the four noble truths

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammā-sambuddhassa

Homage to the Blessed One, the Worthy One, the Rightly Self-awakened One.

Shortly after attaining Enlightenment, the Buddha travelled to the Deer Park in Isipatana near Varanasi and delivered his first sermon, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: The Discourse on Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion. During the discourse the Buddha gave an exposition of the Four Noble Truths (Pali: cattāri ariyasaccāni), the first of many during his forty-five year ministry. The Four Noble Truths are the foundation of the Buddha’s Teaching and are central to all schools of Buddhism.

The First Noble Truth: The Truth of Dukkha (Pali: dukkha saccã)

From the Dhammacakkapavatthana Sutta, SN 56.11, "This is the noble truth of dukkha: birth is dukkha, aging is dukkha, illness is dukkha, death is dukkha; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair are dukkha; union with what is displeasing is dukkha; separation from what is pleasing is dukkha; not to get what one wants is dukkha; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are dukkha."

The translation of dukkha as ‘suffering’ is both unsatisfactory and misleading. Dukkha does refer to suffering, but dukkha also refers to misery, pain, loss, despair, grief, disappointment, and stress, and also to the deeper problems we experience in life due to the underlying impermanent and unsatisfactory nature of all conditioned phenomena.

The Buddha did not deny that our lives also include pleasurable experiences (Pali: sukkha), but the Buddha taught that even pleasurable experiences are destined to cause stress and suffering eventually because they are impermanent (Pali: anicca). All compounded things, including man-made objects, natural organisms, ideas, empires and institutions, are subject to the same process of birth, life, decay and death, everything rises to its zenith and then decays towards its inevitable end. The Buddha maintained that anything which is impermanent is dukkha

The ancient scriptures described three categories of dukkha;

1) Dukkha as ordinary suffering (Pali: dukkhadukkhatā);

includes suffering caused by physical and psychological problems such as birth, illness, aging, disease, death, sadness, grief, despair, anxiety, disappointment and depression.

2) Dukkha as produced by change (Pali: vipariṇāmadukkhatā);

includes suffering caused by loss of a beloved one, separation from the pleasing, the ending of a pleasant experience or period in our life.

3) Dukkha as conditioned states (Pali: saṅkhāradukkhatā);

includes suffering caused by the Five Aggregates (Pali: saṅkhāra), i.e. The Aggregate of Form (Pali: rūpañkkhandha), The Aggregate of Sensations (Pali: vedanākkhandha), The Aggregate of Perceptions (Pali: saññākkhandha), The Aggregate of Mental Formations (Pali: saṅkhārākkhandha) and The Aggregate of Consciousness (Pali: viññāṇañkkhandha).

The Second Noble Truth: The Truth of the Origin of Dukkha (Pali: samudaya saccã)

From the Dhammacakkapavatthana Sutta, SN 56.1, "This is the noble truth of the origin of dukkha: it is this craving which leads to renewed existence, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there, that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, craving for extermination."

The Buddha taught that the most immediate cause of dukkha is craving (Pali: taṇhā) or attachment.

The Teachings point to three divisions of craving (Pali: taṇhā);

1) Thirst for sense pleasures (Pali: kāma-taṇhā).

2) Thirst for existence and becoming (bhava-taṇhā).

3) Thirst for non-existence, self-annihilation (Pali: vibhava-taṇhā).

We are predisposed to craving (Pali: taṇhā) due to our inherent mental dispositions, The Three Unwholesome Roots (Pali: kilesas), otherwise known as The Three Fires or The Three Poisons, from which all unwholesome thoughts, words and acts are born, namely;

1) Ignorance (Pali: moha).

2) Attachment (Pali: lobha).

3) Aversion (Pali: dosa).

From the Sammaditthi Sutta, MN 9.5, “And what is the root of the unwholesome? Greed is a root of the unwholesome; hate is a root of the unwholesome; delusion is a root of the unwholesome. This is called the root of the unwholesome.”

The Third Noble Truth: The Truth of the Cessation of Dukkha (Pali: nirodha saccã)

From the Dhammacakkapavatthana Sutta, SN 56.11, "This is the noble truth of the cessation of dukkha: it is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, nonreliance on it."

