Buddhism: Four Nobel Truths
The history of Buddhism goes way back. The four noble truths are the pillars of Buddhism. The four noble truths are labelled as noble because of their teachings about how to live a life without suffering. The understanding of the four noble truths was done by the Buddha while he was meditating under a Bodhi tree. Buddha is compared to the physician. The four noble truths are accepted by all the schools of Buddhism. The pali term of the four noble truths is Chattari-ariya-saccani.
The Buddha has told us about suffering, and fortunately, he has not only shed his wisdom on suffering but provided us with reasons why we suffer; then he moves on to the solution for the sufferings we face and lastly, he talks about the path that brings the suffering to an end.
1. The First Noble Truth
The first noble truth is known as “Dukkha”, which means suffering. Living in this world involves suffering, and this cannot be avoided in any way. Suffering comes with human life. The Buddha saw suffering in the forms of birth, death, sickness, old age and separation from our loved ones. We cannot ignore the fact that suffering is a common phase of our lives. We go through many sufferings on a daily basis without even noticing them, or maybe we do notice, but sometimes there is nothing we can do about it.
2. The Second Noble Truth
In the second noble truth, which is known as “Samudaya”, where the Buddha explains the causes of our sufferings. We may think our life problems have immediate causes, but he explains that they are expanded to a broader aspect. He explains that we crave illusions that we create in our heads while the real world is different from our expectations. The second truth is also associated with attachments. He has mentioned the causes as evil roots or three fires, or the three Poisons that cause suffering. We live in a temporary world, yet we crave never-ending things; this is the main reason we suffer in our lives.
3. The Second Noble Truth
the third noble truth is described as putting an end to our sufferings or also known as “nirodha”. The Buddha has explained how we can finally stop our suffering. He explains that the cause of suffering is craving for permanence in this world, and we want the illusions we have created in our heads, so the solution to get out of it is to stop ourselves from craving those things and put an end to all of the bad habits we practice.
4. The Fourth Noble Truth
The fourth and last noble truth is the path that we can take to the end of suffering. Also known as “marga”. The Buddha has beautifully explained that we can take a path to a better life and live happily if we meditate, develop wisdom and live an ethical life just like the Buddhas do.
If you are keen on learning more about the four noble truths of the Buddha, then you should read the book SOS: Rewiring the Sense-of-Self with Creative Intelligence Training by Dr Philip Romero. He has talked in depth about the four noble truths and vividly explained each one of them. Reading this book can make you clear about the four noble truths.
