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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Core" data-source="post: 7194015" data-attributes="member: 263471">The Four Noble Truths            <img src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/beliefs/images/buddha_afghan.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />     Statue of Buddha, 1st-2nd century CE, Afghanistan <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/copyright.shtml#wikimediacommons" target="_blank">http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/copyright.shtml#wikimediacommons</a>                 "I teach suffering, its origin, cessation and path. That's all I  teach", declared the Buddha 2500 years ago.  The Four Noble Truths contain the essence of the Buddha's teachings.   It was these four principles that the Buddha came to understand during  his meditation under the bodhi tree.  <ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The truth of suffering (Dukkha)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The truth of the origin of suffering (Samudāya)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The truth of the cessation of suffering (Nirodha)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering (Magga)</li> </ol>  The Buddha is often compared to a physician.  In the first two Noble  Truths he diagnosed the problem (suffering) and identified its cause.   The third Noble Truth is the realisation that there is a cure.  The fourth Noble Truth, in which the Buddha set out the Eightfold  Path, is the prescription, the way to achieve a release from suffering.The First Noble Truth      Suffering (Dukkha)       Suffering comes in many forms.  Three obvious kinds of suffering  correspond to the first three sights the Buddha saw on his first journey  outside his palace: old age, sickness and death.  But according to the Buddha, the problem of suffering goes much  deeper.  Life is not ideal: it frequently fails to live up to our  expectations.  Human beings are subject to desires and cravings, but even when we  are able to satisfy these desires, the satisfaction is only temporary.   Pleasure does not last; or if it does, it becomes monotonous.  Even when we are not suffering from outward causes like illness or  bereavement, we are unfulfilled, unsatisfied.  This is the truth of  suffering.  Some people who encounter this teaching may find it pessimistic.  Buddhists find it neither optimistic nor pessimistic, but realistic.  Fortunately the Buddha's teachings do not end with suffering; rather,  they go on to tell us what we can do about it and how to end it.The Second Noble Truth      Origin of suffering (Samudāya)       Our day-to-day troubles may seem to have easily identifiable causes:  thirst, pain from an injury, sadness from the loss of a loved one.  In  the second of his Noble Truths, though, the Buddha claimed to have found  the cause of all suffering - and it is much more deeply rooted than our  immediate worries.  The Buddha taught that the root of all suffering is desire, tanhā.   This comes in three forms, which he described as the Three Roots of  Evil, or the Three Fires, or the Three Poisons.       <img src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/beliefs/images/bhavachakra_fires.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />     The Three Fires of hate, greed and ignorance, shown in a circle, each  reinforcing the others. Photo: Falk Kienas <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/copyright.shtml#istockphoto" target="_blank">©</a>                 The three roots of evil       These are the three ultimate causes of suffering:  <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Greed and desire, represented in art by a rooster</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ignorance or delusion, represented by a pig</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Hatred and destructive urges, represented by a snake</li> </ul>  Language note: Tanhā is a term in Pali, the language of the  Buddhist scriptures, that specifically means craving or misplaced  desire.  Buddhists recognise that there can be positive desires, such as  desire for enlightenment and good wishes for others.  A neutral term  for such desires is chanda.  The Fire Sermon       The Buddha taught more about suffering in the Fire Sermon, delivered  to a thousand bhikkus (Buddhist monks).                          Bhikkhus, all is burning. And what is the all that is burning?      The eye is burning, forms are burning, eye-consciousness is burning,  eye-contact is burning, also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or  neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact for its  indispensable condition, that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning  with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of  delusion. I say it is burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrows,  with lamentations, with pains, with griefs, with despairs.           The Fire Sermon (SN 35:28), translation by N̄anamoli Thera. ©  1981 Buddhist Publication Society, used with permission              The Buddha went on to say the same of the other four senses, and the  mind, showing that attachment to positive, negative and neutral  sensations and thoughts is the cause of suffering.The Third Noble Truth      Cessation of suffering (Nirodha)       The Buddha taught that the way to extinguish desire, which causes  suffering, is to liberate oneself from attachment.  This is the third Noble Truth - the possibility of liberation.  The Buddha was a living example that this is possible in a human  lifetime.                          