The Buddha Taught: The Four Noble Truths

In my quest to learn more about Buddhism, in particular about Zen Buddhism, I have come to realize some core teachings of the Buddha that apply to all branches of Buddhism. One of these core Buddhist teachings is known as the Four Noble Truths, and was known to be taught by the Buddha himself. I have also found in my research that these seemingly simple truths are often misunderstood, usually because of the use of simplified English translations.

Again, just for clarification… the following is my own personal explorations of Buddhism, you are welcome to my insights, but I am just a slow traveler on the road… and currently with only my own “Buddha Nature” as my guide. I have attempted to keep my own explorations separate from what I have read or have been taught (with italicized sections). -DV

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The Four Noble Truths seem the foundation of Buddhism itself, and to understand them will really give you a deeper understanding of Buddhism as a whole.

First, let’s look at the Four Noble Truths in their original Pali wording, as they are commonly known, as well as the translation to English.

So, as I have commonly heard, and what I have actually read in the literature of my own meditation and Zen group, is the following:

1. Suffering Exists
2. Suffering is caused by craving or aversion
3. There is an end to suffering (end to suffering is called Nirvana)
4. The path to the end of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path

If you have begun the basics of Buddhism, and have not heard of these four truths, odds are you probably aren’t surprised by them. Another truth, not as noble as the four above, is that some people are actually often surprised by the focus on “Suffering”.

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Why do we meditate?

I’m going to get off the subject of the Four Noble Truths for a moment, and explore the question “Why do we meditate?” This question comes up enough in conversation that I thought I might open up a discussion here.

Just the other day when I mentioned to a friend, who also has a keen interest in meditation, that the reason we meditate (as Buddhists) was to reduce suffering in the world, it was a surprise to him.

Again, on yet another day, a different friend mentioned that the only reason people find their way to sitting is because they are suffering. I have heard this many times, and I have to say don’t agree, well, based on my own personal experience.

Then I though, perhaps there is a connection between these two conversations. I believe the second statement to be a generalization, and perhaps just one-off from the truth. I’m positive there are many people whose curiosity has lead them to Buddhism more than their suffering, some were even born into Buddhism? Well, I am an example of such a person, well of the curious type. One thing that I have had to consider though, which I believe may be the hidden truth in the generalization, is that because it was curiosity that lead me to Zen, I probably did not find the best use of meditation till I suffered the most (best?).

When meditation and Buddhism was just a curiosity in my life, I did not jump in with both feet as I did when I was suffering. So I was, “feeling for the elephant” arguably from the next room.

The connection I’m thinking between the generalization above and the one who was surprised about the connection between Buddhism and suffering, at least from my own perspective, is that those who come at learning meditation, Yoga, Buddhism, etc… and have yet to use these things as a tool for the cessation of suffering, may not fully comprehend all of the uses of such tools. I can only theorize this from my own experience.

Should we go ruin it for those who don’t suffer “enough”, by telling them… no no.. you are suffering? Maybe they don’t know they are suffering or… they may have already found enlightenment in some other way…

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Back to the Four Noble Truths – The First – Life is…

As I mentioned, the table at the top of the post represents how I was taught the Four Noble Truths, and it all sounded pretty reasonable to me. Then I picked up this one book that showed me, once again, that when I think I understand something pretty clearly there was really more to know under the surface. The book I have been reading is called “What the Buddha Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and Dhammapada” written by Walpola Rahula. So far I’m enjoying this book quite a bit.

In this book, Walpola mentions that it is the literal translation of the Pali that sometimes gets Buddhists in trouble. Well, that they seem like a bunch of monks walking around with sour pusses all the time… (although I’m not sure I have seen many “frowning Buddhas”).

The misunderstanding as described in the book opens the Four Noble Truths back up for me as something to be contemplated. Here is a quote from the book that opens up the first Noble Truth to some new thought for me:

“The First Noble Truth (Dukkha-ariyasacca) is generally translated by almost all scholars as “The Noble Truth of Suffering”, and it is interpreted to mean that life according to Buddhism is nothing but suffering and pain. Both translation and interpretation are highly unsatisfactory and misleading … It is true that the Pali word Dukkha (or in Sanskrit duhkha) in ordinary usage means ’suffering’, ‘pain’, ’sorrow’, or ‘misery’, as opposed to the word sukha meaning ‘happiness’, ‘comfort’, ‘ease’. But the term dukkha as the First Noble Truth, which represents the Buddha’s view of life and the world … includes deeper ideas such as ‘imperfection’, ‘impermanence’, ‘emptiness’, ‘insubstantiality’

Walpola goes on to say that since there it is difficult to find just “one word” to translate dukkha into that it has been just plain easier to translate it all to “suffering” or “pain.”

When I first read this, it seemed quite a refreshing clarification. Somehow this seemed more consistent with what I have learned about Buddhism.

To me Dukkha takes on another form, other than the word suffering from this translation, I can see its meaning more as “existence”. So for me the first Noble Truth is now…

“There is existence, ever changing, impermanent, empty, and insubstantial.”

