Four Noble Truths

The Four Noble Truths (Sanskrit: catvāri āryasatyāni; Pali: cattāri ariyasaccāni) are one of the central teachings of the Buddhist tradition. The teachings on the four noble truths explain the nature of dukkha (Pali; meaning "suffering", "anxiety", "stress", "unsatisfactoriness"), its causes, and how it can be overcome.

According to the Buddhist tradition, the Buddha first taught the four noble truths in the very first teaching he gave after he attained enlightenment, as recorded in the discourse Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dharma (Dharmacakra Pravartana Sūtra), and he further clarified their meaning in many subsequent teachings.

Introduction

The teachings on the Four Noble Truths explain the nature of dukkha (Pali; loosely translated as suffering, stress, uneasiness^[a]), its causes, and how it can be overcome.

The Four Noble Truths are regarded as central to the teachings of Buddhism.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][web 1][web 2]} They can be compared to the footprints of an elephant: just as the footprints of all the other animals can fit within the footprint of an elephant, in the same way, all of the teachings of the Buddha are contained within the teachings on the four noble truths.^{[web 1][web 2]} The four noble truths provide a conceptual framework for Buddhist thought.^[8]

According to tradition, the Buddha taught on the four noble truths repeatedly throughout his lifetime, continually expanding and clarifying his meaning.^[1][4][5] Walpola Rahula explains:

The heart of the Buddha’s teaching lies in the Four Noble Truths (Cattāri Ariyasaccāni) which he expounded in his very first sermon to his old colleagues, the five ascetics, at Isipatana (modern Sarnath) near Benares. In this sermon, as we have it in the original texts, these four Truths are given briefly. But there are innumerable places in the early Buddhist scriptures where they are explained again and again, with greater detail and in different ways. If we study the Four Noble Truths with the help of these references and explanations, we get a fairly good and accurate account of the essential teachings of the Buddha according to the original texts.^[1]

Within the Buddha's first discourse

The first teaching of the Buddha, in which the Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths to his first five disciples at Sarnath, India.

The four truths are presented within the Buddha's first discourse, Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dharma (Dharmacakra Pravartana Sūtra). An English translation is as follows:^{[web 3]}

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." ^[10][b][c]

Translation of Pali terms

The Pali wordings of the four noble truths^[d] can be translated as:

1. Dukkha - "uneasy"; "unsteady, disquieted"^[13][e]; unsatisfactoriness.
2. Dukkha Samudaya - "arising", "coming to existence"^{[web 6][f]}; the origination of Dukkha.
3. Dukkha Nirodha - to confine^[14], release^{[web 7][g]}; "control or restraint";^{[web 8]} the cessation of Dukkha.
4. Dukkha Nirodha Gamini Patipada - Gamini: leading to, making for^{[web 9]} - Patipada: road, path, way; the means of reaching a goal or destination^{[web 10]} - The way of practice leading to the cessation of Dukkha.

The Pali terms ariya sacca(Sanskrit: arya satya) are commonly translated as "noble truths". Arya means "noble", "not ordinary"; sacca means "truth" or "reality".

Explanation

Summary

The four noble truths can be summarized as follows:^[h][i]

1. The truth of dukkha (suffering, anxiety, stress)
2. The truth of the origin of dukkha
3. The truth of the cessation of dukkha
4. The truth of the path leading to the cessation of dukkha

First truth: dukkha

The first noble truth is the truth of dukkha. The Pali term dukkha (Sanskrit: duhkha) is typically translated as "suffering", but the term dukkha has a much broader meaning than the typical use of the word "suffering". Dukkha suggests a basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all forms of life, due to the fact that all forms of life are impermanent and constantly changing. Dukkha indicates a lack of satisfaction, a sense that things never measure up to our expectations or standards.^{[1][web 2]}

The emphasis on dukkha is not intended to be pessimistic, but rather to identify the nature of dukkha, in order that dukkha things may be overcome. The Buddha acknowledged that there is both happiness and sorrow in the world, but he taught that even when we have some kind of happiness, it is not permanent; it is subject to change. And due to this unstable, impermanent nature of all things, everything we experience is said to have the quality of duh­kha or unsatisfactoriness. Therefore unless we can gain insight into that truth, and understand what is really able to give us happiness, and what is unable to provide happiness, the experience of dissatisfac­tion will persist.^{[web 16][22][23][24]}

Traleg Kyabgon explains:

