document_title: Four Noble Truths

question_text: first noble truth of buddhist also known as suffering is

question_tokens: first noble truth of buddhist also known as suffering is

text: Four Noble Truths

text: The four truths[edit]

text: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta[edit]

text: The four truths are best known from their presentation in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta text,[note 7] which contains two sets of the four truths,[33][2] while various other sets can be found in the Pali Canon, a collection of scriptures in the Theravadan Buddhist tradition.[20] According to the Buddhist tradition, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, "Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion,"[web 4] contains the first teachings that the Buddha gave after attaining full awakening, and liberation from rebirth. According to L. S. Cousins, many scholars are of the view that "this discourse was identified as the first sermon of the Buddha only at a later date,"[34] and according to professor of religion Carol S. Anderson[note 8] the four truths may originally not have been part of this sutta, but were later added in some versions.[35] Within this discourse, the four noble truths are given as follows ("bhikkus" is normally translated as "Buddhist monks"):

text: Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering.

text: Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: it is this craving which leads to re-becoming, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there; that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for becoming, craving for disbecoming.

text: Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: it is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, non-reliance on it.

text: Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering: it is this noble eightfold path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.[web 7]

text: According to this sutra, with the complete comprehension of these four truths release from samsara, the cycle of rebirth, was attained:

text: Knowledge & vision arose in me: 'Unprovoked is my release. This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming.[web 4]

text: The comprehension of these four truths by his audience leads to the opening of the Dhamma Eye, that is, the attainment of right vision:

text: Whatever is subject to origination is subject to cessation.[web 4]

text: Mnemonic set[edit]

text: According to K. R. Norman, the Pali canon contains various shortened forms of the four truths, the "mnemonic set," which were "intended to remind the hearer of the full form of the NTs."[36] The earliest form of the mnemonic set was "dukkham samudayo nirodho magga," without the reference to the Pali terms sacca[37] or arya,[38] which were later added to the formula.[38] The four mnemonic terms can be translated as follows:

text:
Dukkha - "incapable of satisfying,"[web 1] "the unsatisfactory nature and the general insecurity of all conditioned phenomena"; "painful."[3][5] Dukkha is most commonly translated as "suffering". According to Khantipalo, this is an incorrect translation, since it refers to the ultimately unsatisfactory nature of temporary states and things, including pleasant but temporary experiences.[39] According to Emmanuel, Dukkha is the opposite of sukha, "pleasure," and it is better translated as "pain."[5]
Samudaya - "origin", "source", "arising", "coming to existence";[web 8] "aggregate of the constituent elements or factors of any being or existence", "cluster", "coming together", "combination", "producing cause", "combination", "rising."[web 9]
Nirodha - cessation; release; to confine;[40] "prevention, suppression, enclosing, restraint"[web 10]
Marga - "path."[web 11]

text: Full set[edit]

text: This full set, which is most commonly used in modern expositions,[note 7] contains grammatical errors, pointing to multiple sources for this set and translation problems within the ancient Buddhist community. Nevertheless, they were considered correct by the Pali tradition, which didn't correct them.[38] According to K.R. Norman, the basic set is as follows:[12]

text:
idam dukkham, "this is pain"
ayam dukkha-samudayo, "this is the origin of pain"
ayam dukkha-nirodha, "this is the cessation of pain"
ayam dukkha-nirodha-gamini patipada, "this is the path leading to the cessation of pain." The key terms in the longer version of this expression, dukkha-nirodha-gamini Patipada, can be translated as follows:

text:
Gamini: leading to, making for[web 13]
Patipada: road, path, way; the means of reaching a goal or destination[web 14]

text: Alternative formulations[edit]

text: According to L.S. Cousins, the four truths are not restricted to the well-known form where dukkha is the subject. Other forms take "the world, the arising of the world" or "the āsavas, the arising of the āsavas" as their subject. According to Cousins, "the well-known form is simply shorthand for all of the forms."[44] "The world" refers to the saṅkhāras, that is, all compounded things,[web 15] or to the six sense spheres.[45]

text: The various terms all point to the same basic idea of Buddhism, as described in five skandhas and twelve nidānas: sense-contact with objects leads to sensation, perception, Saṅkhāra ('inclinations', c.q. craving etc.), and consciousness. The Twelve Nidānas describe how this also leads to rebirth: from sensation comes craving, from craving comes karma, from karma comes rebirth. The aim of the Buddhist path is to reverse this causal chain: when there is no (response to) sensation, there is no craving, no karma, no rebirth.[46][47]

text: Truths for the noble ones[edit]

text: The Pali terms ariya sacca (Sanskrit: arya satya) are commonly translated as "noble truths". This translation is a convention started by the earliest translators of Buddhist texts into English. According to K.R. Norman, this is just one of several possible translations.[13] According to Paul Williams,[13]

text: [T]here is no particular reason why the Pali expression ariyasaccani should be translated as 'noble truths'. It could equally be translated as 'the nobles' truths', or 'the truths for nobles', or 'the nobilising truths', or 'the truths of, possessed by, the noble ones' [...] In fact the Pali expression (and its Sanskrit equivalent) can mean all of these, although the Pali commentators place 'the noble truths' as the least important in their understanding.[13]

text: The term "arya" was later added to the four truths.[38][20][48] The term ariya (Sanskrit: arya) can be translated as "noble", "not ordinary", "valuable", "precious".[note 9] "pure",[50] Paul Williams:

text: The Aryas are the noble ones, the saints, those who have attained 'the fruits of the path', 'that middle path the Tathagata has comprehended which promotes sight and knowledge, and which tends to peace, higher wisdom, enlightenment, and Nibbana'.[51]

text: The term sacca (Sanskrit: satya) is a central term in Indian thought and religion. It is typically translated as "truth"; but it also means "that which is in accord with reality", or "reality". According to Rupert Gethin, the four truths are "four 'true things' or 'realities' whose nature, we are told, the Buddha finally understood on the night of his awakening."[22] They function as "a convenient conceptual framework for making sense of Buddhist thought."[22][note 6] According to K.R. Norman, probably the best translation is "the truth[s] of the noble one (the Buddha)."[13] It is a statement of how things are seen by a Buddha, how things really are when seen correctly. It is the truthful way of seeing,[note 10] Through not seeing things this way, and behaving accordingly, we suffer.[13][note 11]

text: Symbolic and propositional function[edit]

text: According to Anderson, the four truths have both a symbolic and a propositional function:

text: ... the four noble truths are truly set apart within the body of the Buddha's teachings, not because they are by definition sacred, but because they are both a symbol and a doctrine and transformative within the sphere of right view. As one doctrine among others, the four noble truths make explicit the structure within which one should seek enlightenment; as a symbol, the four noble truths evoke the possibility of enlightenment. As both, they occupy not only a central but a singular position within the Theravada canon and tradition.[27]

text: As a symbol, they refer to the possibility of awakening, as represented by the Buddha, and are of utmost importance:

text: [W]hen the four noble truths are regarded in the canon as the first teaching of the Buddha, they function as a view or doctrine that assumes a symbolic function. Where the four noble truths appear in the guise of a religious symbol in the Sutta-pitaka and the Vinaya-pitaka of the Pali canon, they represent the enlightenment experience of the Buddha and the possibility of enlightenment for all Buddhists within the cosmos.[53]

text: As a proposition, they are part of the matrix or "network of teachings," in which they are "not particularly central,"[17] but have an equal place next to other teachings,[54] describing how release from craving is to be reached.[27] A long recognized feature of the Theravada canon is that it lacks an "overarching and comprehensive structure of the path to nibbana."[55] The sutras form a network or matrix, and the four truths appear within this "network of teachings," which have to be taken together.[17][note 6] Within this network, "the four noble truths are one doctrine among others and are not particularly central,"[17] but are a part of "the entire dhamma matrix."[18] The four noble truths are be set and learnt in that network, learning "how the various teachings intersect with each other,"[56] and refer to the various Buddhist techniques, which are all explicitly and implicitly part of the passages which refer to the four truths.[57] According to Anderson,

text: There is no single way of understanding the teachings: one teaching may be used to explain another in one passage; the relationship may be reversed or altered in other talks.[18]

text: Dukkha and its ending[edit]

text: As a proposition, the four truths defy an exact definition, but refer to and express the basic orientation of Buddhism:[1] clinging and craving to temporary states and things is ultimately unsatisfactory and painful, dukkha,[58] and leads to repeated rebirth and "redeath." [note 3] By following the Buddhist path, craving and clinging can be confined, peace of mind and real happiness[58] [note 4] can be attained, and the resulting cycle of repeated rebirth and "redeath" will be stopped. [note 1]

text: The truth of dukkha, "incapable of satisfying,"[web 1] "painful,"[3][5][note 12] is the basic insight that life in this "mundane world,""[web 2] with its clinging and craving to impermanent states and things"[3] is dukkha,[4] unsatisfactory and painful.[web 1][3][5][6][7][web 2] We expect happiness from states and things which are impermanent, and therefore cannot attain real happiness.

text: The truth of samudaya, "arising," "coming together," or dukkha-samudaya, the origination or arising of dukkha, is the truth that repeated life in this world, and its associated dukkha arises, or continues,[note 13] with taṇhā, "thirst," craving for and clinging to these impermanent states and things. [note 2] This clinging and craving produces karma, which leads to renewed becoming, keeping us trapped in rebirth and renewed dissatisfaction.[77][web 12][note 14] Craving includes kama-tanha, craving for sense-pleasures; bhava-tanha, craving to continue the cycle of life and death, including rebirth; and vibhava-tanha, craving to not experience the world and painful feelings.[77][80][81] While dukkha-samudaya, the term in the basic set of the four truths, is traditionally translated and explained as "the origin (or cause) of suffering," giving a causal explanation of dukkha, Brazier and Batchelor point to the wider connotations of the term samudaya, "coming into existence together": together with dukkha arises tanha, thirst. Craving does not cause dukkha, but comes into existence together with dukkha, or the five skandhas.[40][82] It is this craving which is to be confined, as Kondanna understood at the end of the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: "whatever arises ceases."[83]

text: The truth of nirodha, cessation, or dukkha-nirodha, the cessation of dukkha, is the truth that dukkha ceases, or can be confined,[40] when craving and clinging cease or are confined, and nirvana is attained.[9] Nirvana refers to the moment of attainment itself, and the resulting peace of mind and happiness (khlesa-nirvana), but also to the final dissolution of the five skandhas at the time of death (skandha-nirvana or parinirvana); in the Theravada-tradition, it also refers to a transcendental reality which is "known at the moment of awakening."[84][85][86][87] According to Gethin, "modern Buddhist usage tends to restrict 'nirvāṇa' to the awakening experience and reserve 'parinirvāṇa' for the death experience.[88] When nirvana is attained, no more karma is being produced, and rebirth and dissatisfaction will no longer arise again.[note 5] Cessation is nirvana, "blowing out," and peace of mind.[90][91][92] Joseph Goldstein explains:

