The Four Noble Truths

Shakyamuni, Buddha said, "I teach about suffering and the way to end it."


After he became enlightened, the Buddha decided to teach others the path to the end of suffering, enlightenment. He began by giving a series of teachings in near Benares in North-East India. In the Sermon at Benares the Buddha talked about the Four Noble Truths, the core of his teachings.


First Noble Truth:
Dukkha: (The noble truth of suffering):

The Pali word "dukkha" is roughly translated as suffering, discomfort, dissatisfaction, disquiet or unhappiness. Regardless of one's station, status, upbringing, wealth or any other advantage, all people encounter suffering in their life. This is not a pessimistic but a realistic observation. The happiness or contentment we encounter is always transitory, but so is pain and suffering. Perhaps the Buddha could have been a little more upbeat by rephrasing this to say we all have joy and happiness but it comes and goes. In saying we "suffer" he didn't mean life sucks but rather that life, as good as it can be, also has many rough spots and the happiness we have, no matter how long-lasting, is always temporary.


The Buddha said, "This is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair are 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."


The Gampopa (Jewel Ornament of Liberation) states that there are three main types of suffering:

• Dukkha-dukkha (Suffering of suffering): This is the most obvious form of suffering due to physical pain, fear and anguish. Of this suffering, the Dalai Lama said, "Even animals recognize this kind of suffering and, like us, want to be free from it."
• Viparinama-dukkha (Suffering of change): We all suffer due to the inevitability of change. Happiness, health and even life comes to an end. Those things we become attached to will change, whether it be a joyful moment of a long-time companion. This change brings us suffering.
• Sankhara-dukkha (All-pervasive suffering): This a more subtle type of suffering we all endure simply because we have a bod and mind with five senses to experience the world (six, if include the mind- as Buddhists do- another form of sensory input). we experience suffering even through pleasurable experiences if we are under an illusion about the true nature of the self, the source of the pleasure.

Second Noble Truth:
Samudaya (The noble truth of the origin of suffering):
The Buddha said that the origin of suffering is ultimately from within. We can blame our circumstances, our family, neighbors or boss but, ultimately, the suffering and unhappiness is of our own creation- the way we react to those external issues and our attachment, or clinging to happiness or aversion to discomfort. The origin of suffering is the attachment to transient things and the ignorance thereof. Transient things such as the physical objects that surround us, ideas, and -in a greater sense- all objects of our perception. Ignorance is the lack of understanding of how our mind is attached to impermanent things. The reasons for suffering are desire, passion, ardour, pursuit of wealth and prestige, striving for fame and popularity. We suffer because we crave and cling. Since the objects of our attachment are transient, their loss is inevitable, thus suffering will necessarily follow. Objects of attachment also include the idea of a "self" which is a delusion, because there is no abiding self. What we call "self" is just an imagined entity, and we are merely a part of the ceaseless becoming of the universe.


Third Noble Truth:
Nirodha (The noble truth of the cessation of suffering): The cessation of suffering can be attained through nirodha. Nirodha is the detachment from craving and attachment. The third noble truth expresses the idea that suffering can be ended by letting go of those things, people, ideas and illusions we are attached to. Attaining and perfecting dispassion is a process of many levels that ultimately results in the state of Nirvana. Nirvana means freedom from all worries, troubles, complexes, fabrications and ideas. Nirvana is incomprehensible for those who have not attained it.




The Fourth Noble Truth:
Marga (The noble truth of way leading to the cessation of suffering):


"Why have I declared (the four noble truths)? Because it is beneficial, it belongs to the fundamentals of the holy life, it leads to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nirvana. That is why I have declared it."
~ The Buddha, from the Majjhima Nikaya of the Culamalunkya sutta,


The Buddha taught didn't just say we all suffer, get over it. He showed the way to end suffering. There is a path, he taught, to the end of suffering - a gradual path of self-improvement: the Eightfold Path. It is the middle way between the two extremes of excessive self-indulgence or excessive asceticism; and it leads to the end of the cycle of samsara, the wheel of suffering by endless thirsting and quenching, thirsting and quenching. The path to the end of suffering can extend over many lifetimes-so be prepared for a lot of practice. Craving, ignorance, delusions, and its effects will disappear gradually, as progress is made on this path.