Sarnath — Deer Park of the First Teaching

Sarnath is the place where the Dharma Chakra — the Wheel of the Law — began to turn. After achieving enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, Siddhartha Gautama walked to Sarnath, where he encountered five ascetics who had previously been his companions in seeking enlightenment through extreme self-mortification. In the cool evening, beneath the sacred deer park, the Buddha taught them the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path — the core of Buddhist teaching that all suffering arises from craving, and that craving can be overcome through right conduct, right wisdom, and right meditation.

The five ascetics became his first disciples (sangha), the first monks to hear the complete teaching. The Buddha's first sermon is called the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta ('Setting in Motion the Wheel of Dharma'), and it marks Buddhism's beginning as a religious tradition. The gesture of 'turning the wheel' became one of Buddhism's most sacred symbols — the wheel represents the eternal cycle of the dharma, the law that governs all existence. The Dhamek Stupa, the great stone monument at Sarnath, was built to commemorate this first teaching and became one of Buddhism's holiest sites.