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Traditional biography, shortly after enlightenmentPrimary source · 2 sourcesWell documented

The First Sermon Sets the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion

Five ascetics at a deer park near Varanasi become the first sangha

On the timeline · around Traditional biography, shortly after enlightenment · Origins in IndiaOrigins in IndiaThe First Sermon Sets the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion550 BCE525 BCE500 BCE475 BCE450 BCE425 BCE400 BCE375 BCE350 BCE

Quick facts

Location
Deer Park, Isipatana, near Varanasi
First converts
Five ascetics, led by Kondanna
Core teaching
The Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold Path
Institution founded
The sangha (monastic community)

What happened

After his awakening, the Buddha traveled to the Deer Park at Isipatana, near Varanasi, and delivered his first sermon to five ascetics who had previously practiced austerities alongside him. In it he laid out the Four Noble Truths: that life involves stress and suffering, that suffering arises from craving, that craving can cease, and that the way to end it is the Noble Eightfold Path of right view, resolve, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. The Pali canon records that one of the five, Kondanna, immediately grasped the teaching and gained awakening on the spot, earning the title Anna-Kondanna, "Kondanna who knows." The five ascetics became the Buddha's first ordained followers, founding the sangha, the community of monks that would carry his teaching forward.

Why it matters

This sermon, traditionally called the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta or "Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion," established both the core doctrinal content of Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path, and the institutional form, an ordained monastic community, that would carry that content across Asia for the next two and a half millennia.

How we know

The sermon is preserved in the Pali canon (Samyutta Nikaya 56.11), one of the oldest strata of Buddhist scripture, transmitted orally for generations among monks before being committed to writing in Sri Lanka centuries later.

Sources

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