Normally we think our happiness is contingent upon external circumstances and situations, rather than upon our own inner atti­tude toward things, or toward life in general. The Buddha was saying that dissatisfaction is part of life, even if we are seeking happiness and even if we manage to find temporary happiness. The very fact that it is temporary means that sooner or later the happiness is going to pass. So the Buddha said that unless we understand this and see how pervasive dissatisfaction or duhkha is, it is impossible for us to start looking for real happiness.^{[web 16]}

Second truth: origin of dukkha

The second noble truth is the truth of the origin of dukkha. Within the context of the four noble truths, the origin (Pali: samudaya) of dukkha is commonly explained as craving (Pali: tanha) conditioned by ignorance (Pali: avijja).^{[25][web 2][j]} This craving runs on three channels:^[25][26][27]

• Craving for sense-pleasures (kama-tanha): this is craving for sense objects which provide pleasant feeling, or craving for sensory pleasures.
• Craving to be (bhava-tanha): this is craving to be something, to unite with an experience. This includes craving to be solid and ongoing, to be a being that has a past and a future,^[28] and craving to prevail and dominate over others.
• Craving not to be (vibhava-tanha): this is craving to not experience the world, and to be nothing; a wish to be separated from painful feelings.^[29]

Ignorance (Pali: avijja) can be defined as ignorance of the meaning and implication of the four noble truths.^[30] On a deeper level, it refers to a misunderstanding of the nature of the self and reality.^[31]

Another common explanation presents the cause of dukkha as disturbing emotions (Sanskrit: kleshas) rooted in ignorance (Sanskrit: avidya).^[k] In this context, it is common to identify three root disturbing emotions, called the three poisons,^[32][33] as the root cause of suffering or dukkha. These three poisons are:

• Ignorance (Sanskrit: avidya or moha): misunderstanding of the nature of reality; bewilderment.
• Attachment (Sanskrit: raga): attachment to pleasurable experiences.
• Aversion (Sanskrit: dvesha): a fear of getting what we don't want, or not getting what we do want.^[34]

Third truth: cessation of dukkha

The third Noble Truth is the truth of the cessation of dukkha. Cessation (Pali: nirodha) refers to the cessation of suffering and the causes of suffering. It is

the cessation of all the unsatisfactory experiences and their causes in such a way that they can no longer occur again. It’s the removal, the final absence, the cessation of those things, their non-arising."^{[web 17]}

Cessation is the goal of one's spiritual practice in the Buddhist tradition.^{[web 16]} According to the Buddhist point of view, once we have developed a genuine understanding of the causes of suffering, such as craving (tanha) and ignorance (avijja), then we can completely eradicate these causes and thus be free from suffering.^[35]

Cessation is often equated with nirvana (Sanskrit; Pali nibbana), which can be described as the state of being in cessation^[36] or the event or process of the cessation.^[37] A temporary state of nirvana can be said to occur whenever the causes of suffering (e.g. craving) have ceased in our mind.^[38]

Joseph Goldstein explains:

Ajahn Buddhadasa, a well-known Thai master of the last century, said that when village people in India were cooking rice and waiting for it to cool, they might remark, "Wait a little for the rice to become nibbana". So here, nibbana means the cool state of mind, free from the fires of the defilements. As Ajahn Buddhadasa remarked, "The cooler the mind, the more Nibbana in that moment". We can notice for ourselves relative states of coolness in our own minds as we go through the day.^[38]

Fourth truth: path to the cessation of dukkha

The fourth noble truth is the path to the cessation of dukkha. This path is called the Noble Eightfold Path, and it is considered to be the essence of Buddhist practice.^{[web 16]} The eightfold path consists of: Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.

While first three truths are primarily concerned with understanding the nature of dukkha (suffering, anxiety, stress) and its causes, the fourth truth presents a practical method for overcoming dukkha.^[39] The path consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha.^{[web 2][40]} Ajahn Sucitto describes the path as "a mandala of interconnected factors that support and moderate each other."^[40]

Thus, the eight items of the path are not to be understood as stages, in which each stage is completed before moving on to the next. Rather, they are to be understood as eight significant dimensions of one’s behaviour—mental, spoken, and bodily—that operate in dependence on one another; taken together, they define a complete path, or way of living.^[41]

Experiential knowledge

The Sanskrit satya (Pali: sacca) means "truth" and "real" or "actual thing." With that in mind, Rupert Gethin argues^[42] that the four noble truths are not asserted as propositional truths or creeds. Instead, they can be seen as "true things" or "realities" that the Buddha experienced. The original Tibetan Lotsawas (Sanskrit: locchāwa; Tibetan: lo ts'a ba), translators who studied Sanskrit grammar thoroughly, used the Tibetan term bden pa, which reflects this understanding. This understanding is also reflected by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, who states that the Four Noble Truths are best understood not as beliefs, but as categories of experience.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu writes:

