NOBEL TRUTH IN BAUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY

DIPACHAKRABORTY

P.N.DAS COLLEGE

The Four Noble Truths

• In Buddhism, the four noble truths (Pāli: cattāri ariyasaccāni) are recognized as the first teaching given by the Buddha and are considered one of his most important teachings.
• ​They are called “Noble Truths” because, as the Buddha says, they are real (tathāni), infallible (avitathāni), and do not change (anaññathāni). (SN Tatha Sutta).

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•  The word “Buddhism” comes from the word “buddha”, which in turn comes from the word “buddhi” and “bodhi”. These words literally mean “intellect”, “intelligence”, “wisdom” or “supreme knowledge”.
• They refer more specifically to the intelligence and supreme knowledge that a Buddha possesses due to the understanding of the four noble truths. But metaphorically they are usually translated as “enlightenment” or “awakening”, and the word “Buddha” as “enlightened” or “awakened

• The Four Noble Truths comprise the essence of Buddha's teachings, though they leave much left unexplained. They are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering.
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The Four Noble Truths comprise the essence of Buddha's teachings, though they leave much left unexplained. They are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering.

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The Four Noble Truths are:

• Life is suffering
• The cause of suffering is craving
• The end of suffering comes with an end to craving
• There is a path which leads one away from craving and suffering

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The First Noble Truth

• The first truth, suffering (Pali: dukkha; Sanskrit: duhkha), is characteristic of existence in the realm of rebirth, called samsara (literally “wandering”). In his final sermon, the Buddha identified as forms of suffering birth, aging, sickness, death, encountering the unpleasant, separation from the pleasant, not gaining what one desires, and the five “aggregates” (skandhas) that constitute the mind and body (matter, sensations, perceptions, mental formations, and awareness).

The Second Truth

• The second truth is the origin (Pali and Sanskrit: samudaya) or cause of suffering, which the Buddha associated with craving or attachment in his first sermon. In other Buddhist texts the causes of suffering are understood as stemming from negative actions (e.g., killing, stealing, and lying) and the negative mental states that motivate negative actions (e.g., desire, hatred, and ignorance). In those texts, the mental state of ignorance refers to an active misconception of the nature of things: seeing pleasure where there is pain, beauty where there is ugliness, permanence where there is impermanence, and self where there is no self.

The Third Nobel Thurh

• The third truth is the cessation of suffering (Pali and Sanskrit: nirodha), commonly called nibbana (Sanskrit: nirvana).

The Fourth Noble Truth

• The fourth and final truth is the path (Pali: magga; Sanskrit: marga) to the cessation of suffering, which was described by the Buddha in his first sermon.
• The four truths therefore identify the unsatisfactory nature of existence, identify its cause, postulate a state in which suffering and its causes are absent, and set forth a path to that state.

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Thank You