The Buddha's First Discourse: a Comparision of Versions

This is a study of the Dhammacakka-Pavattana-Sutta, officially considered the first discourse of the Buddha. The tradition acknowledges that he spoke about his teaching before the occasion of the delivery of this discourse. This study was undertaken during my Buddhist studies, which was one major of my Batchelor of Arts at the University of Queensland, completed in 2004. The study compares 17 possible versions of this discourse from four languages: Pali, Chinese, Tibetan and Sanskrit. Some interesting differences are discovered and an attempt is made to explain them. An expected core of all the discourses stands out, which shows why all major schools of Buddhism accept the Four Noble Truths as the essential teaching of the Buddha.

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