Four Noble Truths

Translations of

Four Noble Truths
Pali: cattāri ariyasaccāni
Sanskrit: चत्वारि आर्यसत्यानि (catvāri āryasatyāni)
Burmese: သစ္စာလေးပါး
(IPA: [θiʔsà léi bá])
Chinese: 四聖諦(T) / 四圣谛(S)
(pinyin: sìshèngdì)
Japanese: 四諦
(rōmaji: shitai)
Korean: 사성제
(sa-seong-je)
Tibetan: འཕགས་པའི་བདེན་པ་བཞི་
Thai: อริยสัจสี่
(ariyasaj sii)
Vietnamese: Tứ Diệu Đế
Glossary of Buddhism

The Four Noble Truths (Sanskrit: catvāri āryasatyāni) are an important principle in Buddhism, and were classically taught by the Buddha in the Dharmacakra Pravartana Sūtra. These four truths are best understood, not as beliefs, but as categories of experience.[1]

Contents

Basic teaching

According to the Saṃyukta Āgama of the Sarvāstivāda school, the basic teaching of the Four Noble Truths is:[2]

  1. Thus is the Noble Truth of Suffering
  2. Thus is the Noble Truth of the Accumulation of Suffering
  3. Thus is the Noble Truth of the Elimination of Suffering
  4. Thus is the Noble Truth of the Path that Leads Away from Suffering

The Sanskrit and Pali words satya and sacca, respectively, mean both "truth" and "real" or "actual thing." With that in mind, one scholar argues that the four noble truths are not asserted as propositional truths or creeds, but as "true things" or "realities" that the Buddha experienced.[3] The original Tibetan Lotsawas (Sanskrit: locchāwa; Tibetan: lo ts'a ba), who studied Sanskrit grammar thoroughly, used the Tibetan term bden pa, reflects this understanding.

Four Noble Truth definitions

Some versions of the Dharmacakra Pravartana Sutra contain definitions of the Four Noble Truths while others do not. For example, the Sarvastivadin versions portrays the truths as principles to be contemplated in various methods, and no definitions are given.[2] In the Theravada version and the version translated by An Shigao, the Four Noble Truths are given definitions:

  1. The Nature of Suffering (or Dukkha):
    "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."[4][5]
  2. Suffering's Origin (Dukkha Samudaya):
    "This 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."[4][5]
  3. Suffering's Cessation (Dukkha Nirodha):
    "This 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, nonreliance on it."[4][5]
  4. The Path (Dukkha Nirodha Gamini Patipada Magga) Leading to the Cessation of Suffering:
    "This is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering: 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."[6][7]

Relation to the Eightfold Noble Path

In the version of the Dharmacakra Pravartana Sūtra contained in the extant Saṃyukta Āgama, there is no mention of the Noble Eightfold Path. Instead, contemplation of the Four Noble Truths is taken to be the path itself.[2]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "The Four Noble Truths: A Study Guide", by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight, June 8, 2010
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Saṃyukta Āgama 379: The Dharmacakra Pravartana Sūtra". Lapis Lazuli Texts. http://lapislazulitexts.com/dharmacakra_pravartana_sutra.html. Retrieved 2010-06-23. 
  3. ↑ Gethin (1998), p. 60.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56.11), trans. Bodhi (2000), pp. 1843-47.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "轉法輪經". Cbeta. http://w3.cbeta.org/result/normal/T02/0109_001.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-28. 
  6. ↑ SN 56.11, trans. Bodhi (2000), p. 1844. In this translation, Bodhi elides the six middle factors of the Noble Eightfold Path (between right view and right concentration). Thus Bodhi's translation for the six middle factors was taken from his translation of SN 45.1 (Bodhi, 2000, p. 1523-24). See also Feer (1976), p. 421f.
  7. ↑ In AN 3.61, the Buddha provides an alternate elaboration on the second and third noble truths identifying the arising and cessation of suffering in accordance with Dependent Origination's Twelve Causes, from ignorance to old age and death (Thanissaro, 1997).

References

External links