Four Noble Truths

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The Four Noble Truths (Pali: Cattāri ariyasaccāni, Chinese: 四聖諦 Sìshèngdì) are the most fundamental Buddhist teaching, they appear many times throughout the most ancient Buddhist texts, the Pali Canon. They are the truths the Buddha realised during his enlightenment experience.^[1] Why the Buddha taught in this way is illuminated by the social context of the time in which he lived. The Buddha was a Śramaṇa, a wandering ascetic whose "aim was to discover the truth and attain happiness"A.K. Warder (1970). "Indian Buddhism", 34.</ref>. The Buddha claimed to have achieved this aim; the Four Noble Truths are a formulation of his understanding of suffering, the fundamental cause of all suffering, the escape from suffering, and what effort a person can go to so that they themselves can "attain happiness."^[2]

These truths are not expressed as a theory or tentative idea, rather the Buddha says:

"These Four Noble Truths, monks, are actual, unerring, not otherwise. Therefore, they are called noble truths."^[3]

The Buddha said that he taught them...

"...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."^[4]

This teaching was the basis of the Buddha's first discourse after his enlightenment.^[5]

1 Four Noble Truths
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Four Noble Truths

Suffering (Dukkha):

"Now, monks, 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.

The Cause of Suffering (Samudaya):

Now this, monks, is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: 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 Cessation of Suffering (Nirodha):

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

The Way Leading to the Cessation of Suffering (Magga):

Now this, monks, 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."^[5]^[6]

[edit] References

MN = Majjhima Nikaya ^[7]

SN = Samyutta Nikaya ^[8]

^ MN, p.106.
^
^ MN, p.1856.
^ MN, pp.533-536.
^ ^a ^b SN, 1844.
^ (1976) Leon Feer: The Samyutta Nikaya, 421f..
^ Bhikkhu Nanamoli (1995). Bhikkhu Bodhi: "The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya".
^ Bhikkhu Bodhi (2000). "The Collected Discourses of the Buddha: A new translation of the Samyutta Nikaya". Somerville: Wisdom Publications.