The Four Noble Truths
*Dukkha has no direct translation; loosely translated, among the meanings contained in the word are the concepts of change, anxiety, impermanence, stress, suffering, unsatisfactoriness.*
The historical Buddha describing The Four Noble Truths in his first discourse:
1. "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."
2. "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."
3. "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."
4. "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."
1. The truth of dukkha is the knowledge that all possible states of being arise from and are dukkha. Dissatisfaction and joy are both dukkha, impermanent and fleeting. Misunderstanding of the fluid and changing nature of all reality (including, of course, what we consider our Selves) leads to anxiety and discontentedness, causing us to cling to the maintaining of a specific state of being, all of which are by nature transitory. Attachment to cravings is certain to bring suffering and dissatisfaction when the conditions inevitably change and one's specific state of being/feeling/external-pleasure-source dissipates. The truth of dukkha is knowing that clinging to expectations of desired outcomes or specific reactions almost ensures that any actual experience that arises cannot possibly measure up to one's preconceptions.
2. The origin of dukkha is found in attachment(s) to (an) emotion(s), feeling(s), person(s), object(s), or pattern(s) of thought. Cravings arise from the Three Poisons ( also called the Three Unwholesome Roots). The Three Poisons are ignorance followed by attachment (desire) and aversion (hatred). Ignorance here being a "...misapprehension of the status of oneself and all other objects-one's own mind or body, other people, and so forth. It is the conception or assumption that phenomena exist in a far more concrete way than they actually do. ...Not knowing the real nature of phenomena, we are driven to generate desire for what we like and hatred for what we do not like and for what blocks our desires." -Jeffrey Hopkins, Emeritus of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia. Ignorance of reality and self brings attachment to those objects, ideas, and people that our misunderstanding has conditioned us to desire. Likewise, ignorance leads us to maintain aversions for the objects, ideas, and people that our misunderstanding of reality has conditioned us to hate. Gratifying these cravings only sheds a temporary satisfaction; fulfilling desires born of the Three Poisons has the net result of lending more power to the cravings. Appeasing the fruits of the Unwholesome Roots expands the sense of unfulfilled desire and need for more money, more pleasure, more power, more gratification, leading to more dissatisfaction leading to more craving leading to more dissatisfaction...And thus, cravings, both fulfilled and denied, are the origin of dukkha. The Three Poisons, through generating cravings and desires, give rise to actions with positive and negative consequences, these actions and their resulting outcomes are known as karma. Karma determines into which of the six realms one is reborn into the Wheel of Cyclical Existence.
A. As soon as craving begins, so does dissatisfaction set-in. This dissatisfaction is rooted in the contrasting of one's current lack (which led to the craving) with a comparison to what one will feel after possessing the requirement of the craving.
B. Upon fulfillment of a craving, enjoyment of what was attained is attended by the need to guard and maintain the possession. This leads to dukkha, in the form of the anxiety from protecting something that is inherently unable to remain unchanged.
C. The inevitable dissipation and loss of that which was gained leads to dukkha through the suffering of deprivation.
Within the framework of ignorance leading to craving leading to dukkha, three types of desire are recognized: the craving for sensual pleasures, pleasant sights and sensations, enjoyable ideas; the craving to continue one's existence and expand its parameters by attaining accolades, power, prestige, wealth, immortality; the craving for annihilation, for non-existence, to avoid painful feelings, self-destructive (suicide, addiction, etcetera) behaviors are included.
It's worth noting here that the historical Buddha observed there to be basically three sorts of cravings. Wholesome cravings such as a desire to give, to help others, etcetera. Neutral desires, such as to take a walk, to sleep, to consume sustenance. And then of course, there are unwholesome cravings: desires grounded in ignorance, in the drive for personal gratification, the desire to do harm based in aversion. Dukkha springs from cravings which are rooted in a mind's misconceptions of existence and self. Desire being the chief component of the origin of dukkha doesn't preclude other factors from contributing to one's suffering. Many factors contribute stimuli for cravings: those responses conditioned by ignorance; the organism within whose sentience desires gestate; and, not least, desires and cravings need objects, ideas, people, stimuli upon which to act and react.