text: Ajahn Buddhadasa, a well-known Thai master of the last century, said that when village people in India were cooking rice and waiting for it to cool, they might remark, "Wait a little for the rice to become nibbana". So here, nibbana means the cool state of mind, free from the fires of the defilements. As Ajahn Buddhadasa remarked, "The cooler the mind, the more Nibbana in that moment". We can notice for ourselves relative states of coolness in our own minds as we go through the day.[92]

text: The truth of magga, refers to the path to the cessation of, or liberation from dukkha. By following the Noble Eightfold Path, to moksha, liberation,[65] restraining oneself, cultivating discipline, and practicing mindfulness and meditation, one starts to disengage from craving and clinging to impermanent states and things, and rebirth and dissatisfaction will be ended.[10][11] The term "path" is usually taken to mean the Noble Eightfold Path, but other versions of "the path" can also be found in the Nikayas.[93] The Theravada tradition regards insight into the four truths as liberating in itself.[28]

text: The well-known eightfold path consists of the understanding that this world is fleeting and unsatisfying, and how craving keeps us tied to this fleeting world; a friendly and compassionate attitude to others; a correct way of behaving; mind-control, which means not feeding on negative thoughts, and nurturing positive thoughts; constant awareness of the feelings and responses which arise; and the practice of dhyana, meditation.[93] The tenfold path adds the right (liberating) insight, and liberation from rebirth.[93][note 15]

text: The four truths are to be internalised, and understood or "experienced" personally, to turn them into a lived reality.[19][20]

text: Ending rebirth[edit]

text: The four truths describe dukkha and its ending as a means to reach peace of mind in this life, but also as a means to end rebirth.

text: According to Geoffrey Samuel, "the Four Noble Truths [...] describe the knowledge needed to set out on the path to liberation from rebirth."[65] By understanding the four truths, one can stop this clinging and craving, attain a pacified mind, and be freed from this cycle of rebirth and redeath.[web 2][6][note 1] Patrick Olivelle explains that moksha is a central concept in Indian religions, and "literally means freedom from samsara."[web 20][note 16] Melvin E. Spiro further explains that "desire is the cause of suffering because desire is the cause of rebirth."[66] When desire ceases, rebirth and its accompanying suffering ceases.[66][note 17] Peter Harvey explains:

text: Once birth has arisen, ‘ageing and death’, and various other dukkha states follow. While saying that birth is the cause of death may sound rather simplistic, in Buddhism it is a very significant statement; for there is an alternative to being born. This is to attain Nirvāna, so bringing an end to the process of rebirth and redeath. Nirvāna is not subject to time and change, and so is known as the ‘unborn’; as it is not born it cannot die, and so it is also known as the ‘deathless’. To attain this state, all phenomena subject to birth – the khandhas and nidānas – must be transcended by means of non-attachment.[94]

text: The last sermon, the Maha-parinibbana Sutta (Last Days of the Buddha, Digha Nikaya 16)", states it as follows:

text: [...] it is through not realizing, through not penetrating the Four Noble Truths that this long course of birth and death has been passed through and undergone by me as well as by you [...] But now, bhikkhus, that these have been realized and penetrated, cut off is the craving for existence, destroyed is that which leads to renewed becoming [rebirth], and there is no fresh becoming.[web 21]

text: Other interpretations[edit]

text: Some contemporary teachers tend to explain the four truths psychologically, by taking dukkha to mean mental anguish in addition to the physical pain of life,[95][96] and interpreting the four truths as a means to attain happiness in this life.[97] In the contemporary Vipassana movement that emerged out of the Theravada Buddhism, freedom and the "pursuit of happiness" have become the main goals, not the end of rebirth, which is hardly mentioned in their teachings.[98][note 18]

text: Yet, though freedom and happiness is a part of the Buddhist teachings, these words refer to something different in traditional Asian Buddhism. According to Fronsdal, "when Asian teachers do talk about freedom, it is primarily in reference to what one is free from—that is, from greed, hate, delusion, grasping, attachment, wrong view, self, and most significantly, rebirth".[99] Nibbana is the final freedom, and it has no purpose beyond itself. In contrast, freedom in the creative modern interpretation of Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path means living happily and wisely, "without drastic changes in lifestyle".[99] Such freedom and happiness is not the goal of Four Noble Truths and related doctrines within traditional Buddhism, but the vipassana teachings in the West make no reference to traditional Theravada doctrines, instead they present only the pragmatic and experiential goals in the form of therapy for the audience's current lives.[100] The creative interpretations are driven in part because the foundational premises of Buddhism do not make sense to audiences outside of Asia.[note 19][note 20] According to Spiro, "the Buddhist message is not simply a psychological message," but an eschatological message.[66]

text: Historical development in early Buddhism[edit]

text: According to Anderson, "the four truths are recognized as perhaps the most important teaching of the Buddha."[53] Yet, as early as 1935 Caroline Rhys Davids wrote that for a teaching so central to Theravada Buddhism, it was missing from critical passages in the Pali canon.[103] According to Gethin, the four truths and the eightfold path are only two lists of "literally hundreds of similar lists covering the whole range of the theory and practice of ancient Buddhism."[104] The position of the four truths within the canon raises questions, and has been investigated throughout the 19th and 20th century.[105]

text: Scholarly analysis of the oldest texts[edit]

text: According to academic scholars, inconsistencies in the oldest texts may reveal developments in the oldest teachings.[106][note 21] While the Theravada-tradition holds that the Sutta Pitaka is "the definitive recension of the Buddha-word,"[107] and Theravadins argue that it is likely that the sutras date back to the Buddha himself, in an unbroken chain of oral transmission,[web 23][web 24][note 22] academic scholars have identified many of such inconsistencies, and tried to explain them. Information of the oldest teachings of Buddhism, such as on the Four Noble Truths, has been obtained by analysis of the oldest texts and these inconsitencies, and are a matter of ongoing discussion and research.[19][108][109][110][note 23]

text: Development[edit]

text: Growing importance[edit]

text: According to Bronkhorst, the four truths may already have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, but did not have the central place they acquired in later buddhism.[117] According to Anderson, only by the time of the commentaries, in the fifth century CE, did the four truths come to be identified in the Theravada tradition as the central teaching of the Buddha.[26][note 24] According to Anderson,

text: ... the four noble truths were probably not part of the earliest strata of what came to be recognized as Buddhism, but that they emerged as a central teaching in a slightly later period that still preceded the final redactions of the various Buddhist canons.[118]

text: According to Feer and Anderson, the four truths probably entered the Sutta Pitaka from the Vinaya, the rules for monastic order.[119][note 25] They were first added to enlightenment-stories which contain the Four Jhanas, replacing terms for "liberating insight".[122][note 26] From there they were added to the biographical stories of the Buddha.[123][note 27]

text: Substituting "liberating insight"[edit]

text: Scholars have noted inconsistencies in the presentations of the Buddha's enlightenment, and the Buddhist path to liberation, in the oldest sutras. These inconsistencies show that the Buddhist teachings evolved, either during the lifetime of the Buddha, or thereafter.[note 21] According to the Japanese scholar Ui, the four truths are not the earliest representation of the Buddha's enlightenment. Instead, they are a rather late theory on the content of the Buddha's enlightenment.[125] According to Vetter and Bronkhorst, the earliest Buddhist path consisted of a set of practices which culminate in the practice of dhyana, leading to a calm of mind which according to Vetter is the liberation which is being sought.[126][25] Later on, "liberating insight" came to be regarded as equally liberating.[24][25] This "liberating insight" came to be exemplified by prajna, or the insight in the "four truths,"[24][25] but also by other elements of the Buddhist teachings.[126][127] According to Vetter and Bronkhorst, this growing importance of "liberating insight" was a response to other religious groups in India, which held that a liberating insight was indispensable for moksha, liberation from rebirth.[128][129][note 28] This change is reflected in the canon, where, according to Bronkhorst,

text: ...the accounts which include the Four Noble Truths had a completely different conception of the process of liberation than the one which includes the Four Dhyanas and the destruction of the intoxicants.[131]

text: The ideas on what exactly constituted this "liberating insight" was not fixed but developed over time.[126][127] According to Bronkhorst, in earliest Buddhism the four truths did not serve as a description of "liberating insight".[117] Initially the term prajna served to denote this "liberating insight." Later on, prajna was replaced in the suttas by the "four truths."[23][20] This happened in those texts where practicing the four jhanas preceded the attainment of "liberating insight," and where this practice of the four jhanas then culminates in "liberating insight."[132] This "liberating insight" came to be defined as "insight into the four truths," which is presented as the "liberating insight" which constituted the awakening, or "enlightenment" of the Buddha. When he understood these truths he was "enlightened" and liberated,[note 29] as reflected in Majjhima Nikaya 26:42: "his taints are destroyed by his seeing with wisdom."[136]

text: Oddly, the four truths refer here to the eightfold path as the means to gain liberation, while the attainment of insight into the four truths is portrayed as liberating in itself.[19] According to Bronkhorst, this is an inconsistency which reveals a change which took place over time in the composition of the sutras.[19] An example of this substitution, and its consequences, is Majjhima Nikaya 36:42-43, which gives an account of the awakening of the Buddha.[137]

text: The four truths were superseded by pratityasamutpada, and still later, in the Hinayana schools, by the doctrine of the non-existence of a substantial self or person.[138] Schmithausen states that still other descriptions of this "liberating insight" exist in the Buddhist canon:

text: "that the five Skandhas are impermanent, disagreeable, and neither the Self nor belonging to oneself";[note 30] "the contemplation of the arising and disappearance (udayabbaya) of the five Skandhas";[note 31] "the realisation of the Skandhas as empty (rittaka), vain (tucchaka) and without any pith or substance (asaraka).[note 32][139]

text: Acquiring the dhamma-eye and destroying the āsavās[edit]

text: In their symbolic function, the sutras present the insight into the four truths as the culmination of the Buddh's path to awakening. In the Vinayapitaka and the Sutta-pitaka they have the same symbolic function, in a reenactment by his listeners of the Buddha's awakening by attaining the dhamma-eye. In contrast, here this insight serves as the starting point to path-entry for his audience.[140][141] These sutras present a repeated sequence of events:[142]

text:
Annupubbikathā ("graduated talk"), in which the Buddha explains the four truths; this talk frees the listener from the hindrances;
This talk opens the dhammacakkhu ("dhamma eye"), and knowledge arises: "all that has the nature of arising has the nature of ending";[57][note 33]
The request to become a member of the Buddhist order;
A second talk by the Buddha, which destroys the āsavās, impurities;
The statement that "there are now x arahats in the world."

