Four Noble Truths
Latter Day Buddhism
Four Noble Truths
1. Suffering exists
2. Suffering arises from attachment to desires
3. Suffering ceases when attachment to desire ceases
4. Freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the Eightfold Path
-- See: Essentials of Buddhism (buddhaweb.org)
The Four Noble Truths
1. Life means suffering.
2. The origin of suffering is attachment.
3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.
4. [Buddhist teachings can provide] The path to the cessation of suffering.
-- See: www.TheBigView.com/buddhism/fourtruths.html
Buddha-dharma four Truths of human life: First: Human life is characterized by dissatisfaction. It's right here with us. Second: This dissatisfaction arises within us. [Ed. The source of this dissatisfaction is within our own minds.] Third: When we realize the origin of our dissatisfaction, we can put an end to its most profound and existential forms. Fourth: There is a means for us to experience just such a realization. This realization is sometimes called "nirvana" or "enlightenment." A more accurate description, however, might simply be freedom of mind.
-- See: Buddhism Plain and Simple
by Steve Hagen, 1997 Printing, pg 18, paragraph 6 and pg 19, paragraphs 1 - 3.
Wilipedia (Oct 22, 2007) presents a simplified summary of the Four Noble Truths as:
The first of the four truths the Buddha described is called duhkha (doo-ka). Duhkha is often translated as "suffering." Some people ... translate duhkha as "dissatisfaction." But this doesn't quite hit the mark, either. Duhkha actually comes from a Sanskrit word that refers to a wheel out of kilter.
This first truth of the buddha-dharma likens human life to this out-of-kilter wheel. Something basic and important isn't right. It bothers us, makes us unhappy, time after time.
What can we do about this? We can begin by seeing clearly and completely what the problem is.
-- Selected statements from: Buddhism Plain and Simple
by Steve Hagen, 1997 Printing, pages 25 & 26.
Imagine that you see people seated at a sumptuous banquet ... but the people seated at this feast aren't eating. In fact, their plates are empty. They've been seated at this banquet for a long time now. And they're slowly and steadily starving to death. They're starving not because they can't partake of the wonderful feast, or because eating is forbidden. They're starving because they don't realize that food is what they need. They don't recognize the sharp, urgent pains in their stomachs as hunger. They don't see that what they need to do, all they need to do, is enjoy the feast that's right in front of them.
This is our basic human situation. Most of us sense that something is amiss with our lives. But we haven't any idea what our problem really is, or what we should do about it. We may see -- perhaps dimly -- that the food is there before us, but we don't connect it to the pain inside us, even as that pain grows sharper and more fierce. We long for something. We feel pain and loss. We suffer. Everything we need to alleviate this dissatisfaction is right here before us. Yet we don't realize it.
According to the buddha-dharma, this sad state of affairs, this profound ongoing dissatisfaction, is the first truth of existence. All the pain we bring to ourselves and others ... is our own doing. It comes ... out of our own confusion. [We can come to awaken to the truth that our] suffering, and the means to stop it, lay within [ourselves].
-- Selected statements from: Buddhism Plain and Simple
by Steve Hagen, 1997 Printing, pp 15 & 16, Ch 1, "The Human Situation".
See also:
www.buddhanet.net/4noble.htm
