THE THREE TURNINGS
In this chapter I continue to explore the Buddha’s first discourse, in particular the notion of three turnings that are to be applied to each of the four truths. The basic idea behind these three turnings is that each of the four truths requires first of all to be understood, which is the first turning; this understanding then needs to be followed by some implementation, the second turning; and this implementation has to be carried to its successful completion, the third turning. A Saṃyukta-āgama parallel to the Dhammacakkappavattana-sutta presents the second turning in the following manner (after having already described the first turning by way of an initial understanding of each of the four truths):1
Again, the noble truth of dukkha should be further understood with knowledge, which is a teaching not heard before. When I gave proper attention to it, vision, knowledge, understanding, and realization arose [in me].
[Again], having understood the noble truth of the arising of dukkha, it should be eradicated, which is a teaching not heard before. When I gave proper attention to it, vision, knowledge, understanding, and realization arose [in me].
Again, having understood this noble truth of the cessation of dukkha,2 it should be realized, which is a teaching not heard before. When I gave proper attention to it, vision, knowledge, understanding, and realization arose [in me].
Again, having understood this noble truth of the path to the cessation of dukkha, it should be cultivated, which is a teaching not heard before. When I gave proper attention to it, vision, knowledge, understanding, and realization arose [in me].
The discourse continues with the third turning, which requires the following in relation to each of the four truths:
• dukkha: to be understood completely,
• craving: to be eradicated completely,
• the cessation of dukkha: to be realized completely,
• the path to the cessation of dukkha: to be cultivated completely.
After the description of this third turning, the Buddha reportedly made the following statement:3
[So long as] in regard to these four noble truths in three turnings and twelve modes I had not given rise to vision, knowledge, understanding, and realization, I had not yet attained deliverance, release, and liberation among the assemblies of those who listen to teachings: devas, Māra, Brahmā, recluses, brahmins; I had myself not realized the attainment of supreme and right awakening.
This is followed by the complementary statement that, once he had indeed completed the three turnings in relation to each truth, he did attain deliverance, release, and liberation. The Saṃyutta-nikāya presentation is similar overall, with the difference that, instead of applying one turning to all four truths and then moving on to the next turning, it rather applies all three turnings to one truth and then moves on to the next truth. This is a recurrent difference among the versions of this discourse.4 Alongside such variation in presentation, however, the basic idea of three turnings to be applied to each truth is common ground among the parallels.
This notion of three turnings implies that there are different levels of profundity with each of these truths. This accords with a suggestion I made in the last chapter, in that the preliminary insight into the four truths that can function as a precursor to the noble eightfold path in the form of right view differs substantially from a realization of the four truths with full awakening. In other words, insight into the four truths is a matter of prolonged cultivation.
Another significant implication is that each of the truths is associated with a different task. Whereas dukkha requires “understanding”, its arising calls for “eradication”, its cessation needs “realization”, and the path requires “cultivation”. Although at first sight these might seem to be four different tasks resulting in four distinct insights, closer inspection shows that this is not the case.
For a proper appreciation of this point, the parallelism to the medical diagnostic scheme, mentioned in the previous chapter, is again relevant. In combination with the turnings to be applied to each truth, this results in the following presentation:
• disease (dukkha): to be understood,
• pathogen (craving): to be eradicated,
• health (cessation of dukkha): to be realized,
• cure (eightfold path): to be cultivated.
In a medical context, these are not four distinct matters, but rather four interrelated aspects of a single issue, namely a correct diagnosis of a patient’s condition. Such a correct diagnosis involves not only recognizing the disease and identifying the pathogen, but also an assessment of the degree to which the patient can become healthy again and of what type of cure is required for that purpose. These four aspects are interrelated components of a single correct diagnosis.
The case of the four truths is similar. What the Buddha realized during the night of his awakening is Nirvāṇa. This was his realization of the third truth, the cessation of dukkha. With such realization of the cessation of dukkha, by dint of having once experienced its complete absence, dukkha is finally fully understood. This fulfils the first truth. With the same realization, the arising of dukkha has been eradicated for good. This fulfils the second truth. And with the same realization the path leading to the cessation of dukkha has been cultivated to its completion. This fulfils the fourth truth. In other words, the four truths describe a single realization experience.