text: Yet, in other sutras, where the four truths have a propositional function, the comprehension of the four truths destroys the corruptions.[143] They do so in combination with the practice of the jhanas and the attainment of the divine eye, with which past lifes and the working of rebirth are being seen.[144]

text: According to Anderson, following Schmithausen and Bronkhorst, these two presentations give two different models of the path to liberation, reflecting their function as a symbol and as a proposition.[145] Most likely, the four truths were first associated with the culmination of the path in the destruction of the āsavās, where they substituted the unspecified "liberating insight"; as the canon developed, they became more logically associated with the beginning of the Buddhist path.[145][141]

text: Popularisation in the west[edit]

text: According to Anderson there is a strong tendency within scholarship to present the four truths as the most essential teaching of Buddhism.[32] According to Anderson, the four truths have been simplified and popularized in western writings, due to "the colonial project of gaining control over Buddhism."[146][147] According to Crosby, the Buddhist teachings are reduced to a "simple, single rationalized account," which has parallels in the reinterpretation of the Buddha in western literature.[146]

text: The presentation of the four truths as one of the most important teachings of the Buddha "has been [done] to reduce the four noble truths to a teaching that is accessible, pliable, and therefore readily appropriated by non-Buddhists."[148] There is a great variety of teachings in the Buddhist literature, which may be bewildering for those who are unaware of this variety.[32] The four truths are easily accessible in this regard, and are "readily [understood] by those outside the Buddhist traditions."[149] For example Walpola Rahula's What the Buddha Taught, a widely used introductory text for non-Buddhists, uses the four truths as a framework to present an overview of the Buddhist teachings.[148]

text: According to Harris, the British in the 19th century crafted new representations of Buddhism and the Buddha.[150] 19th century missionaries studied Buddhism, to be more effective in their missionary efforts.[151] The Buddha was de-mystified, and reduced from a "superhuman" to a "compassionate, heroic human," serving "western historical method and the missionary agenda of situating the Buddha firmly below the divine."[150] The four truths were discovered by the British by reading the Buddhist texts, and were not immediately granted the central position they later received.[150]

text: The writings of British missionaries show a growing emphasis on the four truths as being central to Buddhism, with somewhat different presentations of them.[31][note 34] This colonial project had a strong influence on some strands of Buddhism, culminating in socalled Protestant Buddhism, which incorporated several essentially Protestant attitudes regarding religion, such as the emphasis on written texts.[152][153][note 35] According to Gimello, Rahula's book is an example of this Protestant Budhism, and "was created in an accommodating response to western expectations, and in nearly diametrical opposition to Buddhism as it had actually been practised in traditional Theravada."[note 36]

text: Hendrick Kern proposed in 1882 that the model of the four truths may be an analogy with classical Indian medicine, in which the four truths function as a medical diagnosis, and the Buddha is presented as a physician.[155][note 37] Kern's analogy became rather popular,[155][note 38] but "there is not sufficient historical evidence to conclude that the Buddha deliberately drew upon a clearly defined medical model for his fourfold analysis of human pain."[155]

text: According to Anderson, those scholars who did not place the four truths at the center of Buddhism, either "located the four truths in a fuller reading of the Theravada canon and the larger context of South Asian literature," or "located the teaching within an experience of Buddhism as practiced in a contemporary setting."[162] According to Anderson, "these autors suggest a more complex reading of the four noble truths than those who locate the teaching as the key to or as a crucial element within the grand scheme of Buddhism."[162]

text: Appearance within the discourses[edit]

text: The developing Buddhist tradition inserted the four truths, using various formulations, at various sutras.[20] They are being used both as a symbol of all dhammas and the Buddha's awakening, and as a set of propositions which function within a matrix of teachings.[163] According to Anderson, there is no single way to understand the teachings; one teaching may be used to explain another teaching, and vice versa. The teachings form a network, which should be apprehended as such to understand how the various teachings intersect with each other.[164]

text: Symbolic function[edit]

text: Mahasaccaka Sutta[edit]

text: The Mahasaccaka Sutta ("The Greater Discourse to Saccaka", Majjhima Nikaya 36) gives one of several versions of the Buddha's way to liberation.[note 39] He attains the three knowledges, namely knowledge of his former lifes, knowledge of death and rebirth, and knowledge of the destruction of the taints,[note 40] the Four Noble Truths.[165] After going through the four dhyanas, and gaining the first two knowledges, the story proceeds:

text: I directed my mind to the knowledge of the destruction of the intoxicants [suffering ... origin ... cessation ... path] [intoxicants (asava) ... origin ... cessation ... path] My mind was liberated [...] the knowledge arose that it was liberated.[137]

text: Bronkhorst dismisses the first two knowledges as later additions, and proceeds to notice that the recognition of the intoxicants is modelled on the four truths. According to Bronkhorst, those are added the bridge the original sequence of "I directed my mind to the knowledge of the destruction of the intoxicants. My mind was liberated", which was interrupted by the addition of the four truths. Bronkhorst points out that those do not fit here, since the four truths culminate in the knowledge of the path to be followed, while the Buddha himself is already liberated at that point.[166]

text: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta[edit]

text: According to the Buddhist tradition, the first talk of Gautama Buddha after he attained enlightenment is recorded in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta ("Setting in Motion the Wheel of Dhamma", Samyutta Nikaya 56.11). The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta provides details on three stages in the understanding of each truth, for a total of twelve insights. The three stages for understanding each truth are:[167][168][169][170][171]

text:
sacca-ñāṇa - knowing the nature of the truth (e.g., acknowledgement, view, reflection)
kicca-ñāṇa - knowing what needs to be done in connection with that truth (e.g., practice; motivation; directly experiencing)
kata-ñāṇa - accomplishing what needs to be done (e.g., result, full understanding, knowing)

text: These three stages of understanding are emphasized particularly in the Theravada tradition, but they are also recognized by some contemporary Mahayana teachers.[171][172]

text: According to Cousins, many scholars are of the view that "this discourse was identified as the first sermon of the Buddha only at a later date."[34] According to Stephen Batchelor, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta contains incongruities, and states that

text: The First Discourse cannot be treated as a verbatim transcript of what the Buddha taught in the Deer Park, but as a document that has evolved over an unspecified period of time until it reached the form in which it is found today in the canons of the different Buddhist schools.[173]

text: According to Bronkhorst this "first sermon" is recorded in several sutras, with important variations.[131] In the Vinaya texts, and in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta which was influenced by the Vinaya texts, the four truths are included, and Kondañña is enlightened[131][174] when the "vision of Dhamma"[175] arises in him: "whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation."[note 41] Yet, in the Ariyapariyesanā Sutta ("The Noble Search", Majjhima Nikaya 26) the four truths are not included,[note 42] and the Buddha gives the five ascetics personal instructions in turn, two or three of them, while the others go out begging for food. The versions of the "first sermon" which include the four truths, such as the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, omit this instruction, showing that

text: ...the accounts which include the Four Noble Truths had a completely different conception of the process of liberation than the one which includes the Four Dhyanas and the subsequent destruction of the intoxicants.[131]

text: According to Bronkhorst, this indicates that the four truths were later added to earlier descriptions of liberation by practicing the four dhyanas, which originally was thought to be sufficient for the destruction of the arsavas.[131] Anderson, following Norman, also thinks that the four truths originally were not part of this sutta, and were later added in some versions.[35][note 43]

text: According to Bronkhorst, the "twelve insights" are probably also a later addition, born out of unease with the substitution of the general term "prajna" for the more specific "four truths".[179]

text: Maha-parinibbana Sutta[edit]

text: According to the Buddhist tradition, the Maha-parinibbana Sutta (Last Days of the Buddha, Digha Nikaya 16) was given near the end of the Buddha's life. This sutta "gives a good general idea of the Buddha's Teaching:"[web 19]

text: And the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus, saying: "Bhikkhus, it is through not realizing, through not penetrating the Four Noble Truths that this long course of birth and death has been passed through and undergone by me as well as by you. What are these four? They are the noble truth of suffering; the noble truth of the origin of suffering; the noble truth of the cessation of suffering; and the noble truth of the way to the cessation of suffering. But now, bhikkhus, that these have been realized and penetrated, cut off is the craving for existence, destroyed is that which leads to renewed becoming, and there is no fresh becoming."

text: Thus it was said by the Blessed One. And the Happy One, the Master, further said:

text: Propositional function[edit]

text: Maha-salayatanika Sutta[edit]

text: The Maha-salayatanika Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya 149:3 plus 149:9, give an alternative presentation of the four truths:

text:
When one abides inflamed by lust, fettered, infatuated, contemplating gratification, [...] [o]ne's bodily and mental troubles increase, one's bodily and mental torments increase, one's bodily and mental fevers increase, and one experiences bodily and mental suffering.

...when one does not know and see as it actually is [the feeling] felt as pleasant or painful or neither painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact as condition, then one is inflamed by lust for the eye, for forms, for eye-consciousness, for eye-contact, for [the feeling] felt as pleasant or painful or neither painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact as condition [repeated for the nose, tongue, body, mind].

When one abides uninflamed by lust, unfettered, uninfatuated, contemplating danger [...] one's craving [...] is abandoned. One's bodily and mental troubles are abandoned, one's bodily and mental torments are abandoned, one's bodily and mental fevers are abandoned, and one experiences bodily and mental pleasure.