These four truths are best understood, not as beliefs, but as categories of experience. They offer an alternative to the ordinary way we categorize what we can know and describe–in terms of me/not me, and being/not being.^[43] These ordinary categories create trouble, for the attempt to maintain full being for one's sense of "me" is a stressful effort doomed to failure, in that all of the components of that "me" are inconstant, stressful, and thus not worthy of identifying as "me" or "mine". [...][T]he study of the four noble truths is aimed first at understanding these four categories, and then at applying them to experience so that one may act properly toward each of the categories and thus attain the highest, most total happiness possible.^{[web 1]}

The Tibetan Buddhist lama Chögyam Trungpa emphasizes that cessation can be experienced as a sense of personal relief or freedom.^[44] Chögyam Trungpa explains:

The truth of cessation is a personal discovery. It is not mystical and does not have any connotations of religion or psychology. It is simply your experience... It is like experiencing instantaneous good health: you have no cold, no flu, no aches, and no pains in your body. You feel perfectly well, absolutely refreshed and wakeful! Such an experience is possible.^[44]

Developments in Mahayana Buddhism

Mahayana Buddhism restated Buddhist teachings, and developed new teachings and texts. Those texts were also ascribed to the Buddha, to lend them authority.^[45] The Four Noble Truths are presented within new contexts, and sometimes given a different emphasis and importance.

Lotus Sutra

An example of these changes is the Lotus Sutra. The text of the Lotus Sutra refers to the Four Noble Truths as the first teaching of the Buddha, but introduces, in the third chapter titled Similes and Parables, what it calls "the most wonderful and unsurpassed great Dharma": ^{[46][web 18]}

In the past at Vārāṇasī, you turned the wheel of the Darma of the Four Noble Truths, making distinctions and preaching that all things are born and become extinct, being made up of the five components (skandhas). Now you turn the wheel of the most wonderful, the unsurpassed great Dharma. This Dharma is very profound and abstruse; there are few who can believe it. Since times past often we have heard the World-Honored One's preaching, but we have never heard this kind of profound, wonderful and superior Dharma. Since the World-Honored One preaches this Dharma, we all welcome it with joy.

Nichiren Buddhism

Another example is Nichiren Buddism. Based on the Lotus Sutra’s teaching of what it describes as the "unsurpassed Dharma", Nichiren Buddhism acknowledges the Four Noble Truths as the first sermon, but not as the final teaching of the Buddha. In his letter "A Comparison between the Lotus and Other Sutras" Nichiren viewed the Four Noble Truths as a specific teaching expounded by the Buddha to the śrāvakas disciples, those who ontain awakening by listening to the teachings of a Buddha.^{[web 19]}

Craving, described as the cause of sufferings in the Four Noble Truths, is called "Attachment to Earthly Desires" in Nichiren's teachings.^{[web 20]} Craving or attachment to desires, however, is not regarded here as the sole cause of suffering, but as only one among other causes which also lead to sufferings such as "Arrogance, Negligence, Refusing to believe, Hatred, Holding Grudges". These causes of evil behaviour leading to sufferings are called the Fourteen Slanders (of the Dharma).

Contemporary interpretations

With the growing acquaintance in the western world with Buddhism, new interpretations and understandings of the Four Noble Truths have been given.

David Brazier: confinement of yearning

Brazier points to various possible translations of the Pali terms. The traditional translations of samudhaya and nirodha are "origin" and "cessation". Coupled with the translation of dukkha as "suffering", this gives rise to a causal explanation of suffering, and the impression that suffering can be totally terminated. The translation given by David Brazier^[14] gives a different interpretation to the Four Noble Truths.

1. Dukkha: existence is imperfect, it's like a wheel that's not straight into the axis;
2. Samudhaya: simultaneously with the experience of dukkha there arises tanha, thirst: the dissatisfaction with what is and the yearning that life should be different than it is. We keep imprisoned in this yearning when we don't see reality as it is, namely imperfect and ever-changing;
3. Nirodha: we can confine this yearning (that reality is different than it is), and perceive reality as it is, whereby our suffering from the imperfectness becomes confined;
4. Marga: this confinement is possible by following the Eightfold Path.