Moreover, the four truths are not themselves the content of the realization – they do not imply that the Buddha was sitting under the tree of awakening and mentally saying to himself: “this is dukkha” etc. Instead, he realized Nirvāṇa. In order to express this realization in a way that can be easily understood by others in the ancient Indian setting, the four-truths scheme falls into place. It falls into place not only by way of conveying the actual realization, but also by way of encapsulating in a nutshell the whole progression of practice of which this realization is the culmination point.
Here the initial insight into dukkha is central to the bodhisattva’s motivation to go forth, discussed in Chapter 1. This reaches its culmination point when he realizes what is entirely free from dukkha. Like knowing a house well but only from the inside, when one steps outside and knows its outer features, then one truly knows the house well. Similarly, full and penetrative understanding of dukkha requires that the recognition of its various manifestations be complemented by knowing what it means when dukkha is completely absent. This is similar to insight into dependent arising, discussed in previous chapters, where a gradually deepening understanding reaches its completion when the cessation of dependent arising is directly experienced. This takes place with the same experience of Nirvāṇa that also completes insight into dukkha.
The need to eradicate craving was also an integral dimension of the bodhisattva’s going forth, where he decided to leave behind sensuality and to confront the arising of sensual desire in his mind. This reached its culmination point when he finally eradicated craving.
The quest to realize what is beyond old age, disease, and death was at the forefront of his aspiration from the outset, which neither the immaterial attainments nor asceticism had been able to fulfil. Only on the night of his awakening was the goal of his aspiration fully realized.
The path to such realization was a matter of continuous concern throughout his quest. The need for a moral foundation was clear to him from the outset, but the other requirements of this path, which he would eventually present as eightfold to his followers, only gradually became clear to him. With the attainment of awakening, he had reached the certainty of having brought this path to completion.
In this way the realization of Nirvāṇa is what underpins each of the four truths, what each truth converges on and where each truth reaches completion. The same realization also has a bearing on other aspects of early Buddhist doctrine. In fact, as already mentioned, the cessation mode of dependent arising similarly has the realization of Nirvāṇa as its reference point.
The discourses present various insights as having come to fulfilment with the Buddha’s awakening. An example is insight into the true nature of feelings, already mentioned in Chapter 10.5 Another is insight into the five aggregates of clinging, which a discourse in the Saṃyutta-nikāya and its Saṃyukta-āgama parallel relate to the Buddha’s awakening. The Saṃyukta-āgama reports the following statement:6
[So long as] I had not understood as it really is the gratification in relation to the five aggregates of clinging as gratification, the disadvantage as disadvantage, and the escape as escape, I was not liberated, was not released, had not been delivered, was continuously dwelling in [mental] distortion, and was unable to declare of myself among the assemblies of devas and humans – devas, Māra, Brahmā, recluses, brahmins – that I had attained supreme and right awakening.
Next comes the assertion that, on having understood as it really is these different aspects in relation to the five aggregates of clinging, the Buddha did claim to have reached awakening. Needless to say, this does not stand in conflict with the association of the four truths to his realization, in the sense of offering a competing account of the Buddha’s awakening. Instead, the passage translated above is best understood as showing one of the different facets of the penetrative understanding that has its source in the realization of Nirvāṇa.7
With the same converging point in the realization of Nirvāṇa, the four-truths scheme can be applied to different contexts and thus is not confined to dukkha. An example is the Buddha’s insight into the “world”, described in a discourse in the Aṅguttara-nikāya and its parallels in the Madhyama-āgama and the Saṃyukta-āgama. The Madhyama-āgama version proceeds in this way:8
The Tathāgata has himself awakened to the world and he teaches this to others.9 The Tathāgata has understood the world.
The Tathāgata has himself awakened to the arising of the world and he teaches this to others. The Tathāgata has eradicated the arising of the world.