...when one knows and see as it actually is [the feeling] felt as pleasant or painful or neither painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact as condition, then one is not inflamed by lust for the eye, for forms, for eye-consciousness, for eye-contact, for [the feeling] felt as pleasant or painful or neither painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact as condition [repeated for the nose, tongue, body, mind].[180]

text: Emphasis within different traditions[edit]

text: Early Indian Buddhism[edit]

text: The Ekavyāvahārika sect emphasized the transcendence of the Buddha, asserting that he was eternally enlightened and essentially non-physical. According to the Ekavyāvahārika, the words of the Buddha were spoken with one transcendent meaning, and the Four Noble Truths are to be understood simultaneously in one moment of insight.[181] According to the Mahīśāsaka sect, the Four Noble Truths should be meditated upon simultaneously.[182]

text: Theravada[edit]

text: According to Carol Anderson, the four truths have "a singular position within the Theravada canon and tradition."[27] The Theravada tradition regards insight in the four truths as liberating in itself.[28] As Walpola Rahula states, "when the Truth is seen, all the forces which feverishly produce the continuity of samsara in illusion become calm and incapable of producing any more karma-formations [...] he is free from [...] the 'thirst' for becoming."[web 26][note 44] This liberation can be attained in one single moment, when the four truths are understood together.[28] Within the Theravada tradition, great emphasis is placed upon reading and contemplating The Discourse That Sets Turning the Wheel of Truth, and other suttas, as a means to study the four noble truths and put them into practice.[183] For example, Ajahn Sumedho states:

text: The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, the Buddha's teaching on the Four Noble Truths, has been the main reference that I have used for my practice over the years. It is the teaching we used in our monastery in Thailand. The Theravada school of Buddhism regards this sutta as the quintessence of the teachings of the Buddha. This one sutta contains all that is necessary for understanding the Dhamma and for enlightenment."[184]

text: Within the Theravada-tradition, three different stances on nirvana and the question what happens with the Arhat after death can be found.[84][85][86][87] Nirvana refers to the cessation of the defilements and the resulting peace of mind and happiness (khlesa-nirvana); to the final dissolution of the five skandhas at the time of death (skandha-nirvana or parinirvana); and to a transcendental reality which is "known at the moment of awakening."[84][note 45] According to Gethin, "modern Buddhist usage tends to restrict 'nirvāṇa' to the awakening experience and reserve 'parinirvāṇa' for the death experience.[88] According to Geisler and Amano, in the "minimal Theravada interpretation", nirvana is a psychological state, which ends with the dissolution of the body and the total extinction of existence.[85][87] According to Geisler and Amano, the "orthodox Theravada interpretation" is that nirvana is a transcendent reality with which the self unites.[87] According to Bronkhorst, while "Buddhism preached liberation in this life, i.e. before death,"[185] there was also a tendency in Buddhism to think of liberation happening after death. According to Bronkhorst, this

text: ...becomes visible in those canonical passages which distinguish between Nirvana - qualified in Sanskrit and pali as 'without a remainder of upadhi/upadi (anupadhisesa/anupadisesa) - and the 'highest and complete enlightenment'(anuttara samyaksambodhi/sammasambodhi). The former occurs at death, the latter in life.[186]

text: According to Walpola Rahula, the cessation of dukkha is nirvana, the summum bonum of Buddhism, and is attained in this life, not when one dies.[web 26] Nirvana is "perfect freedom, peace, tranquility and happiness,"[web 28][web 26] and "Absolute Truth," which simply is.[web 26][note 46] Jayatilleke also speaks of "the attainment of an ultimate reality."[188] According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, the "elimination of craving culminates not only in the extinction of sorrow, anguish and distress, but in the unconditioned freedom of nibbana, which is won with the ending of reapeated rebirth."[191]

text: According to Spiro, most (lay) Theravada Buddhists do not aspire for nirvana and total extinction, but for a pleasurable rebirth in heaven.[192] According to Spiro, this presents a "serious conflict" since the Buddhist texts and teaching "describe life as suffering and hold up nirvana as the summum bonum."[193] In response to this deviation, "monks and others emphasize that the hope for nirvana is the only legitimate action for Buddhist action."[193] Nevertheless, according to Spiro most Burmese lay Buddhists do not aspire for the extinction of existence which is nirvana.[193][note 20]

text: According to B.R. Ambedkar, the Indian Buddhist Dalit leader, the four truths were not part of the original teachings of the Buddha, but a later aggregation, due to Hindu influences.[194] According to Ambedkar, total cessation of suffering is an illusion; yet, the Buddhist Middle Path aims at the reduction of suffering and the maximizing of happiness, balancing both sorrow and happiness.[195]

text: According to Paauk Sayadaw, the Myanmar Buddhist Monk, You have to concur and know the First Noble Truth Dukkha Thitsar(Pali). The Dukkha is arising and diminishing while you are meditating, contemplating, and focusing.[196]

text: Mahayana[edit]

text: The four truths are less prominent in the Mahayana traditions, which emphasize insight into sunyata and the Bodhisattva-path as a central elements in their teachings.[29] If the sutras in general are studied at all, it is through various Mahayana commentaries.[197]

text: According to Makransky the Mahayana Bodhisattva ideal created tensions in the explanation of the four truths.[198] In the Mahayana view, a fully enligtened Buddha does not leave samsara, but remains in the world out of compassion with all sentient beings.[199] The four truths, which aim at ending samsara, do not provide a doctrinal basis for this view, and had to be reinterpreted.[199] In the old view, klesas and karma are the cause of prolonged existence. According to Makransky, "[t]o remove those causes was, at physical death, to extinquish one's conditioned existence, hence to end forever one's participation in the world (Third Truth)."[199] According to Makransky, the question how a liberated being can stiil be "pervasively operative in this world" has been "a seminal source of ongoing doctrinal tension over Buddhahood throughout the history of the Mahayana in India and Tibet."[30]

text: Tibetan Buddhism[edit]

text: Atisha, in his Bodhipathapradīpa ("A Lamp for the Path to Awakening"), which forms the basis for the Lamrim tradition, discerns three levels of motivation for Buddhist practitioners.[200] At the beginning level of motivation, one strives toward a better life in samsara.[200] At the intermediate level, one strives to a liberation from existence in samsara and the end of all suffering.[201] At the highest level of motivation, one strives after the liberation of all living beings.[200] In his commentary on the text, Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche explains that the four truths are to be meditated upon as a means of practice for the intermediate level.[202]

text: According to Geshe Tashi Tsering, within Tibetan Buddhism, the four noble truths are studied as part of the Bodhisattva path. They are explained in Mahayana commentaries such as the Abhisamayalamkara, a summary of and commentary on the Prajna Paramitra sutras, where they form part of the lower Hinayana teachings. The truth of the path (the fourth truth) is traditionally presented according to a progressive formula of five paths, rather than as the eightfold path presented in Theravada.[203] According to Tsering, the study of the four truths is combined with the study of the sixteen characteristics of the four noble truths.[204]

text: Some contemporary Tibetan Buddhist teachers have provided commentary on the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta and the noble eightfold path when presenting the dharma to Western students.[205][206][207]

text: Nichiren Buddhism[edit]

text: Nichiren Buddhism is based on the teaching of the Japanese priest and teacher Nichiren, who believed that the Lotus Sūtra contained the essence of all of Gautama Buddha's teachings.[web 30] The third chapter of the Lotus Sutra states that the Four Noble Truths was the early teaching of the Buddha, while the Dharma of the Lotus is the "most wonderful, unsurpassed great Dharma."[web 31] The teachings on the four noble truths are a provisional teaching, which Shakyamuni Buddha taught according to the people’s capacity, while the Lotus Sutra is a direct statement of Shakyamuni’s own enlightenment.[web 32]

text: Western Buddhism[edit]

text: For many western Buddhists, the rebirth doctrine in the Four Noble Truths teaching is a problematic notion.[208][209][210][web 33][note 47] According to Lamb, "Certain forms of modern western Buddhism [...] see it as purely mythical and thus a dispensable notion."[210] According to Coleman, the focus of most vipassana students in the west "is mainly on meditation practice and a kind of down-to-earth psychological wisdom."[211][note 48] According to Damien Keown, westerners find "the ideas of karma and rebirth puzzling."[212] According to Gowans, many Western followers and people interested in exploring Buddhism are skeptical and object to the belief in karma and rebirth foundational to the Four Noble Truths.[213][note 49] According to Konik,

text: Since the fundamental problems underlying early Indian Buddhism and contemporary western Buddhism are not the same, the validity of applying the set of solutions developed by the first to the situation of the second becomes a question of great importance. Simply putting an end to rebirth would not necessarily strike the western Buddhist as the ultimate answer, as it certainly was for early Indian Buddhists.[208]

text: According to Keown, it is possible to reinterpret the Buddhist doctrines such as the Four Noble Truths, since the final goal and the answer to the problem of suffering is nirvana, and not rebirth.[212] Some Western interpreters have proposed what is sometimes referred to as "naturalized Buddhism". It is devoid of rebirth, karma, nirvana, realms of existence, and other concepts of Buddhism, with doctrines such as the Four Noble Truths reformulated and restated in modernistic terms.[214][215][note 50][note 51] This "deflated secular Buddhism" stresses compassion, impermanence, causality, selfless persons, no Boddhisattvas, no nirvana, no rebirth, and a naturalists approach to well-being of oneself and others.[218]

text: According to Melford Spiro, this approach undermines the Four Noble Truths, for it does not address the existential question for the Buddhist as to "why live? why not commit suicide, hasten the end of dukkha in current life by ending life". In traditional Buddhism, rebirth continues the dukkha and the path to cessation of dukkha isn't suicide, but the fourth reality of the Four Noble Truths.[218] The "naturalized Buddhism", according to Gowans, is a radical revision to traditional Buddhist thought and practice, and it attacks the structure behind the hopes, needs and rationalization of the realities of human life to traditional Buddhists in East, Southeast and South Asia.[214] According to Keown, it may not be necessary to believe in some of the core Buddhist doctrines to be a Buddhist, but the rebirth, karma, realms of existence and cyclic universe doctrines underpin the Four Noble Truths in Buddhism.[212]

text: Traditional Buddhist scholars disagree with these modernist Western interpretations. Bhikkhu Bodhi, for example, states that rebirth is an integral part of the Buddhist teachings as found in the sutras, despite the problems that "modernist interpreters of Buddhism" seem to have with it.[web 33][note 52] Thanissaro Bhikkhu, as another example, rejects the "modern argument" that "one can still obtain all the results of the practice without having to accept the possibility of rebirth." He states, "rebirth has always been a central teaching in the Buddhist tradition."[web 34][note 53][note 54]

text: According to Owen Flanagan, the Dalai Lama states that "Buddhists believe in rebirth" and that this belief has been common among his followers. However, the Dalai Lama's belief, adds Flanagan, is more sophisticated than ordinary Buddhists, because it is not same as reincarnation, rebirth in Buddhism is envisioned as happening without an assumption of an "atman, self, soul", rather through a "consciousness conceived along the anatman lines".[219][note 55] The doctrine of rebirth is considered mandatory in Tibetan Buddhism, and across many Buddhist sects.[221]

text: According to Christopher Gowans, for "most ordinary Buddhists, today as well as in the past, their basic moral orientation is governed by belief in karma and rebirth".[213] Buddhist morality hinges on the hope of well being in this lifetime or in future rebirth, with nirvana (enlightenment) a project for a future lifetime. A denial of karma and rebirth undermines their history, moral orientation and religious foundations.[213] According to Keown, most Buddhists in Asia do accept these traditional teachings, and seek better rebirth.[212][note 57]


