(19) 初轉法輪　度五比丘
為實現諾言，佛陀動身前往鹿野苑（註8）度憍陳如等，五侍遙見佛陀，互約不禮，卻為佛陀萬德莊嚴所攝，恭敬下跪，佛說「苦集滅道」四聖諦義，法輪（註9）初轉，五侍得證阿羅漢，是為五比丘，於是三寶（註10）成立。

At the First Turn of the Dharma Wheel, the Five Former Attendants were Converted.
In order to fulfill his promise, the Buddha set out to the Deer Park (8) at Sarnath to convert his five former attendants, among them was Ajnata-Kaundinya and the rest. When they saw the Buddha from a distance, they concurred to ignore the Buddha. As the Buddha approached, they could not help but be moved by the Buddha’s sublimities. Together they knelt down and listened to Buddha’s teaching on the Four Noble Truths, that “of pain, of coming together, of extinguishing of pain, and of the way to such extinction.” Thus began the first turning of the Dharma wheel (9), and the five attendants attained arhatship and became known as the five bhiksus. This marked the establishment of the Triple Gems (10).

註八
　　鹿野苑位於古印度中部的波羅奈國，舊稱伽尸國，近世稱為貝那拉斯（Benares），即今之瓦拉那西（Varanasi）。據《大唐西域記》卷七載，此國都城臨西殑伽河。城西北之鹿野苑，即佛陀成道後最初教化五比丘之地，爾後，佛常遊化至此教化眾生，係六大說法處之一。
(8)The Deer Park (Mrgadava) in Sarnath located on the outskirts of Benares, AKA Varanasi. It was here where Buddha Sakyamuni first taught the contents of his enlightenment to the original five disciples. It was also one of the six major locations where the Buddha later gave lectures to the public.

註九
　　法輪是比喻佛所說之法，能夠輾碎眾生的一切煩惱，好像巨輪能夠輾碎一切的巖石和沙礫一樣。另一說是佛所說之法，輾轉傳人，好像車輪的旋轉，無遠弗屆。參考《佛學常見辭匯》
(9)Dharma Wheel symbolizes the preaching of a Buddha. A Dharma wheel is likened to a wheel because it crushes all illusions. It also symbolizes that the Dharma passes on to infinite generations like a wheel keeps turning and reaches unlimited distance. (Excerpted
from The Seeker’s Glossary of Buddhism.)

註十
　　三寶係指為佛教徒所尊敬供養之佛寶、法寶、僧寶，又作三尊。歷史上實存之佛，即指於印度成正覺之佛身釋尊為佛寶；佛陀之正覺內容、所說之法為法寶；修學佛所
說之教並傳諸後世之僧團為僧寶。
　　佛，乃指覺悟人生之真象，而能教導他人之佛教38 教主，或泛指一切諸佛；法，為根據佛陀所悟而向人宣說之教法；僧，指修學教法之佛弟子集團。以上三者，威德至高無上，永不變移，如世間之寶，故稱三寶。參考《佛學常見辭匯》
(10)Triple Gem represents the Buddha, which is the supremelyenlightened being, the Dharma, which is the teaching imparted by Buddha, and the Sangha, which is the congregation of monks and nuns, or of genuine Dharma followers. In Buddhism, these three fundamental aspects that form a basis for belief and practice are extremely precious, thus the name of Three Jewels, or Triple Gem. (Excerpted from The Seeker’s Glossary of Buddhism.)