Bhikkhus, when a noble follower who has heard (the truth) sees thus, he  finds estrangement in the eye, finds estrangement in forms, finds  estrangement in eye-consciousness, finds estrangement in eye-contact,  and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-  nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact for its indispensable  condition, in that too he finds estrangement.          The Fire Sermon (SN 35:28), translation by N̄anamoli Thera. ©  1981 Buddhist Publication Society, used with permission              "Estrangement" here means disenchantment: a Buddhist aims to know  sense conditions clearly as they are without becoming enchanted or  misled by them.       <img src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/beliefs/images/buddha_gold.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />     Buddha. Photo: Paul Boulding <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/copyright.shtml#istockphoto" target="_blank">©</a>                 Nirvana       Nirvana means extinguishing.  Attaining nirvana - reaching  enlightenment - means extinguishing the three fires of greed, delusion  and hatred.  Someone who reaches nirvana does not immediately disappear to a  heavenly realm.  Nirvana is better understood as a state of mind that  humans can reach.  It is a state of profound spiritual joy, without  negative emotions and fears.  Someone who has attained enlightenment is filled with compassion for  all living things.                          When he finds estrangement, passion fades out. With the fading of  passion, he is liberated. When liberated, there is knowledge that he is  liberated. He understands: 'Birth is exhausted, the holy life has been  lived out, what can be done is done, of this there is no more beyond.'           The Fire Sermon (SN 35:28), translation by N̄anamoli Thera. ©  1981 Buddhist Publication Society, used with permission              After death an enlightened person is liberated from the cycle of  rebirth, but Buddhism gives no definite answers as to what happens next.  The Buddha discouraged his followers from asking too many questions  about nirvana.  He wanted them to concentrate on the task at hand, which  was freeing themselves from the cycle of suffering.  Asking questions  is like quibbling with the doctor who is trying to save your life.The Fourth Noble Truth      Path to the cessation of suffering (Magga)       The final Noble Truth is the Buddha's prescription for the end of  suffering.  This is a set of principles called the Eightfold Path.  The Eightfold Path is also called the Middle Way: it avoids both  indulgence and severe asceticism, neither of which the Buddha had found  helpful in his search for enlightenment.       <img src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/beliefs/images/wheel.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />     The wheel of the Dharma, the symbol of the Eightfold Path <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/copyright.shtml#wikimediacommons" target="_blank">©</a>                 The eight divisions       The eight stages are not to be taken in order, but rather support and  reinforce each other:  <ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Right Understanding - Sammā ditthi<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Accepting Buddhist teachings.  (The Buddha never intended his  followers to believe his teachings blindly, but to practise them and  judge for themselves whether they were true.)</li> </ul>     </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Right Intention - Sammā san̄kappa<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A commitment to cultivate the right attitudes.</li> </ul>     </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Right Speech - Sammā vācā<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Speaking truthfully, avoiding slander, gossip and abusive  speech.</li> </ul>     </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Right Action - Sammā kammanta<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Behaving peacefully and harmoniously; refraining from  stealing, killing and overindulgence in sensual pleasure.</li> </ul>     </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Right Livelihood - Sammā ājīva<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Avoiding making a living in ways that cause harm, such as  exploiting people or killing animals, or trading in intoxicants or  weapons.</li> </ul>     </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Right Effort - Sammā vāyāma<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cultivating positive states of mind; freeing oneself from evil  and unwholesome states and preventing them arising in future.</li> </ul>     </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Right Mindfulness - Sammā sati<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Developing awareness of the body, sensations, feelings and  states of mind.</li> </ul>     </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Right Concentration - Sammā samādhi<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Developing the mental focus necessary for this awareness.</li> </ul>     </li> </ol>  The eight stages can be grouped into Wisdom (right understanding and  intention), Ethical Conduct (right speech, action and livelihood) and  Meditation (right effort, mindfulness and concentration).  The Buddha described the Eightfold Path as a means to enlightenment,  like a raft for crossing a river.  Once one has reached the opposite  shore, one no longer needs the raft and can leave it behind.</blockquote>

Verification: Dawasata paya keeyak thibeda?

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