document_title: Manchester derby

question_text: who won the match between manchester united and manchester city

root

text: Manchester derby

text: History[edit]

text: The first meeting between the two teams occurred on 12 November 1881, when St. Mark's (West Gorton) – who would later become Manchester City – hosted Newton Heath LYR – who would later become Manchester United. The game finished 3–0 in favour of Newton Heath and was described by the Ashton Reporter as "a pleasant game".[1] At this time, the clubs were just two of many fledgling sides in the Manchester area, and the fixture had no special significance. Both clubs grew in stature as the 1880s progressed, leading to their first meeting of the 1890s being billed as "a meeting of two local clubs, [Ardwick (City)] just rising to the highest standard in the football world whilst [Newton Heath] are nearly in the front rank".[2] The pair became the dominant teams in the Manchester area; the winner of the Manchester Cup was either Newton Heath or Ardwick every year between 1888 and 1893. Both teams joined the Football Alliance, a short-lived rival to the Football League. During this period both clubs made unsuccessful attempts to gain election to the League (Newton Heath in 1889, 1890 and 1891; Ardwick in 1891). Admission to the Football League finally came in 1892. Newton Heath joined the First Division, and Ardwick the new Second Division.[3]

tag: p

text: Early years[edit]

text: The first Football League meeting between the teams came in the 1894–95 season, Newton Heath beating Manchester City 5–2 at Hyde Road. The first meeting between the clubs to take place at the highest level of English football occurred in December 1906, a 3–0 City win in a First Division match for which the gate receipts exceeded £1,000, a very large figure for the era.[4] At this time City were suffering the after-effects of a financial scandal in which the club were found guilty of making off-balance sheet payments to players. As a result, seventeen players were suspended and banned from ever representing the club again,[5] including the core of the team which had won the 1904 FA Cup. When the suspensions ended in January 1907, four players (Jimmy Bannister, Herbert Burgess, Billy Meredith and Sandy Turnbull) joined United, where they helped United gain their first league title in 1908. In contrast to modern antipathy, the transfers were generally welcomed for helping a fellow Manchester club.[6] The following season Turnbull became the first player to be sent off in a derby.[7]

text: Before the Second World War, many football supporters in Manchester watched City one week and United the next. After the war, a stronger rivalry developed and following both teams became uncommon.

text: Floodlights[edit]

text: The first floodlit Manchester derby was played on 26 February 1889 at the Belle Vue Athletic Ground. Wells electric lights were placed around the ground and a crowd of 10,000 watched Newton Heath defeat Ardwick 3–2. The match was played in aid of the Hyde Coal Mine disaster.[8]

text: The first competitive floodlit derby was the 1956 FA Charity Shield match, as Manchester United were defending league champions and Manchester City were FA Cup holders.[9] The game was a break with tradition as Charity Shield games were typically played at the home ground of the League Champions, but as Old Trafford had yet to install lights, the game was played at Maine Road.

text: The 1970s[edit]

text: Manchester derbies in the 1970s were frequently bad tempered. In the December 1970 derby, a tackle by United's George Best broke the leg of City's Glyn Pardoe; the severity of the injury almost resulted in the City defender losing his leg.[10] The following season, an entertaining 3–3 draw saw Francis Lee accuse George Best of diving and emphasised the point to the referee by throwing himself theatrically to the floor. The first derby of the 1973–74 season saw Mike Doyle and Lou Macari each receive a red card in a dour contest which finished 0–0 at Maine Road. Both players refused to leave the pitch, leading the referee to take both teams back to the dressing room until the two players accepted their dismissals.[11]

text: The Denis Law game[edit]

text: The return fixture came at Old Trafford on the penultimate day of the season (United still had an away game to play at Stoke) with United trying to avoid relegation with a win, although they were also relying on Norwich beating Birmingham that day for their result to matter. After 80 minutes, with no score, Francis Lee played the ball towards former United player Denis Law who was standing with his back to goal. Law back-heeled the ball past goalkeeper Alex Stepney into the net. This was Law's last appearance in league football, announcing his retirement soon after. In the closing minutes of the match, United supporters invaded the pitch and forced an abandonment. However, the result stood, and other results meant that United would have still been relegated if the match had ended in a United win or a draw.

text: United returned to the First Division a year later. The rest of the decade brought generally good fortunes for the two sides, as City won the League Cup in 1976 and were league runners-up a year later, while United reached three FA Cup finals in four seasons, although they had only one win in the competition.

text: The 1980s[edit]

text: The 1980s began with a 2–2 draw at Old Trafford between the two sides on 27 September 1980. It was the beginning of a relatively frustrating season in the league for United, who sacked manager Dave Sexton at the end of the campaign, while City dismissed manager Malcolm Allison soon afterwards and improved in the league under his successor John Bond, also reaching the FA Cup Final.[12]

text: By 1982–83, however, any suggestions that City were a better side than United were silenced as United finished third in the league and won the FA Cup, while City were relegated. The Old Trafford derby on 23 October 1982 ended in a 2–2 draw, but United won the return game at Maine Road 2–1 on 5 March 1983.[13]

text: City regained their First Division status for the 1985–86 season, and hosted United at Maine Road on 14 September 1985. United won this game 3–0, to extend their winning start to the league season to eight games. They would go on to win all of their opening 10 games and lead the First Division table into the new year, but eventually finished fourth. Although City finished 15th in the league this season, they did come to Old Trafford on 22 March 1986 and hold the hosts to a 2–2 draw, costing them two vital points as their title hopes continued to fade.[14]

text: 1986–87 brought relegation for City, while United finished 11th in a season which saw them replace Ron Atkinson with Alex Ferguson as manager on 6 November 1986. One of Atkinson's last games in charge of United was the visit to Maine Road in the league on 25 October, which ended in a 1–1 draw. Alex Ferguson first faced City as United manager on 10 January 1987 in the third round of the FA Cup, which United won 1–0. The league clash at Old Trafford came on 7 March 1987, which United won 2–0 to continue their improvement in form under Ferguson and push City closer to eventual relegation.[15]

text: The 1980s ended on a high note for City as they won promotion back to the First Division in 1989 and were paired with United for the derby match at Maine Road on 23 September 1989, just weeks into the 1989–90 season. City defeated United 5–1, but this would be their last win over United for 13 years.[16]

text: The 1990s[edit]

text: Goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who played for both United and City, can claim an unbeaten record in derby games – United were unbeaten during his 10 matches keeping goal for them against City, while in his single season at Maine Road, City beat United at home and picked up a point at Old Trafford.

text: However, in the 1990s, United dominated the fixture, going unbeaten in derbies for the full decade. In 1990–91, with both Manchester clubs competing in the top half of the table but not looking like real title contenders, the Maine Road clash in October delivered a pulsating 3–3 draw, but the return match at Old Trafford in early May saw United win 1–0 and the only goal of the game came from 17-year-old winger Ryan Giggs, scoring the first senior goal of what would prove to be an illustrious and uniquely successful career. The 1991–92 derbies were uneventful – a goalless draw at Maine Road in mid-November and a 1–1 draw at Old Trafford in early April. United finished the season runners-up after leading the league for much of the season, finally buckling under fixture congestion and a shortage of goals in the second half of the campaign.

text: The first Manchester derby following the creation of the Premier League for the 1992–93 season was a 2–1 win for United at Old Trafford on 6 December 1992. Making his United debut on that day was new signing Eric Cantona, who would go on to score eight goals in Manchester derbies over the next four seasons – the first in the return match at Maine Road that March which ended in a 1–1 draw. 1993–94 saw one of the finest Manchester derbies ever, when United overturned a 2–0 deficit at Maine Road to win 3–2, with Eric Cantona scoring twice. Cantona scored a double on St George's Day as United won 2–0 at Old Trafford. Cantona was on target again in the next Manchester derby in November 1994, though it was Andrei Kanchelskis who stole the show with a hat-trick in a 5–0 win. United won the return game 3–0 at Maine Road three months later. 1995–96 was the last season of the millennium which brought a Manchester derby, as City were relegated at the end of the season. The first derby of the season came at Old Trafford in mid-October with a 1–0 win for United in which Paul Scholes, still only 20, scored the only goal of the game and only a string of superb saves from United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel prevented City from gaining a surprise win. The return game in early April saw United win 3–2 at Maine Road, with yet another goal from Cantona, who had netted a highly controversial penalty after Uwe Rosler had put City 1–0 FA Cup fifth round two months earlier, which United went on to win 2–1.

text: The 2000s[edit]

text: Three years later, in the first Old Trafford derby of the new millennium in April 2001, saw the culmination of a long-standing feud between Roy Keane and Alf-Inge Håland, which Keane received a red card for making a knee-high tackle on Håland. The feud started in 1998, when United captain Keane suffered a cruciate ligament injury when he fouled Håland (then playing for Leeds, a team that also have an unpleasant rivalry with United). As Keane lay on the ground, Håland accused him of feigning injury. The game ended in a 1–1 draw; United were already league champions and City's two dropped points brought them closer to eventual relegation, which was confirmed in the penultimate game of the season. It was the first time in nine years that City had come away from Old Trafford unbeaten, and the first time in eight years that they had been unbeaten by United home or away in any competition.

text: In his autobiography, published in 2002, Keane admitted that the challenge was a premeditated attempt to injure, an admission which resulted in a £150,000 fine and a five-match ban during the autumn of that year.

text: On 9 November 2002, City, managed by Kevin Keegan, won the last ever derby at Maine Road 3–1, with Shaun Goater scoring his 100th and 101st goals for the club, and Nicolas Anelka scoring the other. This was City's first win over United since the 5–1 victory in 1989, ending a 13-year barren run for the blue half of Manchester. City would later go on to draw at Old Trafford in the same season 1–1, Shaun Goater again scoring the goal. This was the first season since 1991–92 that City had been unbeaten by United in either of their league meetings.

text: Goater also had a second goal disallowed for handball, which would have handed City their first derby double over United since 1970 and their first win at Old Trafford since the "Denis Law game" of 1974. City followed this up by winning the first ever derby match at their new stadium, the City of Manchester Stadium, 4–1, with goals from Robbie Fowler, Jon Macken, Trevor Sinclair and Shaun Wright-Phillips.

