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Publisher's Note
Copyright Note
Abbreviations
VoicesWhat is the Dhamma?
There is No First Beginning
The Four Noble Truths
I. The Truth of Suffering
II. The Truth of the Origin of Suffering
III. The Truth of the Cessation of Suffering
IV. The Truth of the Way
1. Right View
2. Right Intention
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration
The Noble Eightfold Path in Practice
The Means
The End
The present Wheel booklet contains Chapter 12 of Bhikkhu Ñanamoli's classic compilation, The Life of the Buddha according to the Pali Canon. The purpose of that book, now in print for 27 years, had been to construct a biography of the Buddha by piecing together all the relevant material scattered throughout the Vinaya and the Sutta Pitakas. Since the Buddha's life was in many respects inseparable from his teaching, Ven. Ñanamoli had included, in the middle of the book, an anthology of texts dealing with the teaching, which he entitled "The Doctrine." In his introduction he described his purpose thus:
In Chapter 12 the main elements of doctrine have been brought together roughly following an order suggested by the Discourses. No interpretation has been attempted, ... but rather the material has been put together in such a way as to help the reader make his own. A stereotyped interpretation risks slipping into one of the types of metaphysical wrong view, which the Buddha himself has described in great detail. If Chapter 12 is found rather forbidding, let the last words of Anathapindika be pleaded in justification for its inclusion ...
The "last words of Anathapindika," the Buddha's chief patron, were: "Let such (profound) talks on the Dhamma be given to the laity. There are some with little dust in their eyes who are wasting through not hearing such talks on the Dhamma. Some of them will gain final knowledge of the Dhamma."
Several readers had suggested to the publisher that Chapter 12 of Life of the Buddha could well stand on its own as an excellent little handbook of the Buddha's teachings, useful for study, reflection, and meditation. With this aim it is being issued as a separate Wheel booklet. The structure of the anthology is based on the formula of the Four Noble Truths and the eight factors of the Noble Eightfold Path, which the Buddha announced in his First Sermon at Benares and returned to again and again throughout his ministry. Within this framework Ven. Ñanamoli has incorporated a wide variety of texts which throw new and illuminating spotlights on the subtle implications of these familiar formulas.
We hope this booklet will fulfil the purpose for which it is being published.
| AN Anguttara
Nikaya DN Digha Nikaya Iti Itivuttaka Khp Khuddakapatha MN Majjhima Nikaya Sn Suttanipata SN Samyutta Nikaya Ud Udana Vin Vinaya |
NARRATOR ONE. A commentator, or compeer, of the present time, who introduces the others, and who represents a dispassionate onlooker with some general knowledge of the events.
NARRATOR TWO. A commentator who supplies historical and traditional information contained only in the medieval Pali commentaries (mainly those of the fifth century by the Elder Buddhaghosa). His functions are to give the minimum of such material needed for historical clarity and, occasionally, to summarize portions of the Canon itself.
FIRST VOICE. The voice of the Elder Ananda, the disciple and personal attendant of the Buddha, who recited the Discourses (or Suttas) at the First Council, held at Rajagaha three months after the Buddha's attainment of final Nibbana.
SECOND VOICE. The voice of the Elder Upali, disciple of the Buddha, who recited the Discipline (or Vinaya) at the First Council.
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