The Third Noble Truth is the truth that there is a way out of dukkha and the endless round of renewed existence (Pali: samsāra). The Buddha taught that the way out of dukkha was by eliminating dukkha’s cause, craving (Pali: taṇhā). The cessation of suffering that the Buddha was pointing to is what is more commonly known in Buddhism as ‘Enlightenment’ (Pali: Nibbāna) and is also referred to using the Pali term ‘taṇhākkhaya’, which means, ‘extinction of thirst’.

The goal of Buddhism is this Enlightenment, Liberation, Awakening, Unbinding, Cessation, Arahantship, Buddhahood, Realization. It is known by numerous names, and many have tried in vein to describe it, but a supramundane state like that of the Absolute Truth cannot be expressed in words and neither can its infinite nature be conceived by the finite mind.

From the Udana, VIII. 1, "There is that dimension where there is neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor wind; neither dimension of the infinitude of space, nor dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, nor dimension of nothingness, nor dimension of neither perception nor non-perception; neither this world, nor the next world, nor sun, nor moon. And there, I say, there is neither coming, nor going, nor stasis; neither passing away nor arising: without stance, without foundation, without support [mental object]. This, just this, is the end of stress."

The Fourth Noble Truth: The Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Dukkha (Pali: magga saccã)

From the Dhammacakkapavatthana Sutta, SN 56.1, "This is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of dukkha: it is the Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration."

So, having taught that life is unsatisfactory and that the immediate cause of dukkha is our craving caused by our own ignorance, attachment and aversion, He went on to teach that there is a way out of dukkha and rebirth; that way is the Noble Eightfold Path (Pali: ariyo aṭṭhaṅgiko maggo). The Noble Eightfold Path consisted of eight aspects:

1) Right View (Pali: sammā-diṭṭhi)

2) Right Intention (Pali: sammā sankappa)

3) Right Speech (Pali: sammā-vācā)

4) Right Action (Pali: sammā-kammanta)

5) Right Livelihood (Pali: sammā-ājīva)

6) Right Effort (Pali: sammā-vāyāma)

7) Right Mindfulness (Pali: sammā-sati)

8) Right Concentration (Pali: sammā-samādhi)

The eight aspects of the Path are aimed at perfecting the three areas of Buddhist training and discipline;

1) Wisdom (Pali: pañña); encompassing Right View and Right Intention.

2) Ethical conduct (Pali: sila); encompassing Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood.

3) Concentration (Pali: Samādhi); encompassing Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.

Click here to read about the Noble Eightfold Path

Sources                                                                                                  

Rahula, Walpola. What the Buddha Taught. New York: Grove Press, 1974. ISBN 0-8021-3031-3.

Humphreys, Christmas. Buddhism, An Introduction and guide. London: Penguin Books, 1951. ISBN 0-14-020228-5

Roscoe, Gerald. The Triple Gem, An Introduction to Buddhism. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 1994. ISBN 974-7047-27-6

Sumedho, Ajahn. The Four Noble Truths. Hemel Hempstead, 1992. ISBN 1-870205-10-3

"Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion" (SN 56.11), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight, 12 February 2012, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.than.html . Retrieved on 20 January 2013.

"Nibbāna Sutta: Unbinding (1)" (Ud 8.1), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight, 3 September 2012,http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.8.01.than.html . Retrieved on 20 January 2013.

"Four Noble Truths: cattari ariya saccani", edited by John T. Bullitt. Access to Insight, 12 February 2012,http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sacca/index.html . Retrieved on 20 January 2013.

"Nibbana Sutta: Unbinding" (AN 9.34), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight, 4 July 2010,http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an09/an09.034.than.html . Retrieved on 20 January 2013.

"Sammaditthi Sutta: The Discourse on Right View" (MN 9), translated from the Pali by Ñanamoli Thera & Bhikkhu Bodhi. Access to Insight, 14 June 2010,http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.009.ntbb.html . Retrieved on 20 January 2013.