text: The 2007–08 derby games were both won by Manchester City, 1–0 at the City of Manchester Stadium on 19 August 2007, and 2–1 at Old Trafford on 10 February 2008 (four days after the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster; a well-observed one-minute silence preceded the match). Darius Vassell and Benjani scored for City in the 24th and 45th minutes respectively, and Michael Carrick scored a consolation goal for United in the 90th minute. It was the first time since April 1974 that City had beaten United in the league at Old Trafford and the first time they had won both league derby games since the 1969–70 season. United prevented City from winning a third consecutive derby match in the first derby of the 2008–09 season, Wayne Rooney scoring the game's only goal. Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off in the same game for a bizarre handball. Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez then scored in the return match at Old Trafford to give United a 2–0 win.

text: 2010 onwards[edit]

text: The seasons following City's big money takeover, in 2008–09, saw two well-contested semi-final fixtures (League Cup and FA Cup) between the clubs. Controversy was generated prior to the start of the 2009–10 season, when City signed Carlos Tevez after his contract with United ended, and erected a billboard reading "Welcome to Manchester" at the top of Deansgate. The billboard provoked Alex Ferguson into claiming City were a "small club with a small mentality"[17] and subsequently called them "noisy neighbours"[18] during the season.

text: The 2009–10 season featured some tense matches, including two League Cup semi-final legs. Sir Alex Ferguson proclaimed the 2009–10 Manchester derby at Old Trafford as "probably [...] the best derby of all time".[19] Manchester United won this game 4–3 after Manchester City had equalised three times only for Michael Owen to score the winning goal after 95 minutes.[20] The match was voted the greatest Premier League game at the Premier League 20 Seasons Awards in 2012.[21] The sides were drawn against each other in the League Cup semi-finals, meaning a further two games. City won the first leg 2–1 after overturning a 1–0 deficit made by Ryan Giggs with goals from Carlos Tevez. United went 2–0 up in the second leg via Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick before Tevez made it 2–1, levelling the tie and setting the game up for extra time. However, Rooney scored a stoppage time header which won the tie for United and took them to their second consecutive League Cup final. On 17 April 2010, United beat City 1–0 thanks to a 90th minute Scholes goal, but the victory was to little avail as it was not enough to help United chase Chelsea down to win the Premier League title, pipping United by a point.

text: The 2010–11 season featured three Manchester derbies, with one victory for United, one draw and one victory for City. The victory for United was at Old Trafford, where Wayne Rooney defined the game through a spectacular bicycle kick, this game gave United some space to overcome the rest of the season and get their 19th league title. City's win came in the FA Cup semi-final, knocking United out on the way to their ninth FA Cup Final, and their first trophy since 1976. Consequently, the Community Shield that began the 2011–12 season was a Manchester derby, as United won the league the same day City won the FA Cup, 14 May. United won the Community Shield 3–2 at Wembley, coming from two goals behind to clinch the Shield in stoppage time.

text: On 23 October 2011, Manchester City beat United 6–1 at Old Trafford, giving the latter their first defeat of the season. Jonny Evans was sent off in the 47th minute after fouling Mario Balotelli, with the score at 1–0 to City. United pulled a goal back at 3–0 down before three goals for City sealed their victory. The 6–1 score was the biggest defeat suffered by Manchester United against City at Old Trafford since the 5–0 loss in 1955. It was also the first time since 1926 that City had scored six at Old Trafford, when the score that day also finished 6–1.

text: United and City met for the third time in the season in the third round of the FA Cup, resulting in a 3–2 win for United. The scoring opened in the tenth minute as Wayne Rooney headed neatly past stand-in keeper Costel Pantilimon, before Vincent Kompany received a red card in the 12th minute for a challenge on Nani. United went 3–0 up by half time, and successfully battled off a second half comeback from City in which they scored twice. The game was notable for the re-emergence of Paul Scholes, who came out of retirement and replaced Nani in the 59th minute.

text: City beat United 1–0 at the City of Manchester Stadium on 30 April 2012, with Vincent Kompany scoring a header just before the half-time whistle.[22] There was also a spat between City boss Roberto Mancini and Sir Alex Ferguson after a challenge on Danny Welbeck by Nigel de Jong. Ferguson claimed that Mancini harangued the fourth official Mike Jones throughout the match, while Mancini laughed off the incident, sarcastically claiming Ferguson never talks to, or harangues the referee –[23] an offence Ferguson has been found guilty of on numerous occasions, most recently in 2011 for which he received a five-match ban.[24] Consequently, the win put City top of the league on goal difference after being 8 points behind in the league in March.[25] Only two wins against Newcastle United and Queens Park Rangers were required for City to win the league, which they subsequently achieved. City ultimately won the last six league matches to clinch the league title on goal difference – the first time a tie-breaker was used to decide the championship since 1988–89, and repeated the 1967–68 league season, when City pipped United to the title after both teams went into their final games level on points.

text: The first Manchester derby of the 2012–13 season was won by Manchester United in the dying minutes of the game. United went ahead with two early goals from Wayne Rooney, before City came back and levelled the match with goals from Yaya Touré and the equaliser from Pablo Zabaleta in the 86th minute. Robin van Persie scored from a free kick that took a deflection off of Samir Nasri in the 92nd minute, to seal the win and three points in the league. Manchester United's victory ended Manchester City's run of being unbeaten in 37 games.[26] During the celebrations following the late winner by Robin van Persie, Rio Ferdinand was hit by a coin thrown by a fan, causing Ferdinand to suffer an injury near his left eye. Another fan invaded the pitch and attempted to confront Ferdinand, only to be restrained by Joe Hart. City won the second derby of the season at Old Trafford, the first time they had won two away derbies in a row since the 1970s.[citation needed]

text: The first Manchester derby of the 2013–14 season was won by City 4–1 at the City of Manchester Stadium on 22 September 2013. Sergio Agüero opened the scoring on the 16th minute followed by a goal from Yaya Touré just before half-time. In the second half, Agüero scored his second followed by a Samir Nasri goal three minutes later. Wayne Rooney scored a late free kick for United as a consolation goal. It was the first time in 26 years that the Derby had been contested by two new managers: Manuel Pellegrini for Manchester City and David Moyes for Manchester United. Manchester City went on to do the double over United with a third consecutive win at Old Trafford on 25 March 2014, and won the Premier League for the second time in three seasons. During the 2014–15 season, City defeated United 1–0 at City of Manchester Stadium in November 2014,[27] but United won their next encounter at Old Trafford in April 2015 with a final score of 4–2, a game which City goalkeeper Joe Hart dubbed "one of my worst days in a Man City shirt".[28]

text: The first derby of the 2015–16 campaign, contested at Old Trafford, ended in a 0–0 draw. This was the first time the derby had ended without any goals since 2010. United won the second derby of the season, hosted at the City of Manchester Stadium, after Marcus Rashford scored the only goal of the game at the 16-minute mark.[29]

text: Both clubs had managerial changes prior to the start of the 2016–17 campaign, with José Mourinho taking over Manchester United and Pep Guardiola taking over Manchester City. City took the bragging rights that season, winning 2–1 at Old Trafford on 10 September[30] before a goalless draw at the City of Manchester Stadium on 27 April in which Marouane Fellaini was sent off for headbutting Sergio Agüero.[31] In the 2017–18 season, City won 2–1 at Old Trafford for the second year in a row on 10 December,[32] and had the chance to win the league with victory over United at the City of Manchester Stadium on 7 April. They led 2–0 at half-time, but two goals from Paul Pogba and one from Chris Smalling meant City had to wait to secure the title;[33] however, City's victory against Tottenham the following weekend, combined with a defeat for United against West Bromwich Albion the next day, meant City won the title with five games to play.[34]

text: Statistics[edit]

text: As of 7 April 2018, there have been 176 competitive meetings between the teams. United have won 73, City 51 and the remaining 52 games finished as draws.

text: The biggest victories have been to City, who have won 6–1 on two occasions in the official league (both times in the away fixture at Old Trafford); on 23 January 1926 and 23 October 2011. But on 14 April 1941, during a war league derby match at Maine Road, United beat City 7–1,[35] which remains the biggest victory between the two sides overall, this result has been omitted as the official league was suspended but the derby still continued. Both teams have won 5–0 once (City in 1955, United in 1994). The largest attendance for a Manchester derby was 78,000 on 20 September 1947,[35] a time when both clubs were playing at Maine Road, as Old Trafford was being repaired following damage sustained in the Second World War.

text: Statistics are correct as of 7 April 2018.

text:
Competition

Played

City

Draw

United

City goals

United goals

Premier League

42

13

8

21

55

63

Football League First Division

104

30

39

35

147

141

Football League Second Division

12

2

4

6

13

21

FA Cup

9

3

0

6

12

18

EFL Cup

7

3

1

3

11

9

FA Community Shield

2

0

0

2

2

4

Total

176

51

52

73

240

256

tag: table

text: Top goalscorers[36]

text:
Player

Club

Goals

 Wayne Rooney

Manchester United

11

 Joe Hayes

Manchester City

10

 Francis Lee

Manchester City

10

 Bobby Charlton

Manchester United

9

 Sergio Agüero

Manchester City

8

 Colin Bell

Manchester City

8

 Eric Cantona

Manchester United

8

 Brian Kidd

Manchester UnitedManchester City

8

 Joe Spence

Manchester United

8

 Paul Scholes

Manchester United

7

 Dennis Viollet

Manchester United

7

text: All statistics exclude the abandoned match from the 1960–61 season. Italics denote players still currently playing for either Manchester City or Manchester United.

text: Honours[edit]

text: City won their first honour in 1904 with victory in the FA Cup and United in 1908 with the Football League First Division title. There have been four occasions where City and United, finished champions and runners-up in the league, the 1967–68, 2011–12, 2012–13, and 2017–18 seasons. On the first two occasions City pipped United to the title in the last game of the season, with both teams going into their final games level on points. In 2013 United finished 11 points clear to clinch their 20th title. City finished 19 points clear in 2018, breaking a record set by United in 1999–2000 season. Three semi-finals (two in the FA Cup and one in the League Cup) have been played between both clubs, but they have never met in the final of any senior competition.

text:
Team

League

FA Cup

League Cup

Community Shield

European Cup/Champions League

UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

UEFA Super Cup

Intercontinental Cup

FIFA Club World Cup

Total

Manchester City[37]

5

5

5

4

0

0

1

0

0

0

20

Manchester United[38]

20

12

5

21

3

1

1

1

1

1

66

Combined

25

17

10

25

3

1

2

1

1

1

86

text:
(Charity/Community Shields includes shared honours after a drawn match, as per competition regulations prior to 1993)[39]
Manchester United = 17 outright, 4 shared

text: Non-competitive derbies[edit]

text: A large number of non-competitive Manchester derbies have taken place. The majority of these occurred during the Second World War, when a total of 44 matches were played between the teams. In recent years, non-competitive matches between the teams have generally been testimonials, such as those for Paul Lake and Denis Irwin. In 1978, for Colin Bell's testimonial, players from City and United lined up side by side against a combined Liverpool and Everton team in a Manchester v Merseyside fixture.

