SN 1.29PTS (1st ed) SN 1.161 min read

Four Wheels

Catucakkasutta

A riddle on the topic of escape.

Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral

0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 1.29Linked Discourses 1.29
0.23. Sattivagga3. A Sword

0.3CatucakkasuttaFour Wheels

1.1“Catucakkaṁ navadvāraṁ,“Four are its wheels, and nine its doors;¹1.2puṇṇaṁ lobhena saṁyutaṁ;it’s stuffed full, bound with greed,1.3Paṅkajātaṁ mahāvīra,and born from a bog.1.4kathaṁ yātrā bhavissatī”ti.Great hero, how will I keep going?”²
2.1“Chetvā naddhiṁ varattañca,“Having cut the strap and harness—2.2icchā lobhañca pāpakaṁ;the wicked desire and greed—2.3Samūlaṁ taṇhamabbuyha,and having plucked out craving, root and all:2.4evaṁ yātrā bhavissatī”ti.that’s how you will keep going.”

Translator’s notes

These verses, with a brief setting, are also at SN 2.28:2.1.
The “four wheels” of a cart are compared to the body, but the application of the metaphor is not obvious. The commentary relates it to the four postures. Later Buddhist tantra speaks of four “wheels” (cakra) in the sense of dynamic centers of vital and spiritual energy—navel, heart, throat, crown. This is attested much later than the suttas, but this could be a precedent.
The “nine doors” are the nine apertures of the body (compare the eleven doors at MN 52:15.5).
↩ sn1.29:1.1
The phrase yātrā bhavissati is familiar from the mendicant’s reflection on eating only so that they “will keep going”. The problem here is that the body is bound up with suffering.
↩ sn1.29:1.4