Thursday, November 7, 2013

The Four Noble Truths


What is the noble truth of suffering? Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering; sorrow and lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering; association with the loathed is suffering, dissociation from the loved is suffering, not to get what one wants is suffering; in short, the five aggregates affected by clinging are suffering.

What is the noble truth of the origin of suffering? It is craving, which renews being, and is accompanied by relish and lust, relishing this and that: in other words, craving for sensual desires, craving for being, craving for non-being. But whereon does this craving arise and flourish? Wherever there is that which seems lovable and gratifying, thereon it arises and flourishes.

What is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering? It is the remainderless fading and cessation of that same craving, the reject- ing, relinquishing, leaving and renouncing of it. But whereon is this craving abandoned and made to cease? Wherever there is that which seems lovable and gratifying, thereon it is abandoned and made to cease.

What is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering? It is this noble eightfold path, that is to say: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

Of these four noble truths, the noble truth of suffering must be penetrated to by full knowledge of suffering; the noble truth of the origin of suffering must be penetrated to by abandoning craving; the noble truth of the cessation of suffering must be penetrated to by realizing cessation of craving; the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering must be penetrated to by maintaining in being the noble eightfold path.

The above description is credited to Buddha, and is taken from the Tripitaka (Buddhist scriptures).

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