The Tathāgata has himself awakened to the cessation of the world and he teaches this to others. The Tathāgata has realized the cessation of the world.
The Tathāgata has himself awakened to the path [to the cessation] of the world and he teaches this to others. The Tathāgata has cultivated the path [to the cessation] of the world.
This presentation has much in common with the exposition of the four truths in the Dhammacakkappavattana-sutta and its parallels, with the difference that the main topic is the “world” instead of dukkha. Be it the world or dukkha, however, the underlying theme remains the realization of Nirvāṇa.
The central role of the Buddha’s realization in relation to essential Buddhist doctrines emerges also from the ten powers of a Tathāgata, introduced in Chapter 6, which highlight various dimensions of his penetrative insight, culminating in the three higher knowledges he attained on the night of his awakening.
Another passage reflecting the centrality of the realization of Nirvāṇa occurs in a discourse in the Saṃyukta-āgama, which relates how the Buddha led his own son Rāhula to full liberation. Whereas the Saṃyukta-āgama account reports in detail what preceded the actual instruction given by the Buddha, which it then gives in abbreviated form, a parallel in the Saṃyutta-nikāya (also found in the Majjhima-nikāya) instead focuses on the actual instruction. Thus the two versions have a somewhat different coverage, and for this reason the passage to be discussed from the Saṃyukta-āgama version has no counterpart in its Pāli parallel.
According to the Saṃyukta-āgama account, Rāhula had approached the Buddha with the request to be given a teaching that would lead him to full awakening. The Buddha realized, however, that Rāhula’s wisdom was not yet sufficiently matured. The Buddha told Rāhula that he should first teach others about the five aggregates of clinging. When Rāhula had done so, the Buddha told him that he should also teach the six sense-spheres and causality. When Rāhula had fulfilled this instruction and came back in the hope of finally getting instructions for his attainment of full awakening, the Buddha realized that he was still not sufficiently matured and told him to go into seclusion and reflect on the three doctrinal topics he had earlier taught to others. At this juncture, the Saṃyukta-āgama discourse continues in the following manner:10
Then Rāhula, having received the Buddha’s instruction and orders, contemplated and pondered the teachings as he had earlier heard them, the teachings he had [then] expounded, reflecting on their meaning. He thought: “All these teachings proceed towards Nirvāṇa, flow towards Nirvāṇa, ultimately establish [one] in Nirvāṇa.”
When Rāhula returned to the Buddha and reported his insight, the Buddha realized that his son was now finally ready to be led to full awakening and gave him the required teaching, which indeed resulted in Rāhula becoming an arahant.
Although the passage translated above is not found in the Pāli version, due to the different coverage of the two discourses already mentioned, its indication is in line with what emerges from a study of the three turnings to be applied to the four truths or from other passages that relate essential early Buddhist doctrines to the Buddha’s awakening. All of these do indeed “proceed towards Nirvāṇa, flow towards Nirvāṇa, ultimately establish [one] in Nirvāṇa”.
The same principle also underlies the association of the Buddha’s first discourse with the idea of setting in motion the wheel of Dharma. As stated explicitly in a parallel to the Dhammacakkappavattana-sutta, found in the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya:11
[When] the Tathāgata proclaims these four noble truths and there is nobody among the assemblies who realizes them, then the Tathāgata has not turned the wheel of Dharma for them.
Whereas the Buddha could ensure for himself that the three “turnings” in relation to each truth were fulfilled, his success in accomplishing the “turning” of the wheel of Dharma in the world required that someone else be able to follow suit. The Dhammacakkappavattana-sutta and its parallels report that this was indeed the case, as one of his five former companions by the name of Koṇḍañña attained stream-entry during the Buddha’s disclosure of the four truths. The Ekottarika-āgama version reports this as follows:12
At the time when this teaching was being spoken, Aññāta Koṇḍañña attained the pure eye of Dharma, eliminating all [mental] dust and stain. Then the Blessed One said to Koṇḍañña: “Have you now reached the Dharma, have you attained the Dharma?”
