LESSON 46 FOUR HOLY TRUTHS 02 10 2010 FREE ONLINE eNālandā Research and Practice UNIVERSITY
There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills. - Buddha
EDUCATE (BUDDHA)! MEDITATE (DHAMMA)! ORGANISE (SANGHA)!
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Awakened One Shows the Path to Attain Ultimate Bliss
Anyone Can Attain Ultimate Bliss Just Visit:
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INTERNET!
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The Free e-Nālandā Research and Practice University has been re-organized to function through the following Schools of Learning :
Buddha’s Sangha Practiced His Dhamma Free of cost, hence the Free- e-Nālandā Research and Practice University follows suit
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The teachings of Buddha are eternal, but even then Buddha did not proclaim them to be infallible. The religion of Buddha has the capacity to change according to times, a quality which no other religion can claim to have…Now what is the basis of Buddhism? If you study carefully, you will see that Buddhism is based on reason. There is an element of flexibility inherent in it, which is not found in any other religion.
§ Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar , Indian scholar, philosopher and architect of Constitution of India, in his writing and speeches
I.
KAMMA
REBIRTH
AWAKEN-NESS
BUDDHA
THUS COME ONE
DHAMMA
II.
ARHAT
FOUR HOLY TRUTHS
EIGHTFOLD PATH
TWELVEFOLD CONDITIONED ARISING
BODHISATTVA
PARAMITA
SIX PARAMITAS
III.
SIX SPIRITUAL POWERS
SIX PATHS OF REBIRTH
TEN DHARMA REALMS
FIVE SKANDHAS
EIGHTEEN REALMS
FIVE MORAL PRECEPTS
IV.
MEDITATION
MINDFULNESS
FOUR APPLICATIONS OF MINDFULNESS
LOTUS POSTURE
SAMADHI
CHAN SCHOOL
FOUR JHANAS
FOUR FORMLESS REALMS
V.
FIVE TYPES OF BUDDHIST STUDY AND PRACTICE
MAHAYANA AND HINAYANA COMPARED
PURE LAND
BUDDHA RECITATION
EIGHT CONSCIOUSNESSES
ONE HUNDRED DHARMAS
EMPTINESS
VI.
DEMON
LINEAGE
with
Level I: Introduction to Buddhism
Level II: Buddhist Studies
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The Four Noble Truths
The Four Noble Truths
Statue of Buddha, 1st-2nd century CE, Afghanistan ©
“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.
- The truth of suffering (Dukkha)
- The truth of the origin of suffering (Samudāya)
- The truth of the cessation of suffering (Nirodha)
- The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering (Magga)
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.
The Three Fires of hate, greed and ignorance, shown in a circle, each reinforcing the others. Photo: Falk Kienas ©
The three roots of evil
These are the three ultimate causes of suffering:
- Greed and desire, represented in art by a rooster
- Ignorance or delusion, represented by a pig
- Hatred and destructive urges, represented by a snake
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.
Buddha. Photo: Paul Boulding ©
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.
The wheel of the Dharma, the symbol of the Eightfold Path ©
The eight divisions
The eight stages are not to be taken in order, but rather support and reinforce each other:
- Right Understanding - Sammā ditthi
- 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.)
- Right Intention - Sammā san̄kappa
- A commitment to cultivate the right attitudes.
- Right Speech - Sammā vācā
- Speaking truthfully, avoiding slander, gossip and abusive speech.
- Right Action - Sammā kammanta
- Behaving peacefully and harmoniously; refraining from stealing, killing and overindulgence in sensual pleasure.
- Right Livelihood - Sammā ājīva
- Avoiding making a living in ways that cause harm, such as exploiting people or killing animals, or trading in intoxicants or weapons.
- Right Effort - Sammā vāyāma
- Cultivating positive states of mind; freeing oneself from evil and unwholesome states and preventing them arising in future.
- Right Mindfulness - Sammā sati
- Developing awareness of the body, sensations, feelings and states of mind.
- Right Concentration - Sammā samādhi
- Developing the mental focus necessary for this awareness.
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.