text: Matches between non-first team sides representing the Manchester clubs also have an element of rivalry, with occasions when the reserve teams meet sometimes referred to as "mini-derbies".[40] This term is also used in reference to when supporters' offshoot clubs (Maine Road F.C. and F.C. United of Manchester) meet. The two clubs have met twice, in the 2006–07 season, with FC United winning the inaugural match 2–1 away at Bower Fold, Stalybridge, in front of 3,181 spectators.[41] United also won the second game 3–0 at Gigg Lane, Bury in a game watched by 3,605.[42] A friendly in 2009 saw Maine Road win 2–1. F.C. United's games against Salford City have also been referred to as a "mini Manchester derby", especially since Salford's takeover by the Class of '92.[43]

text: A friendly match played on 20 July 2017 in Houston, Texas marked the first Manchester derby to be contested outside the United Kingdom.[44] The match, part of the 2017 International Champions Cup, ended with United winning 2–0 in front of 67,401 spectators.[45] A Manchester derby had been scheduled to take place in Beijing, China a year earlier as part of the 2016 International Champions Cup, but was cancelled due to extreme weather conditions.[46]

text: All-time results[edit]

text: League[edit]

text:
Manchester City vs Manchester United

Date

Venue

Score

Competition

Attendance

3 November 1894

Hyde Road

2–5

Second Division

14,000

7 December 1895

Hyde Road

2–1

Second Division

18,000

3 October 1896

Hyde Road

0–0

Second Division

20,000

25 December 1897

Hyde Road

0–1

Second Division

16,000

26 December 1898

Hyde Road

4–0

Second Division

25,000

10 April 1903

Hyde Road

0–2

Second Division

30,000

1 December 1906

Hyde Road

3–0

First Division

40,000

18 April 1908

Hyde Road

0–0

First Division

40,000

19 September 1908

Hyde Road

1–2

First Division

40,000

21 January 1911

Hyde Road

1–1

First Division

40,000

2 September 1911

Hyde Road

0–0

First Division

35,000

28 December 1912

Hyde Road

0–2

First Division

38,000

6 December 1913

Hyde Road

0–2

First Division

40,000

2 January 1915

Hyde Road

1–1

First Division

30,000

11 October 1919

Hyde Road

3–3

First Division

30,000

27 November 1920

Hyde Road

3–0

First Division

35,000

22 October 1921

Hyde Road

4–1

First Division

24,000

12 September 1925

Maine Road

1–1

First Division

62,994

12 September 1928

Maine Road

2–2

First Division

61,007

8 February 1930

Maine Road

0–1

First Division

64,472

4 October 1930

Maine Road

4–1

First Division

41,757

9 January 1937

Maine Road

1–0

First Division

64,862

20 September 1947

Maine Road

0–0

First Division

71,364

11 September 1948

Maine Road

0–0

First Division

64,502

31 December 1949

Maine Road

1–2

First Division

63,704

15 September 1951

Maine Road

1–2

First Division

52,571

30 August 1952

Maine Road

2–1

First Division

56,140

5 September 1953

Maine Road

2–0

First Division

53,097

25 September 1954

Maine Road

3–2

First Division

54,105

3 September 1955

Maine Road

1–0

First Division

59,162

2 February 1957

Maine Road

2–4

First Division

63,872

28 December 1957

Maine Road

2–2

First Division

70,483

27 September 1958

Maine Road

1–1

First Division

62,912

19 September 1959

Maine Road

3–0

First Division

58,300

4 March 1961

Maine Road

1–3

First Division

50,479

10 February 1962

Maine Road

0–2

First Division

49,959

15 May 1963

Maine Road

1–1

First Division

52,424

21 January 1967

Maine Road

1–1

First Division

62,983

30 September 1967

Maine Road

1–2

First Division

62,942

17 August 1968

Maine Road

0–0

First Division

63,052

15 November 1969

Maine Road

4–0

First Division

63,013

5 May 1971

Maine Road

3–4

First Division

43,626

6 November 1971

Maine Road

3–3

First Division

63,326

18 November 1972

Maine Road

3–0

First Division

52,050

13 March 1974

Maine Road

0–0

First Division

51,331

27 September 1975

Maine Road

2–2

First Division

50,182

25 September 1976

Maine Road

1–3

First Division

48,861

10 September 1977

Maine Road

3–1

First Division

50,856

10 February 1979

Maine Road

0–3

First Division

46,151

10 November 1979

Maine Road

2–0

First Division

50,067

21 February 1981

Maine Road

1–0

First Division

50,014

10 October 1981

Maine Road

0–0

First Division

52,037

5 March 1983

Maine Road

1–2

First Division

45,400

14 September 1985

Maine Road

0–3

First Division

48,773

26 October 1986

Maine Road

1–1

First Division

32,440

23 September 1989

Maine Road

5–1

First Division

43,246

27 October 1990

Maine Road

3–3

First Division

36,427

16 November 1991

Maine Road

0–0

First Division

38,180

20 March 1993

Maine Road

1–1

Premier League

37,136

7 November 1993

Maine Road

2–3

Premier League

35,155

11 February 1995

Maine Road

0–3

Premier League

26,368

6 April 1996

Maine Road

2–3

Premier League

29,668

18 November 2000

Maine Road

0–1

Premier League

34,429

9 November 2002

Maine Road

3–1

Premier League

34,649

14 March 2004

City of Manchester

4–1

Premier League

47,284

13 February 2005

City of Manchester

0–2

Premier League

47,111

14 January 2006

City of Manchester

3–1

Premier League

47,192

5 May 2007

City of Manchester

0–1

Premier League

47,244

19 August 2007

City of Manchester

1–0

Premier League

44,955

30 November 2008

City of Manchester

0–1

Premier League

47,320

17 April 2010

City of Manchester

0–1

Premier League

47,019

10 November 2010

City of Manchester

0–0

Premier League

47,679

30 April 2012

City of Manchester

1–0

Premier League

47,253

9 December 2012

City of Manchester

2–3

Premier League

47,166

22 September 2013

City of Manchester

4–1

Premier League

47,156

2 November 2014

City of Manchester

1–0

Premier League

45,358

20 March 2016

City of Manchester

0–1

Premier League

54,557

27 April 2017

City of Manchester

0–0

Premier League

54,176

7 April 2018

City of Manchester

2–3

Premier League

54,259

City wins

Draws

United wins

25

25

29

Manchester United vs Manchester City

Date

Venue

Score

Competition

Attendance

1 January 1895

Bank Street

4–1

Second Division

12,000

5 October 1895

Bank Street

1–1

Second Division

18,000

25 December 1896

Bank Street

2–1

Second Division

20,000

16 October 1897

Bank Street

1–1

Second Division

40,000

10 September 1898

Bank Street

3–0

Second Division

40,000

25 December 1902

Bank Street

1–1

Second Division

35,000

6 April 1907

Bank Street

1–1

First Division

40,000

21 December 1907

Bank Street

3–1

First Division

35,000

23 January 1909

Bank Street

3–1

First Division

40,000

17 September 1910

Old Trafford

2–1

First Division

60,000

30 December 1911

Old Trafford

0–0

First Division

50,000

7 September 1912

Old Trafford

0–1

First Division

40,000

11 April 1914

Old Trafford

0–1

First Division

36,000

5 September 1914

Old Trafford

0–0

First Division

20,000

18 October 1919

Old Trafford

1–0

First Division

40,000

20 November 1920

Old Trafford

1–1

First Division

63,000

29 October 1921

Old Trafford

3–1

First Division

56,000

23 January 1926

Old Trafford

1–6

First Division

48,657

23 January 1929

Old Trafford

1–2

First Division

42,255

5 October 1929

Old Trafford

1–3

First Division

57,201

7 February 1931

Old Trafford

1–3

First Division

39,876

12 September 1936

Old Trafford

3–2

First Division

68,796

7 April 1948

Maine Road

1–1

First Division

71,690

22 January 1949

Maine Road

0–0

First Division

66,485

3 September 1949

Old Trafford

2–1

First Division

47,760

19 January 1952

Old Trafford

1–1

First Division

54,245

3 January 1953

Old Trafford

1–1

First Division

47,883

16 January 1954

Old Trafford

1–1

First Division

46,379

12 February 1955

Old Trafford

0–5

First Division

47,914

31 December 1955

Old Trafford

2–1

First Division

60,956

22 September 1956

Old Trafford

2–0

First Division

53,525

31 August 1957

Old Trafford

4–1

First Division

63,347

14 February 1959

Old Trafford

4–1

First Division

59,846

6 February 1960

Old Trafford

0–0

First Division

59,450

31 December 1960

Old Trafford

5–1

First Division

61,213

23 September 1961

Old Trafford

3–2

First Division

56,345

15 September 1962

Old Trafford

2–3

First Division

49,193

17 September 1966

Old Trafford

1–0

First Division

62,085

27 March 1968

Old Trafford

1–3

First Division

63,004

8 March 1969

Old Trafford

0–1

First Division

63,264

28 March 1970

Old Trafford

1–2

First Division

59,777

12 December 1970

Old Trafford

1–4

First Division

52,636

12 April 1972

Old Trafford

1–3

First Division

56,362

21 April 1973

Old Trafford

0–0

First Division

61,676

27 April 1974

Old Trafford

0–1

First Division

56,996

4 May 1976

Old Trafford

2–0

First Division

59,517

5 March 1977

Old Trafford

3–1

First Division

58,595

15 March 1978

Old Trafford

2–2

First Division

58,398

30 September 1978

Old Trafford

1–0

First Division

55,301

22 March 1980

Old Trafford

1–0

First Division

56,387

27 September 1980

Old Trafford

2–2

First Division

55,918

27 February 1982

Old Trafford

1–1

First Division

57,830

23 October 1982

Old Trafford

2–2

First Division

57,334

22 March 1986

Old Trafford

2–2

First Division

51,274

7 March 1987

Old Trafford

2–0

First Division

48,619

3 February 1990

Old Trafford

1–1

First Division

40,274

4 May 1991

Old Trafford

1–0

First Division

45,286

7 April 1992

Old Trafford

1–1

First Division

46,781

6 December 1992

Old Trafford

2–1

Premier League

35,408

23 April 1994

Old Trafford

2–0

Premier League

44,333

10 November 1994

Old Trafford

5–0

Premier League

43,738

14 October 1995

Old Trafford

1–0

Premier League

35,707

21 April 2001

Old Trafford

1–1

Premier League

67,535

9 February 2003

Old Trafford

1–1

Premier League

67,646

13 December 2003

Old Trafford

3–1

Premier League

67,643

7 November 2004

Old Trafford

0–0

Premier League

67,863

10 September 2005

Old Trafford

1–1

Premier League

67,839

9 December 2006

Old Trafford

3–1

Premier League

75,858

10 February 2008

Old Trafford

1–2

Premier League

75,970

10 May 2009

Old Trafford

2–0

Premier League

75,464

20 September 2009

Old Trafford

4–3

Premier League

75,066

12 February 2011

Old Trafford

2–1

Premier League

75,322

23 October 2011

Old Trafford

1–6

Premier League

75,487

8 April 2013

Old Trafford

1–2

Premier League

75,498

25 March 2014

Old Trafford

0–3

Premier League

75,203

12 April 2015

Old Trafford

4–2

Premier League

75,313

25 October 2015

Old Trafford

0–0

Premier League

75,329

10 September 2016

Old Trafford

1–2

Premier League

75,272

10 December 2017

Old Trafford

1–2

Premier League

74,487

United wins

Draws

City wins

33

26

20

text: Cup[edit]

