the sutta by the venerable Thero, as it gives the correct pronunciations, and also how to chant it without “too much dragging” as done commonly (which will diminish its effects).

▪I could not get my normal audio player to work, so the new player below just has a play button. There is no volume control, so you need to adjust volume on your end.

WebLink: Listen to the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

2. Sutta chanting can be much more effective if one recites it the right way AND also understand the meaning at least to some extent.

▪It is possible that even a single sutta can provide Dhamma knowledge that one needs to attain magga phala. However, it must be analyzed correctly in detail (paṭineddesa version); see, “Sutta Interpretation – Uddesa, Niddesa, Paṭiniddesa.” Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta is especially important since it lays out the “blueprint” of Buddha Dhamma.

The Framework of Buddha Dhamma

3. Of course, this was the first sutta delivered by the Buddha, to the five ascetics Koṇḍañña, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahānāma, and Assaji. Thus, it has the framework or the foundation of Buddha Dhamma.

▪The name of the sutta comes from the combination of three terms: Dhamma, Cakka, and Pavattana. Dhamma here means the Buddha Dhamma or the true nature of existence. Cakka means “seeing” or “to see”. Pavattana means to “set in motion” AND to “maintain”.

▪Therefore, the sutta describes the way to “see” the true nature of existence with wisdom, not with the physical eye. Only a Buddha can discover the true nature, but an average human can comprehend it, once explained.

▪As in many Pāli terms, the word “dhammacakkappavattana” comes from the combination of three above words, with an additional “p” just before pavattana. As we discussed before, pañcakkhandha is the combination of pañca with khandha with an additional “k” in tying up the two words.

▪Sometimes the sutta is also called the Dhamma Cakka Pavattana Sutta.

Opening the “Dhamma Eye” to the World

4. Let us address a common mistranslation of the name of the sutta. The most common is “Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion”. Here cakka (pronounced “chakka”), is translated as “wheel”. But the name of the sutta becomes quite apparent when one looks at section 9.

▪In section 9 (see the text), dhammacakkhun udapādi means “eye to see the Dhamma was born” for the ascetic Kondanna (āyasmato Koṇḍaññassa). There is no way to associate a “wheel” here.

▪Note that the main summary of the sutta ends with section 8. The following sections provide the following information. One is that the ascetic Koṇḍañña attained the Sotāpanna stage. The second is a description of various types of devā and brahmā who attended the delivery of the sutta; see #6 below. A large number of them attained various stages of Nibbāna.

Four Stages of Nibbāna

5. This sutta lays out the basic structure of Buddha Dhamma. Then it explains how one attains release from this world of 31 realms via successively attaining four stages of Nibbāna. That happens by getting through “three rounds” of bondages (tiparivaṭṭa) to this world: “ti” means “three”, “vatta” means “vataya” in Sinhala or “circle” in English.

▪In section 8, it says, “..imesu catūsu ariyasaccesu evaṁ tiparivaṭṭaṁ dvādasākāraṁ yathābhutaṁ ñāṇadassanaṁ...” Here “catusu” means “four” and “ariyasaccesu” of course, means the “Noble Truths.” By comprehending the Four Noble Truths, one can overcome the three rounds of bondage and fulfill the 12 factors (“dvādasākāraṁ.”) Those 12 factors will be discussed in “Tiparivaṭṭaya and Twelve Types of Ñāṇa (Knowledge).”

Three “Rounds” or “circular Walls” to Overcome

6. “Tiparivaṭṭa” means the three rounds of bondage. The first is to be released from the apāyā (four lowest realms), via the Sotāpanna stage, by removing the wrong views about existence in the 31 realms.

▪In the second round, one overcomes the kāma loka (realms 5 through 11, which include the human realm and 6 Deva realms). That happens via two stages. A Sakadāgāmī will not be reborn with bodies subjected to diseases. Thus, there will be no more rebirths for a Sakadāgāmī in the five lowest realms (apāyā and the human realms). Then, at the Anāgāmī stage, kāma rāga and paṭigha go away and one is released from births anywhere in the kāma loka.

▪In the third round, any linkage to anywhere in the 31 realms is removed. The mind becomes free of attachment to any trace of matter, and the Arahant stage is attained. See, “What Are Rūpa? (Relation to Nibbāna).”

The 31 Realms of Existence

6. Section 11 is long and takes a significant part of the sutta. That section names the 6 deva realms and 15 out of 16 rupi Brahma realms. Most of this section has been truncated in many published versions of the sutta. However, this section is important for a couple of reasons.