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Hon
’ble Chief Minister greets people on Gandhi JayantiLucknow: 01 October 2010
The Hon
’ble Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Ms.Mayawati ji has greeted the people of the State on the
occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.
In a greeting message, Ms. Mayawati ji said that
Gandhi ji played a historic role in providing Independence to
India through the principle of non-violence, owing to which
the people of the country would always remember him with
great respect. She said the principle of non-violence has
become more relevant and important to face the challenge of
terrorism, which endangered the world peace.
The Hon
’ble Chief Minister said that the philosophy andthoughts of Gandhi ji to make villages self reliant is also
relevant today.
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Government to firmly deal with elements trying to disturb law and order in State
Central Government should ensure strict implementation of Hon
’ble High Court’s decision given in Ram Janmbhoomi/Babri Masjid caseLucknow: 01 October 2010
The Hon
’ble Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Ms. Mayawati jihas demanded from the Central Government strict implementation
and compliance of the order passed by the Lucknow Bench of the
Allahabad High Court in the Ram Janmbhoomi/Babri Masjid case. The
decision was delivered by the Hon
’ble Bench here yesterday. She saidthat in the light of the decision, the Central Government should make
serious efforts to maintain status quo at the disputed site in Ayodhya
for a period of three months.
Hon
’ble Chief Minister ji was addressing media persons at herofficial residence here today. She said that if any new activity took
place at the disputed site because of the laxity on the part of Central
Government in this sensitive issue and the law and order in U.P. as
well as all over the country was disturbed, then the Central
Government would be fully responsible for it. She vigorously
appealed the Central Government to take the matter seriously and
keep strict vigil on the disputed site through various agencies.
Ms. Mayawati ji drawing attention towards the decision given
by the Hon
’ble High Court, said that about 67 acres of land aroundthe disputed Ram Janmbhoomi/Babri Masjid site had been acquired
by the Central Government under
‘The Acquisition of Certain Area atAyodhya Act 1993
’ and presently this entire piece of land was beingmanaged, administered and protected by the same. Therefore, this
disputed site and its adjoining land was under the control of Central
Government. She said that this act had also been challenged at the
Hon
’ble Supreme Court. In this regard, the Supreme Court hadpassed an order regarding the Ram Janmbhoomi/Babri Masjid dispute
and the acquisition of the disputed site in the writ filed by Ismail
Farooki on 24 October 1994, in which the Hon
’ble Supreme Court haddirected that the disputed site would be managed, administered and
protected by the Central Government.
The Hon
’ble Chief Minister ji said that the Hon’ble SupremeCourt, through this decision, had also directed that whatever decision
was given in the pending cases, the Central Government would be
responsible for the implementation and it would be binding on it to
ensure their implementation and the same would take any necessary
action required in this regard, viz. according to the decision of the
Supreme Court, the Central Government was fully responsible for the
implementation of the order passed by the Hon
’ble High Courtyesterday.
Ms. Mayawati ji said that the verdict given by Hon
’ble HighCourt is not final, because according to media reports Sunni Waqf
Board and Hindu Mahasabha had announced to challenge the verdict
of Hon
’ble High Court on the day of decision. Keeping this in view,shehad directed all police and administrative officers that law and order
situation should be monitored strictly on this issue and they should
remain alert.
Hon
’ble Chief Minister has again appealed to the people of theState to maintain communal harmony and peace. She said that her
Government would deal strictly with those persons who would
indulge in disturbing law and order. She assured the people of all
religions, especially Muslim community that they should not feel any
anxiety regarding their security. Her Government is committed to
protect the life and security of people of all religions without any
discrimination, she added.
Hon
’ble Chief Minister has expressed the hope that people of allreligions would keep patience and calm in future also maintaining the
same attitude and approach regarding Ayodhya issue. She said that
people of all religions should avoid provocation by anybody and keep
their complete faith in law maintaining the reputation of Indian
Constitution at all costs.
Ms. Mayawati ji said that media has also played its impartial
role with patience and understanding on this most sensitive issue in
the entire country, which helped all Governments in maintaining the
law and order and peace in the country including Uttar Pradesh. She
expressed her gratitude towards the media, on behalf of her party
and government and hoped that the country would get the same
cooperation from the media in future also.
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