In this translation, samudhaya means that the uneasiness that's inherent to life arises together with the craving that life's event would be different. The translation of nirodha as confinement means that this craving is a natural reaction, which cannot be totally escaped or ceased, but can be limited, which gives us freedom.^[14]

Sylvia Boorstein: life is challenging

Sylvia Boorstein emphasizes the challenge that life is to us. She summarizes the four truths as follows:^{[web 21]}

1. Life is challenging. For everyone. Our physical bodies, our relationships-all of our life circumstances-are fragile and subject to change. We are always accommodating.
2. The cause of suffering is the mind’s struggle in response to challenge.
3. The end of suffering-a non-struggling, peaceful mind-is a possibility.
4. The program for ending suffering is the Eightfold Path.

Mark Epstein: primary narcissism

Mark Epstein relates the Four Noble Truths to primary narcissism as described by Donald Winnicott in his theory on the True self and false self.^{[47][web 22]} The first truth highlights the inevitability of humiliation in our lives of our narcissistic self-esteem. The second truth speaks of the primal thirst that makes such humiliation inevitable. The third truth promises release by developing a realistic self-image, and the fourth truth spells out the means of accomplishing that.^{[48][web 23]}

See also

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Saṃyukta Āgama 379: Dharmacakra Pravartana Sūtra

• Four Noble Truths and the medical model
• Enlightenment in Buddhism
• List of Buddhist topics
• Suffering

Notes

References

Web references

Sources

Further reading

The following commentaries have been written on the four noble truths:

• Ajahn Sucitto (2010). Turning the Wheel of Truth: Commentary on the Buddha's First Teaching. Shambhala.
• Ajahn Sumedho (eBook). The Four Noble Truths. Amaravati Publications. (also available online)
• Bhikkhu Bodhi (2006)The Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of Suffering. Pariyatti Publishing.
• Chögyam Trungpa (2009). The Truth of Suffering and the Path of Liberation. Shambhala.
• Dalai Lama (1998). The Four Noble Truths. Thorsons.
• Epstein, Mark (2004). Thoughts Without A Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective. Basic Books. Kindle Edition. (Part 1 examines the four truths from a Western psychological perspective)
• Gethin, Rupert (1998), Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford University Press. (Chapter 3 is a commentary of about 25 pages.)
• Ringu Tulku (2005). Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness: The Three Vehicles of Tibetan Buddhism. Snow Lion. (Part 1 of 3 is a commentary on the four truths)
• Thich Nhat Hanh (1999). The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching. Three Rivers Press.

External links

Online commentaries

• http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma2/fourtruths.html - Ajahn Chah
• http://www.buddhanet.net/4noble.htm - Ajahn Sumedho
• http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/study/truths.html - Thanissaro Bhikkhu
• http://www.beyondthenet.net/dhamma/fourNoble.htm - Bhikkhu Bodhi
• http://www.shambhala.com/html/learn/features/buddhism/basics/four-truths.cfm - Traleg Kyabgon (brief commentary)
• http://nyimc.org/index.php/site/article/the_four_noble_truths/ - Tamara Engel (brief commentary)
• http://www.dharmanet.org/lc4nobletruths.htm - Dharmanet, links to several online commentaries
• Introduction to the Four Noble Truths - Dalai Lama, Alexander Berzin
• Overview of Four Noble Truths - Alexander Berzin
• http://www.rinpoche.com/fornob.html - Thrangu Rinpoche

Eightfold path

• http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/waytoend.html - Bhikkhu Bodhi
• http://dharmastudy.org/the-four-noble-truths/ - Bhikkhu Bodhi, Richard Blumberg

Theravada

• The Four Noble Truths: A Study Guide (by Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
• Section 3.H.i: The Four Noble Truths - Wings to Awakening (translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
• The Buddhist: The Four Noble Truths by Nalaka Priyantha
• Lecture on the Four Noble Truths by Bhikkhu Bodhi
• Buddhanet.net: The Four Noble Truths: Teachings by Ajahn Sumedho (eBook)
  • An online version of the above text by Ajahn Sumedho
• Four Noble Truths, DharmaNet

Chinese

• 轉法輪經 ChineseBodhiDhammacakka at CBETA Chinese Electronic Tripitaka As of 28 October 2008 (2008 -10-28)^[update]

Tibetan

• Buddhism: The Four Noble Truths by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
• A View on the Four Noble Truths
• Buddhism - the Four Noble Truths
• Sixteen Aspects of the Four Noble Truths

Nichiren

• The Four Noble Truth in Nichiren Buddhism

Western

• The Light of Asia (Book Eight), a poem in iambic pentameter by Sir Edwin Arnold
• Buddhism in the National Capital of Canada: 4 Noble Truths