Thus have I heard. At one time the Blessed One was dwelling at Broadsword¹ in the Deer Park at Seers’ Hill². There the Blessed One said to the almsmen of the group of five:
“Almsmen, these two utmosts should not be followed by one who has gone forth into homelessness. What two? The fand of fleshly seel in fleshly likings, which is low, churlish, the way of worldlings, seamy, unbehoving; and the fand of self-harrowing, which is smartful, seamy, unbehoving. Without veering towards either of these utmosts, the Thus-gone has awakened to the middle way, which gives rise to seeing, which gives rise to knowledge, which leads to frith, to firsthand knowledge, to inlightening, to Blowing-out.
“And what, almsmen, is that middle way awakened to by the Thus-gone, which gives rise to seeing … which leads to Blowing-out? It is this Lordly Eightfold Path; that is, right thought, right will, right speech, right deed, right livelihood, right work, right mindfulness, right bethinking. This, almsmen, is that middle way awakened to by the Thus-gone, which gives rise to seeing, which gives rise to knowledge, which leads to peace, to firsthand knowledge, to enlightenment, to Blowing-out.
“Now this, almsmen, is the lordly truth of throes: birth is throenly, aging is throenly, illness is throenly, death is throenly; meeting with what is unwinsome is throenly; sundering from what is winsome is throenly; not to get what one wants is throenly; in brief, the five clusters undertheeded to clinging are throenly.
“Now this, almsmen, is the lordly truth of the fromshaft of throes: it is this craving which leads to eftnewed being, in tow with liking and lust, seeking liking here and there; that is, craving for fleshly liking, craving for being, craving for unbeing.
“Now this, almsmen, is the lordly truth of the blin of throes: it is the leftoverless fading away and blin of that same craving, the giving up and leaving of it, freedom from it, non-resting on it.
“Now this, almsmen, is the lordly truth of the way leading to the blin of throes: it is this Lordly Eightfold Path; that is, right thought, right will, right speech, right deed, right livelihood, right work, right mindfulness, right bethinking.
“‘This is the lordly truth of throes’: thus, almsmen, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me seeing, knowledge, wisdom, true knowledge, and light.
“‘This lordly truth of throes is to be fully understood’: thus, almsmen, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me seeing, knowledge, wisdom, true knowledge, and light.
“‘This lordly truth of throes has been fully understood’: thus, almsmen, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me seeing, knowledge, wisdom, true knowledge, and light.
“‘This is the lordly truth of the fromshaft of throes’: thus, almsmen, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me seeing, knowledge, wisdom, true knowledge, and light.
“‘This lordly truth of the fromshaft of throes is to be forsaken’: thus, almsmen, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me seeing, knowledge, wisdom, true knowledge, and light.
“‘This lordly truth of the fromshaft of throes has been forsaken’: thus, almsmen, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me seeing, knowledge, wisdom, true knowledge, and light.
“‘This is the lordly truth of the blin of throes’: thus, almsmen, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me seeing, knowledge, wisdom, true knowledge, and light.
“‘This lordly truth of the blin of throes is to be fulcome’: thus, almsmen, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me seeing, knowledge, wisdom, true knowledge, and light.
“‘This lordly truth of the blin of throes has been fulcome’: thus, almsmen, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me seeing, knowledge, wisdom, true knowledge, and light.
“‘This is the lordly truth of the way leading to the blin of throes’: thus, almsmen, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me seeing, knowledge, wisdom, true knowledge, and light.
“‘This lordly truth of the way leading to the blin of throes is to be wrought’: thus, almsmen, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me seeing, knowledge, wisdom, true knowledge, and light.
“‘This lordly truth of the way leading to the blin of throes has been wrought’: thus, almsmen, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me seeing, knowledge, wisdom, true knowledge, and light.
“So long, almsmen, as my knowledge and seeing of these Four Lordly Truths as they really are in their three steps and twelve ansens was not thoroughly cleansed in this way, I did not claim to have awakened to the un-overgone flawless inlightening in this world with its gods, Death, and High Ones³, in this kinrun with its swinkers⁴ and priests, its gods and men. But when my knowledge and seeing of these Four Lordly Truths as they really are in their three steps and twelve ansens was thoroughly cleansed in this way, then I claimed to have awakened to the un-overgone flawless inlightening in this world with its gods, Death, and High Ones, in this kinrun with its swinkers and priests, its gods and men. The knowledge and seeing arose in me: ‘Unshakable is the freedom of my mind. This is my last birth. Now there is no more eftnewed being.’”
This is what the Blessed One said. Gladdened, the almsmen of the group of five liked the Blessed One’s uttering. And while this moot was being spoken, there arose in the Oreful Condan⁵ the dust-free, stainless seeing of the Teaching: “Whatever is undertheeded to fromshaft is all undertheeded to blin.”
And when the Wheel of the Teaching had been rolled forth by the Blessed One, the earth-dwelling gods raised a cry: “At Broadsword, in the Deer Park at Seers’ Hill, this un-overgone Wheel of the Teaching has been rolled forth by the Blessed One, which cannot be stopped by any swinker or priest or god or Death or High One or by anyone in the world.” Having heard the cry of the earth-dwelling gods, the gods of the realm of the Four Great Kings raised a cry: “At Broadsword … this unsurpassed Wheel of the Teaching has been set in motion by the Blessed One, which cannot be stopped … by anyone in the world.” Having heard the cry of the gods of the realm of the Four Great Kings, the Thirty-three gods … the Forbearing⁶ gods … the Contented gods … the Shaping-fond gods … the Lords of the Shaping-fond gods … the gods of the High One’s douth raised a cry: “At Broadsword, in the Deer Park at Seers’ Hill, this un-overgone Wheel of the Teaching has been rolled forth by the Blessed One, which cannot be stopped by any swinker or priest or god or Death or High One or by anyone in the world.”
Thus at that brightomwhile, at that eyeblink, at that braid, the cry spread as far as the High One’s world, and this ten thousandfold world-wheel⁷ shook, quaked, and reesed, and an unamete thrumfast leam atewed in the world overgoing the godly muchness of the gods.
Then the Blessed One uttered this tended utterance: “Condan has forsooth understood! Condan has forsooth understood!” In this way the Oreful Condan got the name “Condan Who Has Understood.”
¹ Varanasi = Varūṇa, from Proto-Indo-European h₁wer- ‘broad’ + asi ‘sword’
² Calque of Isipatana.
³ Brahmā, from the Sanskrit root, bṛh- ‘to elevate, increase’
⁴ samaṇa = one who toils
⁵ I could not find an etymological meaning for Koṇḍaññā or the
Sanskrit Kaudinya, so I just anglicized it. K usually turns to a C, simplified retroflex and palatal consonants, and dropped the terminal suffix (as in e.g. Latin Marcus to English Mark].
⁶ Possible
but uncertain meaning of Yāma, related to the yogic term niyāma.
⁷ Bhikkhu Bodhi and other usually render cakkavaḷa as "world system", which is fine enough, but I couldn't find a satisfactory rendering of "system" into Anglish ("world network" sounds odd). The original meaning is "wheel [of] animals", apparently referencing an ancient Indian zodiac system, so I thought about using Anglish chirkel. However, in practice, the word is used just to mean the Earth where humans, animals, etc. all live, which is taken to be a flat circle. Hence, "world-wheel".
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