For the Buddhist, this is actually a positive statement, although these are the things that can cause suffering. In a way, I can see that if completely generalized, it would be easier to translate it to… “Life is suffering.” But if you find yourself in a somewhat enlightened state, this First Noble Truth may actually mean… “Life is.”

I have to complete the Walpola quote with another quote… almost to finish his thought, and because this quote at the end of the chapter seemed to bring him comfort in his argument:

“This [the meaning of dukkha] does not make all the life of a Buddhist melancholy or sorrowful, as some people wrongly imagine. On the contrary, a true Buddhist is the happiest of beings. He has no fears or anxieties. He is always calm and serene, and cannot be upset or dismayed by changes or calamities, because he sees things as they are.”

I wonder if this “true Buddhist” comes in pill form.

The Origins of Suffering – The Second Noble Truth – Suffering Exists Why?

Now that we kind of know that we exist, or that life does, what is the origin of suffering?

For a deeper perspective on the nature of suffering, and the origins of such suffering we must take into account that suffering (the pain) is a product of something else. That something else was not necessarily a painful thing.

Buddhist believe that suffering is caused by craving or aversion. Typically, we do not crave things we do not like, but yet the craving of that thing we like causes suffering. So it should follow that even the “good” (or probably the more accurate and BC – Buddhistically Correct way of stating it is “pleasurable”) things in life triggers our suffering.

So why is it we suffer?

Well to understand why we suffer, we first have to understand what exactly it is to suffer. In Buddhist teachings they say we suffer in three different ways: ordinary suffering, which is suffering that happens because of unpleasant things in our life; change-based suffering, this is suffering caused by pleasant things in our lives that go and change and upset us; and lastly conditional suffering, which can be loosely translated as the suffering cause by our perceptions and who we think we are. (This last point gets kind of complicated, but we will leave it in simple terms for this post and save the complexity for a different post.)

Well, we defined suffering… seems clear enough, and when I look at it, it certainly covers the bases.

The Cessation of Suffering – The Third Noble Truth – We can stop?

Now this part gets a little tricky, and I’m going to try to explain my understanding as plainly as I can.

Now that we have established at a high level the origin of suffering, we can narrow suffering down to one thing… action. It seems that the good suffering that “sticks” with us are those things we have acted on. Buddhists are big on the cause and effect. Meaning, each action can have a resounding reaction. Much of what we are learning when we meditate is to “refrain” from acting, or at least refrain from acting in a thoughtless (not mindful) way. Action – is – karma. The effect of that karma may be suffering. Refraining from creating karma, especially that created of ‘ill-will’ has the definite potential to reduce suffering. Another quote from “What the Buddha Taught”:

“One of the principal evils in life, according to Buddhism, is “repugnance” or hatred. Repugnance (pratigha) is explained as ‘ill-will with regard to living beings, with regard to suffering and with regard to things pertaining to suffering. Its function is to produce a basis for un-happy states and bad conduct.’ [This quote he quotes from Abhisamuc.] This it is wrong to be impatient at suffering. Bring impatient or angry at suffering does not remove it. On the contrary, it adds a little more to one’s troubles, and aggravates and exacerbates a situation already disagreeable.”

I thought this was an interesting quote because this is the first time I have seen something truly dualistic in Buddhism. But it would make sense based on what I know of it as a philosophy, is the only “bad” or “evil” action is one that is given in ‘ill-will’. In this case it seems the motivation of the action, the knowingly hurting, which makes the nature of the action less than agreeable. This I will need to explore more because, especially the definition of ‘evil’ which can be interpreted quite strongly (in dualistic or non-dualistic terms).

Another thing that I have heard as “bad” or “evil” in Buddhism is ignorance.

The Path to Cessation – The Fourth Noble Truth – How do we stop?

So… how to we stop the suffering? How do we stop the drive, the grasping, the aversion, and the perceptions that provokes us to karma (actions) that causes us to suffer?

Well… Buddhism silly…

Well that was the easy answer, and certainly one way to do it. The rest of the answer is a lot more difficult, or else… we would know ourselves and be in Nirvana together, right now.

Nirvana is a synonym for freedom – are you free?

To find freedom, you need to find the truth, and live in that truth. But there must not be clinging… even to the truth.

Buddhist call the path to Nirvana the Noble Eightfold Path. The path is also known as the “middle path”, because it is a path of moderation: resisting the extremes of sensation and perception, and resting in the “middle way.”

It is called the Eightfold Path because it has eight parts:

1. Right Understanding
2. Right Thought
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration

I will end my post here. I have covered much, and I would like to take more time in exploring the Eightfold Path. I will leave you with one more quote from the “What the Buddha Taught” book:

“Practically the whole teaching of the Buddha, to which he devoted himself during 45 years, deals in some way or other with this Path. He explained it in different ways and in different words to different people, according to the stage of their development and their capacity to understand and follow him. But the essence of those many thousand discourses scattered in the Buddhist Scriptures is found in the Noble Eightfold Path.”

Articles that may interest you:

More Dharma Voyager’s Buddhism Explorations

What the Buddha Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and Dhammapada ISBN: 0802130313 ISBN-13: 9780802130310

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