Koṇḍañña replied: “It is like this, Blessed One, I have attained the Dharma, I have reached the Dharma.”
In this way the Buddha’s choice of a medical scheme of diagnosis in order to convey his realization had been successful. It had enabled him not only to communicate his realization to those who at the outset were disinclined to place their trust in him, it had also fulfilled the function of leading one of his hearers to realizing the first stage of awakening himself. The four-truths scheme had fulfilled its purpose by enabling Koṇḍañña to find a refuge within.
The relationship between the four truths and the notion of refuge is expressed poetically in a set of verses in the Udānavarga. These build on the premise that one goes for refuge to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Community, based on which one then comes to a realization of the four truths:13
Seeing the four noble truths
With wisdom:
Dukkha, the arising of dukkha,
The going beyond dukkha,
And the noble eightfold path
That leads to the stilling of dukkha.
This indeed is a safe refuge,
This is the best refuge,
Having gone for this refuge
One will be released from all dukkha.
EXERCISE
As a practical exercise, I would like to recommend inclining the mind towards Nirvāṇa and thereby towards the supreme freedom from all defilements and mental afflictions. The realization of such freedom is the ultimate aim and source of all the essential teachings of early Buddhism. Inclining the mind accordingly can be done by reflecting on and contemplating the following maxim:
This is peaceful, this is sublime, namely: the calming of all constructions, the letting go of all supports, the extinguishing of craving, dispassion, cessation, Nirvāṇa.14
1 The translated part is based on SĀ 379 at T II 103c17 to 103c24; parallel to SN 56.11 at SN V 422,3 (translated Bodhi 2000: 1845); for a comparative study and translations of parallel versions to SN 56.11 see Anālayo 2015b: 347–88 and 2016a: 267–99.
2 The translation is based on an emendation by deleting a reference to “the cessation of the arisen dukkha”, which appears to be the result of a transmission error; and it is also based on the adoption of a variant without a reference to “knowing”.
3 The translation is taken from SĀ 379 at T II 104a2 to 104a5.
4 For a survey of these different patterns see Anālayo 2016a: 298. In fact another parallel, EĀ 24.5 at T II 619b3, just mentions the three turnings and the resulting twelve modes, without working through them in detail.
5 See above p. 93 note 8.
6 The translated passage is taken from SĀ 14 at T II 2c23 to 2c27 (translated Anālayo 2012c: 24), parallel to SN 22.26 at SN III 28,19 (translated Bodhi 2000: 874f); see also above p. 109 note 10.
7 De Silva 1987: 49 compares what at first sight could appear to be different or even conflicting insights to a “circular vision, as when one is on top of a mountain ... however different the sceneries may be from the different directions, all the scenes constitute one integrated experience” for one who stands on the mountain’s top.
8 The translated section is based on MĀ 137 at T I 645b12 to 645b16, parallel to AN 4.23 at AN II 23,21 (translated Bodhi 2012: 410); see also SĀ 894 at T II 224c29.
9 Here and below, AN 4.23 at AN II 23,21 does not mention that the Tathāgata teaches this to others.
10 SĀ 200 at T II 51b22 to 51b24 (translated Anālayo 2015b: 276); the report of Rāhula’s eventual awakening is found in the parallel SN 35.121 at SN IV 107,28 (translated Bodhi 2000: 1196) or MN 147 at MN III 280,7 (translated Ñāṇamoli 1995/2005: 1127); see also Anālayo 2011: 836.
11 T 1428 at T XXII 788b18f (translated Anālayo 2016a: 286).
12 EĀ 24.5 at T II 619b6 to 619b9 (translated Anālayo 2016a: 271f).
13 The translation is based on Uv 27.33c+d and 27.34f, Bernhard 1965: 349f, parallel to Dhp 190c+d and 191f (translated Norman 1997/2004: 29); see also the Patna Dharmapada 218c+d and 219, Cone 1989: 160.
14 MN 64 at MN I 436,1 (translated Anālayo 2015a: 169).