The Four Noble Truths (or The Four Truths of the Noble Ones^[1]) (Sanskrit: catvāri āryasatyāni; Wylie: 'phags pa'i bden pa bzhi; Template:Lang-pi) is one of the most fundamental Buddhist teachings. This Dharma Enlightenment makes ordinary person become the Buddha (Khun Weera Boontanorm, 2000). In broad terms, these truths relate to suffering (or dukkha), its nature, its origin, its cessation and the path leading to its cessation. They are among the truths Siddhartha Gautama is said to have realized during his experience of enlightenment.^[2]

The Four Noble Truths appear many times, throughout the most ancient Buddhist texts, the Pali Canon. The early teaching and the traditional understanding in Theravada is that the Four Noble Truths are an advanced teaching for those who are ready for them. Mahayana Buddhism regards them as a preliminary teaching for people not ready for its own teachings.^[3]

Some may see "truths" as a mistranslation (one author cites "realities" as a possibly better choice: these are things, not statements, in the original grammar^[4]). However, the original Tibetan Lotsawas (Sanskrit: locchāwa; Tibetan: lo ts'a ba), who studied Sanskrit grammar thoroughly, did translate the term from Sanskrit into Tibetan as "bden pa" which has the full meaning of "truth".

BackgroundEdit

Why the Buddha is said to have 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."^[5] He is said to have achieved this aim while under a bodhi tree near the River Neranjana; the Four Noble Truths are a formulation of his understanding of the nature of "suffering",^[6] 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."^[5]

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

The Buddha says that he taught them...

This teaching was the basis of the Buddha's first discourse after his enlightenment.^[9] In early Buddhism this is the most advanced teaching in the Buddha's Gradual Training.

Pali and Chinese canon textEdit

1. The Nature of Suffering (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."^[9][10]
2. Suffering's Origin (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."^[9][10]
3. Suffering's Cessation (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."^[9][10]
4. The Way (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, right concentration."^[11][12]

See alsoEdit

• List of Buddhist topics

NotesEdit

ReferencesEdit

• Duff, Tony (2008). Contemplation by way of the Twelve Interdependent Arisings. Kathmandu, Nepal: Padma Karpo Translation Committee. Retrieved on 2008-8-19 from http://www.tibet.dk/pktc/gelugpa.htm

• How to Solve Our Human Problems: The Four Noble Truths, by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Tharpa Publications (2005, US ed., 2007) ISBN 978-09789067-1-9

• Bodhi, Bhikkhu (trans.) (2000). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-331-1. 

• Feer, Leon (ed.) (1976). The Samyutta Nikaya. 5. London: Pali Text Society. 

• Gethin, Rupert (1988). Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford University Press.

• Harvey, Peter (1990). Introduction to Buddhism. Cambridge University Press.

• Nanamoli, Bhikkhu (trans.) (1995, ed. Bhikkhu Bodhi). The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-072-X. 

• Thanissaro, Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997). Tittha Sutta: Sectarians (AN 3.61). Retrieved 2007-11-12 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.061.than.html.

• Warder, A.K. (1970). Indian Buddhism. Delhi. 

• Yamamoto, Kosho (1999-2000, ed. & rev. by Dr. Tony Page). The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra in 12 Volumes. Nirvana Publications.

External linksEdit

• Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama speaks of the "Four Noble Truths" in a four part video series at youtube.com:
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
  • Part 3
  • Part 4
• The Four Noble Truths as in the Buddhist Encyclopedia.
• Buddhism: The Four Noble Truths by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.
• At Access to Insight:
  • The Four Noble Truths: A Study Guide (by Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
  • Wings to Awakening Section 3.H.i: The Four Noble Truths (translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
• Talks given by Ajahn Sumedho:
  • At Amaravati Monastery's web: The Four Noble Truths
  • PDF version at Buddhanet.net: The Four Noble Truths eBook
• From the Ten Lecture Series, Lecture on the Four Noble Truths by Bhikkhu Bodhi: The Four Noble Truths
• A View on the Four Noble Truths
• The Light of Asia (Book Eight), a poem in iambic pentameter by Sir Edwin Arnold.
• Buddhism - the Four Noble Truths
• The Feeling Buddha: An alternate interpretation of the Four Noble Truths.
• Sixteen Aspects of the Four Noble Truths

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