Understanding the Dhammacakka Pavattana Sutta : หน้า 188/263

[vāddha-saṃsāra] on the levels of the Sensual Plane, the Form Plane and the Formless Plane so that we can enter upon Nirvana. Thus in the inauguration of the Dhamma to the world, these two reasons are ample explanation for why this first Sutta should be called the Dhammacakka pavattana Sutta. Therefore, the Dhammacakka pavattana Sutta can be said to be a teaching about the Power of the Dhamma — which can be compared to the power of the Jewelled Wheel of a Universal Monarch. It is not that other Dhamma teachings by the Buddha do not have comparable importance — but the Dhammacakka pavattana Sutta was the first and the teachings which came later only serve to expand upon the foundations already laid down in this inaugural Sutta. The Buddha taught the Dhammacakka pavattana Sutta on the full-moon day of the eighth lunar month, two months after His Enlightenment. He gave the sermon at the Isipatana Deer Park near Benares. This woodland was a haunt of ascetics and also a natural sanctuary set up by royal decree — no-one was allowed to hunt any of the animals which lived there. In ancient India, even though the king who made the degree might pass away, or even if his dynasty might fall, the decree would live on out of hereditary respect that all the castes had for the kingly caste. The Dhammacakka pavattana Sutta was taught to the Group of Five [pañcavaggiya] ascetics who had Koṇḍañña as their leader. To understand how the Dhammacakka pavattana Sutta could have given the result it did on these five ascetics, it is important to know a little of their backgrounds first. Unfortunately, in many Buddhist countries of the world, there is the misunderstanding that Enlightenment can be achieved without training oneself in meditation. Such