▪First, it clearly shows that the Buddha indeed described a “wider world” than experienced by us, consisting of 31 realms; see, “The Grand Unified Theory of Dhamma” and “31 Realms of Existence.”

▪Second, it says that beings from many those realms were present when the Buddha delivered the desanā overnight (over many hours) to the five ascetics. Starting from the 6 deva realms, it lists 15 rupi brahma realms (except the asañña realms, where beings have only a physical body and thus cannot even listen to a desanā). It is said that numerous Devā and Brahmā attained various stages of Nibbāna.

▪Section 11 starts with “Bhummānaṁ devānaṁ saddaṁ sutvā Cātummahārājikā devā sadda manussāvesuṁ...” Here “bhummanaṁ devanaṁ” means “bhummatta Deva.” They are part of the Catummaharajika Deva realm, but are located at the Earth’s surface with humans (even though we cannot see them). They first became aware of the desanā and notified their higher-lying main realm. Section 11 lists how the news progressively propagated to higher-lying realms and eventually Devā from all those 21 realms came to listen to the desanā. ”

▪As you can see those realms match the names listed in the following post on the web (note that all of them are referred to as devas in the sutta, regardless of whether they belong to the 6 Deva realms or the rūpi Brahma realms): “31 Realms of Existence.”

▪Of course, only 5 humans (the five ascetics) were present. Any being in the lowest four realms cannot comprehend Dhamma. Also, the Brahmā in the 4 arūpi realms do not have ears to listen to. Thus section 11 lists 21 realms. Not listed are the four lowest realms, the asañña realm, and the four arūpi Brahma realms. They appear in many other suttā.

The Sutta Provides Only a Summary

7. As I mentioned above, the sutta gives only a brief outline of the desanā. It was delivered over many hours, and the sutta is just an outline of that delivery.

▪The sutta starts off with the customary “Evaṁ me sutaṁ” (thus I heard) uttered by Ven. Ānanda at the Dhamma Sangayana where these suttā were categorized into sections in the Tipiṭaka.

▪Section 1 is about the two extremes to be avoided: kāmasukhallikānuyogo (excess sense pleasures) and attakilamathānuyogo (engage in useless activities that make one go through hardships).

▪Note that both extremes are labeled “anattasanhito.” This means anyone who follows those two extremes are unaware of the “anatta” nature. Thus they have saññā, or perceptions, that will LEAD TO “anatta” or being helpless in the rebirth process.

▪And they both are “dukkho” and “anariyo”: they will be subjected to suffering and thus they are not Ariyā or Noble Ones.

▪In addition, the extreme of kāmasukhallikānuyogo is also labeled hīno, gammo, pothujjaniko. Here, “hino” means lowly; gammo means “uneducated” or “crass”. “Pothu” means bark or the outer shell of a tree trunk (which is of no value,) and “janika” means to produce. Thus a “pothujjaniko” means a person who is engaged in useless and unproductive activities. The Buddha often used the term pothujjaniko (or pothujjano) to described a person who value and crave sense pleasures.

The Middle Path

8. Most people are in the kāmasukhallikānuyogo mode, even if not in extreme. In fact, one gets closer to “middle” as one progressively become a Sotāpanna anugāmi, Sotāpanna, Sakadāgāmī, Anāgāmī. Then the “true middle” found only at Arahanthood.

▪Thus majjhimā paṭipadā has a deeper meaning than just “middle path”. One has to realize the dangers of “getting drunk” (“majji” or intoxicated with sense pleasures). Here, “mā” there means “getting release from”, just like in “sammā” means “saŋ” + “mā”; see, “What is ‘Saŋ?’ Meaning of Saŋsāra (or Saṁsāra).”

▪This is why the kāmasukhallikānuyogo mode has the additional “labels” of hīno, gammo, pothujjaniko. Anyone “intoxicated” with sensory pleasures is a hīno, gammo, pothujjaniko. Thats mindset can be changed only by comprehending the “..Dhamma that has never been known to the world..” or “..pubbe ananussutesu dhammesu...” That phrase is repeated many times in sections 4 through 7 for a reason.

▪This is the reason why one cannot comprehend this Dhamma in a conventional way. One has to realize the true nature of the world: anicca, dukkha, anatta; see, “Buddha Dhamma – In a Chart.”

More posts on the sutta at, “Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta.”