This book has been published by the generous support of Ajhan Achalo Bhikkhu, abbott of Anandagiri Monastery, Petchabun, Thailand and his supporters with the wish that many in Nepal may also have the opportunity to practice the Dhamma. Much gratitude to Bhante PhraMaha Milan for reviewing the translation.
This discourse named Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (turning of the wheel of dhamma) is the first teaching given by Buddha after his enlightenment. Buddha gave this teaching at Vārāṇasī in the Deer Park at Isipatana to the group of five ascetics (PañcavaggiyāKondañña, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahānāma, Assaji). They were the group of five ascetics who practiced extreme self-mortification with Siddhartha Gautam, including not eating, as a way to liberation. When Siddhartha realized that extreme self-mortification did not lead to liberation, he began eating solid food. The group of five bhikkhus left him thinking that he had given up the practice and gone back to sensual pleasure.
Siddhartha then practiced by himself and attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya.
Siddhartha had lived life in both extremes - in extreme sense pleasure before he left home and in extreme self-mortification during his practice. His first teaching of the middle path (Majjhimā Paṭipadā) is about avoiding both the extremes and taking the middle path. In this discourse, he taught about the middle way, the four noble truths, and the eightfold path. These five ascetics then became his first disciples.
