Thus I have heard. The Blessed One was once living in the Deerpark at the
Resort of Seers near Baranasi. There he addressed the group of five mendicants:
Monks, these two extremes ought not to be practiced by one who has gone
forth from a household life. What are the two? There is devotion to the
indulgence of sense pleasures, which is low, common, the way of mundane
people, unworthy, unprofitable; and there is devotion to self-mortification,
which is painful, unworthy, and unprofitable. Avoiding both these extremes,
the Tathagata has realized the middle path: it gives vision, it gives
knowledge, and it leads to calm, to insight, to enlightenment, to Nirvana.
and what is that Middle Path? It is simply the Noble Eightfold Path,
namely, right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right
livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This
is the Middle Path realized by the Tathagata, which gives vision, it
gives knowledge, and it leads to calm, to insight, to enlightenment, to
Nirvana. The Noble Truth of suffering is this: Birth is suffering; aging
is suffering; sickness is suffering; death is suffering; sorrow and
lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering; association with
the unpleasant is suffering; dissociation with the pleasant is suffering;
not to get what one wants is suffering - in brief, the five aggregates of
attachment are suffering. The Noble Truth of the origin of suffering
is this: It is this desire which produces re-existence and re-becoming,
bound up with passionate greed. It finds fresh delight, now here
now there, namely thirst for sense-pleasures; thirst for existence and
becoming; and thirst for non-existence. The Noble Truth of the cessation
of suffering is this: It is the complete cessation of that very thirst,
giving it up, renouncing it, liberating oneself from it, detaching oneself
from it. The Noble Truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering
is this: It is simply the Noble Eightfold Path, namely right view, right thought,
right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness,
right concentration. This is the Noble Truth of Suffering: such
was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the science, the light that
arose in me with regard to the things not heard before. This suffering,
as a noble truth, should be fully understood: such was the vision, the
knowledge, the wisdom, the science, the light that arose in me with
regard to the things not heard before. This is the Noble Truth of the
Origin of suffering: such was the vision, the knowledge, the
wisdom, the science, the light that arose in me with regard to the
things not heard before. This origin of suffering, as a noble truth,
should be abandoned: such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom,
the science, the light that arose in me with regard to the things not heard
before. This origin of suffering, as a noble truth, has been abandoned:
such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the science, the light
that arose in me with regard to the things not heard before. This is
the Noble Truth of the Cessation of suffering: such was the vision,
the knowledge, the wisdom, the science, the light that arose in me with
regard to the things not heard before. This cessation of suffering, as
a noble truth, should be realized: such was the vision, the knowledge,
the wisdom, the science, the light that arose in me with regard to the
things not heard before. This cessation of suffering, as a noble truth,
has been realized: such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the
science, the light that arose in me with regard to the things not heard
before. This is the Noble Truth of the Path leading to the cessation of
suffering: such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the science,
the light that arose in me with regard to the things not heard before.
The path leading to the cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, should
be cultivated: such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the science,
the light that arose in me with regard to the things not heard before.
The path leading to the cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, has
been cultivated: such was the vision, the knowledge, the wisdom, the
science, the light that arose in me with regard to the things not heard
before. As long as my vision of true knowledge was not fully clear in these
three aspects, in these twelve ways, regarding the Four Noble Truths,
I did not claim to have realized the perfect Enlightenment that is
supreme in the world with it's gods, with it's Maras and Brahmas, in this
world with it's recluses and brahmanas, with it's princes and men. But
when my vision of the true knowledge was fully clear in these three aspects,
in these twelve ways, regarding the Four Noble Truths, then I claimed to
have realized the perfect Enlightenment that is supreme in the world
with it's gods, with it's Maras and Brahmas, in this world with it's
recluses and brahmanas, with it's princes and men. And a vision of true
knowledge arose in me thus: My heart's deliverance is unassailable. This
is the last birth. Now there is no more rebirth. This the Blessed One said.
The group of five mendicants was glad, and they rejoiced at his words.