3. The cessation of dukkha comes with the end of craving(s) which comes after the defeat of one's ignorance. Once the cause(s) of an individual's craving(s) are isolated and eradicated, the end of each instance of suffering brings another measure of Nibbanic existence to the one who is Becoming. The cessation of dukkha can refer either to the state of being in cessation or to the process of cessation itself. Isolation and destruction of the roots of one's ignorance, cravings, and attachments are what put an end to suffering, the final surcease of one's dukkha. With the end of dukkha, the Liberated One lives a life of satisfaction and joy, free from disappointment with a mind now of the Arahat (Arhat), one who has achieved Total Awakening and will soon be at the ultimate goal of Enlightenment. With the final and complete shedding of all cravings, attachments, and their attendant dukkha, the Arahat will find themselves in the bliss of absolute peace, the perfection of Nirvana (Nibbana), their concerns are none and they're open to total Enlightenment. When the physical being of an Arahat comes to the end of its cycle, there are no more seeds of karma to plant in another lifetime, and those who have Become realize completely their existence as an Enlightened One, Nirvana and complete understanding is the continuation of their spiritual existence,the final achievement of adhering to the Eightfold Path.
4. The path to the cessation of dukkha, known as the Noble Eightfold Path, is the distillation of Buddhistic teaching and practice. Symbolized by the Dharmachakra (Dharma Wheel), the elements contained in the Eightfold Path are: Right View; Right Intention; Right Speech; Right Action; Right Livelihood; Right Effort; Right Mindfulness; and Right Concentration. In this context, "right" is considered to mean wise, complete, coherent, ideal, perfect. The first two items are concerned with wisdom and discernment, the next three deal with ethical conduct, and the last three entries involve increasing mental discipline like concentration and meditation. The Eightfold Path is not a series of successive steps, but rather a set of ideals which are worked towards concurrently with each other. Following the precepts of the Eightfold Path is the means by which a practitioner seeks to attain Enlightenment in order to leave Samsara and the cycle of rebirth.
The historical Buddha describing The Four Noble Truths in his first discourse:
1. "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."
2. "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."
3. "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."
4. "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."
1. The truth of dukkha is the knowledge that all possible states of being arise from and are dukkha. Dissatisfaction and joy are both dukkha, impermanent and fleeting. Misunderstanding of the fluid and changing nature of all reality (including, of course, what we consider our Selves) leads to anxiety and discontentedness, causing us to cling to the maintaining of a specific state of being, all of which are by nature transitory. Attachment to cravings is certain to bring suffering and dissatisfaction when the conditions inevitably change and one's specific state of being/feeling/external-pleasure-source dissipates. The truth of dukkha is knowing that clinging to expectations of desired outcomes or specific reactions almost ensures that any actual experience that arises cannot possibly measure up to one's preconceptions.
2. The origin of dukkha is found in attachment(s) to (an) emotion(s), feeling(s), person(s), object(s), or pattern(s) of thought. Cravings arise from the Three Poisons ( also called the Three Unwholesome Roots). The Three Poisons are ignorance followed by attachment (desire) and aversion (hatred). Ignorance here being a "...misapprehension of the status of oneself and all other objects-one's own mind or body, other people, and so forth. It is the conception or assumption that phenomena exist in a far more concrete way than they actually do. ...Not knowing the real nature of phenomena, we are driven to generate desire for what we like and hatred for what we do not like and for what blocks our desires." -Jeffrey Hopkins, Emeritus of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia. Ignorance of reality and self brings attachment to those objects, ideas, and people that our misunderstanding has conditioned us to desire. Likewise, ignorance leads us to maintain aversions for the objects, ideas, and people that our misunderstanding of reality has conditioned us to hate. Gratifying these cravings only sheds a temporary satisfaction; fulfilling desires born of the Three Poisons has the net result of lending more power to the cravings. Appeasing the fruits of the Unwholesome Roots expands the sense of unfulfilled desire and need for more money, more pleasure, more power, more gratification, leading to more dissatisfaction leading to more craving leading to more dissatisfaction...And thus, cravings, both fulfilled and denied, are the origin of dukkha. The Three Poisons, through generating cravings and desires, give rise to actions with positive and negative consequences, these actions and their resulting outcomes are known as karma. Karma determines into which of the six realms one is reborn into the Wheel of Cyclical Existence.