text:
Date

Venue

Score

Competition

Attendance

3 October 1891

North Road

5–1

FA Cup First Round Qualifying

11,000

27 March 1926

Bramall Lane

0–3

FA Cup Semi-final

46,450

24 February 1955

Maine Road

2–0

FA Cup 4th Round

75,000

24 October 1956

Maine Road

0–1

FA Charity Shield

30,495

3 December 1969

Maine Road

2–1

League Cup Semi-final 1st Leg

55,799

17 December 1969

Old Trafford

2–2

League Cup Semi-final 2nd Leg

63,418

24 January 1970

Old Trafford

3–0

FA Cup 4th Round

63,417

9 October 1974

Old Trafford

1–0

League Cup 3rd Round

55,169

12 November 1975

Maine Road

4–0

League Cup 4th Round

50,182

10 January 1987

Old Trafford

1–0

FA Cup 3rd Round

54,294

18 February 1996

Old Trafford

2–1

FA Cup 5th Round

42,692

14 February 2004

Old Trafford

4–2

FA Cup 5th Round

67,228

19 January 2010

City of Manchester

2–1

League Cup Semi-final 1st Leg

46,067

27 January 2010

Old Trafford

3–1

League Cup Semi-final 2nd Leg

74,576

16 April 2011

Wembley Stadium

1–0

FA Cup Semi-final

86,549

7 August 2011

Wembley Stadium

2–3

FA Community Shield

77,169

8 January 2012

City of Manchester

2–3

FA Cup 3rd Round

46,808

26 October 2016

Old Trafford

1–0

EFL Cup 4th Round

75,196

text:
United wins

Draws

City wins

11

1

6

text: The first meeting between the sides in a national competition occurred in the first qualifying round of the 1891–92 FA Cup. In their early years the Manchester clubs sometimes regarded the FA Cup as a low priority. In the previous season Newton Heath named a reserve team for their tie against Bootle,[47] and Ardwick withdrew from their second round tie at Haliwell, opting to play a friendly against Higher Walton instead.[48] This time both clubs treated the match as a senior fixture. Newton Heath won 5–1 at North Road.

text: The second FA cup derby was a far more prestigious occasion – a semi-final at Sheffield United's Bramall Lane in 1926. City won 3–0, but were beaten in the final by Bolton Wanderers.[49] 29 years later City overcame United 2–0 in the Fourth Round, and again reached the final only to be runners-up.

text: The first League Cup derby was in the 1969–70 season. City won a two-legged semi-final 4–3 on aggregate, and this win went on to win the competition. One month later the teams met once more, in the FA Cup Fourth Round. United avenged their earlier defeat with a 3–0 win.[50] The clubs met in the League Cup twice more in the 1970s, both in the fourth round. In 1974–75 United won 1–0 at Old Trafford. This match is the only competitive derby to have occurred while the clubs were in different divisions.[51] Manchester United were in the Second Division, having been relegated the previous season. The following season the teams met in the competition again, with United a First Division team once more. City won 4–0 at Maine Road, and went on to win the competition.[52] However, the match also saw Colin Bell suffer a knee injury that eventually led to his retirement.[53]

text: In the 34 years following City's triumph in 1975, only three cup fixtures occurred perhaps symbolising City's worst decline of their 130-year history. All three cup fixtures were in the FA Cup, all at Old Trafford and all won by United. The only cup derby of the 1980s was a 1–0 United win in the 1987 FA Cup Third Round.[54] The next cup meeting was at Old Trafford in 1996, was decided by a hotly disputed penalty for United, described by The Independent as "like prosecuting someone for littering during a riot".[55] Eight years later the next cup meeting was at Old Trafford in the FA Cup with United emerging victorious in an eventful 4–2 victory which saw Gary Neville sent-off for head-butting Steve McManaman.[56]

text: Shared player history[edit]

text: Players who have played for both clubs[edit]

text: The first transfers of note between the clubs occurred in 1906. During the 1905–06 season City became embroiled in a financial scandal, which resulted in the suspension of seventeen players,[57] including most of the team that had won the 1904 FA Cup Final. United signed four of these players: Billy Meredith, Sandy Turnbull, Herbert Burgess and Jimmy Bannister. All four were subsequently part of the team which won United's first major trophy, the 1908 league championship.

text: In recent years, direct transfers between the clubs have been rare. Carlos Tevez joined City in 2009 having spent the previous two seasons at United. City then produced billboard posters featuring Tevez and the slogan "Welcome to Manchester".[58]

text:
Player

Manchester City career

Manchester United career

Span

Leagueapps

Leaguegoals

Span

Leagueapps

Leaguegoals

 William Douglas

1890–1894

36

0

1894–1896

56

0

 Bob Milarvie

1891–1896

69

12

1890–1891

22

4

 Adam Carson

1893–1894

7

3

1892–1893

13

3

 Alf Edge

1894

1

0

1891–1892

19

7

 Billy Meredith

1894–19061921–1924

33928

1290

1906–1921

303

35

 Bert Read

1895–1902

115

2

1902–1908

35

0

 Fred Williams

1896–1902

124

38

1902–1903

8

0

 Stockport Smith

1897–1900

54

22

1901–1902

16

0

 Joe Cassidy

1900–1901

32

14

18931895–1900

174

100

 Frank Barrett

1901–1902

5

0

1896–1900

118

0

 Hugh Morgan

1901–1902

12

1

1900–1901

20

4

 Daniel Hurst

1901–1902

15

0

1902–1903

16

4

 John Christie

1904–1907

10

0

1902–1904

1

0

 Jimmy Bannister

1902–1906

45

21

1906–1909

57

7

 Sandy Turnbull

1902–1906

110

53

1906–1915

220

90

 Herbert Burgess

1903–1906

85

2

1906–1910

49

0

 George Livingstone

1903–1906

81

19

1909–1915

43

4

 Horace Blew

1906

1

0

1906

1

0

 Herbert Broomfield

1908–1910

4

0

1907–1908

9

0

 Mickey Hamill

1920–1924

118

1

1911–1914

57

2

 Wilf Woodcock

1920–1922

15

2

1912–1920

58

20

 Len Langford

1930–1934

112

0

1934–1937

15

0

 Bill Ridding

1930–1931

9

4

1931–1934

42

14

 Bill Dale

1931–1938

237

0

1925–1931

64

0

 Harry Rowley

1932–1933

18

4

1928–19321934–1937

9578

2427

 Denis Law

1960–19611973–1974

4424

219

1962–1973

309

171

 Brian Kidd

1976–1979

98

44

1963–1974

203

52

 Wyn Davies

1971–1972

45

8

1972–1973

16

4

 Sammy McIlroy

1985–1986

13

1

1971–1982

342

57

 Peter Barnes

1974–19791987–1988

1158

150

1985–1987

20

2

 John Gidman

1986–1988

53

1

1981–1986

95

4

 Peter Beardsley

1998

6

0

1982–1983

0

0

 Mark Robins

1999

2

0

1986–1992

48

11

 Andrei Kanchelskis

2001

10

0

1991–1995

123

28

 Peter Schmeichel

2002–2003

29

0

1991–1999

292

0

 Terry Cooke

1999–2002

20

2

1994–1999

4

0

 Andy Cole

2005–2006

22

9

1995–2001

195

93

 Carlos Tevez

2009–2013

105

57

2007–2009

63

19

 Owen Hargreaves

2011–2012

1

0

2007–2011

27

2

text: Played for one, managed the other[edit]

text: Matt Busby made more than 200 appearances for Manchester City in the 1920s and 1930s, winning an FA Cup medal in 1934.[59] Immediately after the Second World War, Busby became Manchester United manager, completely transforming the club in a 24-year tenure. With United he won a European Cup, five league titles and two FA Cups, and rebuilt the team after eight players were killed in the Munich air disaster in 1958.

text: Steve Coppell played over 300 games as a right winger for United, winning the FA Cup in 1977. He became City manager in 1996, but resigned after only 32 days,[60] becoming the shortest serving manager in the club's history.[61]

text:
Manager

Played for

Managed

Team

Span

Leagueapps

Leaguegoals

Team

Span

G

W

D

L

Win %

 Matt Busby

Manchester City

1928–1936

226

14

Manchester United

1945–19691970–1971

112021
56511
2633
2927
50.4552.38

 Steve Coppell

Manchester United

1975–1983

322

53

Manchester City

1996

6
2
1
3
33.33

 Mark Hughes

Manchester United

1980–19861988–1995

89256

3782

Manchester City

2008–2009

77
36
15
26
46.75

text: Managed both clubs[edit]

text: Ernest Mangnall is the only man to have managed both clubs. He oversaw United's first national trophy wins, gaining two league titles and one FA Cup.[62] In September 1912, Mangnall agreed to join City, but remained in charge of United for two more games. His final match in charge of United was a derby, which his new employers City won 1–0.[63] He signed Billy Meredith for United from City in 1906, and did the same again in 1921, but in the opposite direction. Off the field, he played an important role in both United's move to Old Trafford in 1910 and City's move to Maine Road in 1923.[64]

text:
Manager

Manchester City career

Manchester United career

Span

G

W

D

L

Win %

Span

G

W

D

L

Win %

 Ernest Mangnall

1912–1924

350
151
117
82
43.14

1903–1912

471
242
139
90
51.38