Four Noble Truths Of Bhuddism

In Bhuddism , the four noble truths are “the truths of the noble ones”,the truths or realities for the spiritual
worthy ones.

The truths are :

1. Dukkha (suffering and painful)

2. Samudaya (origin,cause)
3. Nirodha (ending)
4. Marga (path)

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.

According to the Buddha, the suffering goes much deeper. We cant live life as we expect.

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 habitual.

And when we are not suffering from outward causes like illness , we are unfulfilled, unsatisfied.We don’t get
satified with things we have and we always want more . 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. The Buddha's teachings do not end with suffering, they go on to tell us what we can
do about it and how to end it.As sufferings are part of life so it cant be finished but we should know how to
deal with them.

The Second Noble Truth:

Origin Of Suffering (Samudhaya):
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 to desire. This comes in three forms, which he described as
the Three Roots of Evil, or the Three Fires, or the Three Poisons.
The three roots of evil:
These are the three ultimate causes of suffering:

 Greed and desire which represented in art by a rooster.

 Ignorance or delusion which represented by a pig.
 Hatred and destructive urges which represented by a snake.

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 three fires of hate,greed,and ignorance shown in this picture. Each reinforcing
the others.

The Fire Sermon:

Buddha told more about the sufferings in the fire sermon, which is delivered to the thousands Bhuddists
monks.

Bhuddists, 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.

The Third Noble Truth:

Cessation of sufferings(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.

Nirvana:
Nirvana means extinguishing and reaching enlightment. It 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.

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
work hard and suffer and become a enlightened person and go to nirvana.

Asking questions is like quibbling with the doctor who is trying to save your life.

The Forth Noble Path:

Path to the cassation 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 which iavoids both indulgence and severe asceticism, neither
of which the Buddha had found helpful in his search for enlightenment.
 The symbol of the Eightfold Path .

The eightfold paths of Bhuddism:

The eight stages are not to be taken in order, but rather support and reinforce each other:

 Right Understanding :
The Buddha never forced his followers to believe his teachings blindly, but to practise them and judge for
themselves whether they were true.

Right understanding is the understanding of things as they are, and it is the four noble truths that explain
things as they really are. Right understanding therefore is ultimately reduced to the understanding of the four
noble truths. This understanding is the highest wisdom which sees the actual Reality. According to Buddhism
there are two sorts of understanding. What we generally call “understanding” is knowledge, an accumulated
memory, an intellectual grasping of a subject according to certain given data. This is called “knowing
accordingly” . It is not very deep. Real deep understanding or “penetration” is seeing a thing in its true nature,
without name and label. This penetration is possible only when the mind is free from all impurities and is fully
developed through meditation.

From this brief account of the noble eightfold path, one may see that it is a way of life to be followed,
practiced and developed by each individual. It is self-discipline in body, word, and mind, self-development,
and self-purification. It has nothing to do with belief, prayer, worship, or ceremony. In that sense, it has
nothing which may popularly be called “religious.” It is a Path leading to the realization of Ultimate and
absolute Reality, to complete freedom, happiness, and peace through moral, spiritual, and intellectual
perfection.

 Right Intention :
It is the commitment to act right . it also called as right thought. Right thought denotes the thoughts of selfless
claim or detachment, thoughts of love and thoughts of non-violence, which are extended to all beings. It is
very interesting and important to note here that thoughts of selfless detachment, love and non-violence are
grouped on the side of wisdom. This clearly shows that true wisdom is endowed with these noble qualities,
and that all thoughts of selfish desire, ill-will, hatred, and violence are the result of a lack of wisdom in all
spheres of life whether individual, social, or political .

The Buddha explains right intention as threefold: the intention of renunciation, the intention of good will, and
the intention of harmlessness.The three are opposed to three parallel kinds of wrong intention,the intention
governed by desire, intention governed by ill will, and intention governed by harmfulness. Each kind of right
intention counters the corresponding kind of wrong intention. The intention of renunciation counters the
intention of desire, the intention of good will counters the intention of ill will, and the intention of
harmlessness counters the intention of harmfulness.

 Right Speech :
It means to speak truth and avoid telling lies,backbiting and slander and talk that may bring about
hatred,ignorance,dis unity, and disharmony among groups of people,from harsh , rude,impolite and abusive
language. It stops from idle and useless talk,foolish behaviour and gossip. When one stops from these wrong
things then he will definitely speaks the truth , has to use words that are friendly ,pleasant , gentle,meaningful
and useful. One should not speak carelessly and should speak on right time and place. If one cannot say
something good so he should keep silence.

 Right Action :
Behaving peacefully and act good is a right action. It aims at promoting moral,honourable and peaceful
conduct. It stops us from destroying life of other human beings , stealing . dishonest dealings with others,from
forceful sexual intercourse. We should help others by our actions and lead a peaceful life in the right way so
everyone lives happily.

 Right Livelihood :

Avoid life that harm others . It abstrain from making ones living through a profession that brings harm to
others in any way , such as trading in weapons , poisons, killing animals , cheating etc. We should live a
life which is proudfull , honourable , blameless and innocent of harm to others.
Bhuddism strongly opposed to any kind of war and always gives lesson of peace . They believes in
promoting a happy and successful life for both people and society.No spiritual development is possible
without this moral basis.

 Right Effort :
Cultivating positive states of mind and free yourself from evil and unbearable states. Right effort is the
energetic will to prevent evil of mind from arising and to get rid of this evil and unwholesome states that are
already present in human . It also produce, cause to arise,good, and develop and bring to perfection the good
and wholesome states of mind that are already present in a man.

 Right Mindfulness :
Right mindfulness is to develop peace with your mind and develop good sensation. It is to be diligently
aware , mindful and attentive with regard to the activities of the body, feelings , sensations, thoughts of
the mind,concepts and things.

The practice of concentration on breathing is one of the well known exercise , connected with the body which
is for mental development. There are many ways have peace in mind eg meditation and to think positive .
With regard to sensations and feelings, one should be clearly aware of all forms of feelings and sensations,
pleasant, unpleasant and neutral, of how they appear and disappear in our body and mind. Concerning the
activities of mind, one should be aware whether one’s mind is lustful or not, given to hatred or not, deluded or
not, distracted or concentrated, etc. In this way one should be aware of all movements of mind, how they
arise and disappear.

As regards ideas, thoughts, conceptions and things, one should know their nature and how they appear and
disappear, how they are developed, how they are suppressed and destroyed.

 Right Concentration :
 To develop the mental focus necessary for this awareness. The last factor of mental discipline is right
concentration, leading to the four stages of Dhyana, generally called trance . In the first stage of Dhyana,
passionate desires and certain unwholesome thoughts like lust, ill-will, worry, restlessness, and skeptical
doubt are discarded, and feelings of joy and happiness are maintained, along with certain mental
activities.
Then, in the second stage, all intellectual activities are suppressed, tranquillity, and “one-pointedness”
of mind developed, and the feelings of joy and happiness are still retained.
In the third stage, the feeling of joy, which is an active sensation, also disappears, while the disposition
of happiness still remains in addition to mindful equanimity.
Finally, in the fourth stage of Dhyana, all sensations, even of happiness and unhappiness, of joy and
sorrow, disappear, only pure equanimity and awareness remaining.

So the conclusion is the mind is trained and disciplined and developed through right effort, right mindfulness,
and right concentration.

CONCLUSION:
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. Once one has reached the opposite
shore, one no longer needs the raft and can leave it behind.