A. As soon as craving begins, so does dissatisfaction set-in. This dissatisfaction is rooted in the contrasting of one's current lack (which led to the craving) with a comparison to what one will feel after possessing the requirement of the craving.
B. Upon fulfillment of a craving, enjoyment of what was attained is attended by the need to guard and maintain the possession. This leads to dukkha, in the form of the anxiety from protecting something that is inherently unable to remain unchanged.
C. The inevitable dissipation and loss of that which was gained leads to dukkha through the suffering of deprivation.
Within the framework of ignorance leading to craving leading to dukkha, three types of desire are recognized: the craving for sensual pleasures, pleasant sights and sensations, enjoyable ideas; the craving to continue one's existence and expand its parameters by attaining accolades, power, prestige, wealth, immortality; the craving for annihilation, for non-existence, to avoid painful feelings, self-destructive (suicide, addiction, etcetera) behaviors are included.
It's worth noting here that the historical Buddha observed there to be basically three sorts of cravings. Wholesome cravings such as a desire to give, to help others, etcetera. Neutral desires, such as to take a walk, to sleep, to consume sustenance. And then of course, there are unwholesome cravings: desires grounded in ignorance, in the drive for personal gratification, the desire to do harm based in aversion. Dukkha springs from cravings which are rooted in a mind's misconceptions of existence and self. Desire being the chief component of the origin of dukkha doesn't preclude other factors from contributing to one's suffering. Many factors contribute stimuli for cravings: those responses conditioned by ignorance; the organism within whose sentience desires gestate; and, not least, desires and cravings need objects, ideas, people, stimuli upon which to act and react.
3. The cessation of dukkha comes with the end of craving(s) which comes after the defeat of one's ignorance. Once the cause(s) of an individual's craving(s) are isolated and eradicated, the end of each instance of suffering brings another measure of Nibbanic existence to the one who is Becoming. The cessation of dukkha can refer either to the state of being in cessation or to the process of cessation itself. Isolation and destruction of the roots of one's ignorance, cravings, and attachments are what put an end to suffering, the final surcease of one's dukkha. With the end of dukkha, the Liberated One lives a life of satisfaction and joy, free from disappointment with a mind now of the Arahat (Arhat), one who has achieved Total Awakening and will soon be at the ultimate goal of Enlightenment. With the final and complete shedding of all cravings, attachments, and their attendant dukkha, the Arahat will find themselves in the bliss of absolute peace, the perfection of Nirvana (Nibbana), their concerns are none and they're open to total Enlightenment. When the physical being of an Arahat comes to the end of its cycle, there are no more seeds of karma to plant in another lifetime, and those who have Become realize completely their existence as an Enlightened One, Nirvana and complete understanding is the continuation of their spiritual existence,the final achievement of adhering to the Eightfold Path.
4. The path to the cessation of dukkha, known as the Noble Eightfold Path, is the distillation of Buddhistic teaching and practice. Symbolized by the Dharmachakra (Dharma Wheel), the elements contained in the Eightfold Path are: Right View; Right Intention; Right Speech; Right Action; Right Livelihood; Right Effort; Right Mindfulness; and Right Concentration. In this context, "right" is considered to mean wise, complete, coherent, ideal, perfect. The first two items are concerned with wisdom and discernment, the next three deal with ethical conduct, and the last three entries involve increasing mental discipline like concentration and meditation. The Eightfold Path is not a series of successive steps, but rather a set of ideals which are worked towards concurrently with each other. Following the precepts of the Eightfold Path is the means by which a practitioner seeks to attain Enlightenment in order to leave Samsara and the cycle of rebirth.