Iti 112
Itivuttaka: The Group of Fours
translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard: "The world[1] has been fully awakened to by the Tathagata. From the world, the Tathagata is disjoined. The origination of the world has been fully awakened to by the Tathagata. The origination of the world has, by the Tathagata, been abandoned. The cessation of the world has been fully awakened to by the Tathagata. The cessation of the world has, by the Tathagata, been realized. The path leading to the cessation of the world has been fully awakened to by the Tathagata. The path leading to the cessation of the world has, by the Tathagata, been developed.
"Whatever in this world with its devas, Maras, & Brahmas, its generations complete with contemplatives & priests, princes & men is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect, that has been fully awakened to by the Tathagata. Thus he is called the Tathagata.
"From the night the Tathagata fully awakens to the unsurpassed Right Self-awakening to the night he is totally unbound in the Unbinding property with no fuel remaining, whatever the Tathagata has said, spoken, explained is just so (tatha) and not otherwise. Thus he is called the Tathagata.
"The Tathagata is one who does in line with (tatha) what he teaches, one who teaches in line with what he does. Thus he is called the Tathagata.
"In this world with its devas, Maras, & Brahmas, its generations complete with contemplatives & priests, princes & men, the Tathagata is the unconquered conqueror, all-seeing, the wielder of power.[2] Thus he is called the Tathagata." This is the meaning of what the Blessed One said. So with regard to this it was said:
Directly knowing all the world, all the world as is really is, from all the world disjoined, in all the world unmatched: Conquering all in all ways, enlightened, released from all bonds, he touches the foremost peace Unbinding, free from fear. He is free of fermentation, of trouble, awakened, his doubts cut through; has attained the ending of action, is released in the destruction of acquisitions. He is blessed, awakened, a lion, unsurpassed. In the world with its devas he set the Brahma-wheel going.[3] Thus divine & human beings who have gone to the Buddha for refuge, gathering, pay homage to the great one, thoroughly mature: 'Tamed, he's the best of those who can be tamed; calm, the seer of those who can be calmed; released, supreme among those who can be released; crossed, the foremost of those who can cross.' Thus they pay homage to the great one, thoroughly mature: 'In this world with its devas, there's no one to compare with you.'
This, too, was the meaning of what was said by the Blessed One, so I have heard.
Notes
1. SN 35.82 defines the "world" as the six sense spheres, their objects, consciousness at those spheres, contact at those spheres, and whatever arises in dependence on that contact, experienced as pleasure, pain, or neither-pleasure-nor-pain.
2. These are epithets usually associated with the Great Brahma. See ยง 22.
3. The Brahma-wheel = the Dhamma-wheel, the name of the Buddha's first sermon, so called because it contains a "wheel" that lists all twelve permutations of two sets of variables: the four noble truths, stress, its origination, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation and the three levels of knowledge appropriate to each truth: knowledge of the truth, knowledge of the task appropriate to the truth, and knowledge that the task has been completed. This wheel constitutes the Buddha's most central teaching.