Monday was the commemoration of the Buddha’s First Teaching (Cho-Khor Duchen) in Sarnath, which is considered to be the four noble truths. This day is sacred in all Buddhist traditions and is celebrated on the fourth day of the lunar month in Tibetan Buddhist and Himalaya traditions.
I have visited the sacred pilgrimage site of Sarnath, near Varanasi, India many times now, which I often visit before going to teachings and events in Bodh Gaya. Here is a brief article about that sacred site, with some photos I took there, as well as a summary of the teachings on the four noble truths the Buddha taught.
As my own offering for this important event in the Buddhist calendar, I have created a short reel on Facebook on the first noble truth of suffering/dukkha, and plan to make reels for the remaining three noble truths after that.
Deer Park Sarnath
Sarnath (Sarangnath, Isipatana Deer Park, Rishipattana, Migadaya, or Mrigadava) is a town northeast of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, India. As the Lalitavistara sutra states, the Gautama Buddha chose “Deer Park by the Hill of the Fallen Sages, outside of Varanasi” for his first teaching after he attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya. The teaching is entitled Dhammacakkappavattana sutra. Sarnath is one of the eight most important pilgrimage sites for Buddhists, and has been nominated to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Sarnath is where Gautama Buddha’s sangha first convened, when he gave the first teaching to the Buddha’s original five disciples Kaundinya, Assaji, Bhaddiya, Vappa and Mahanama,known as The First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma (Chokhor).The teaching occurred circa 528 BCE when the Buddha was approximately 35 years of age.
Several sources state that the name Sarnath is derived from Saranganath that translates as, “Lord of the Deer”. According to Buddhist history, during the local king’s hunting trip, a male deer (buck) offered to sacrifice himself to save the life of a female deer (doe) that the king was aiming to kill. Impressed, the king then declared his park would thereafter be a deer sanctuary.
According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta that is Sutra 16 of the Digha Nikaya, the Buddha mentioned Sarnath as one of the four Buddhist pilgrimage sites his devout followers should visit and look upon with feelings of reverence. The other three sites are Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha; Bodh Gaya, where Buddha achieved enlightenment; and, Kushinagar, where the Buddha attained parinirvana.
The Four Noble Truths
In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths ( catvāryāryasatyāni; cattāri ariyasaccāni; “The Four arya satya”) are “the truths of a Noble being (ārya)” a statement of how things really are when they are seen correctly. The four truths are:
- dukkha (not being at ease, ‘suffering’, dissatisfaction, from dush-stha, being unstable). Dukkha is an innate characteristic of transient existence; nothing is forever, this is painful;
- samudaya (origin, arising, combination; ’cause’): together with this transient world and its pain, there is also thirst (desire, longing, craving) for and attachment to this transient, unsatisfactory existence;
- nirodha (cessation, ending, confinement): the attachment to this transient world and its pain can be severed or contained by the confinement or letting go of this craving;
- marga (road, path, way): the Noble Eightfold Path is the path leading to the exhaustion/ending of this desire and attachment, and the release from dukkha.
As my own offering for this important event in the Buddhist calendar, I have created a short reel on the first noble truth of suffering/dukkha, and plan to make reels for the remaining three noble truths after that.