The Four Noble Truths
The Four Noble Truths
“Turning the impossible into possible”
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The Four Noble Truths in the Buddhist Approach
The Four Noble Truths. The truth about suffering. Have you ever felt as if you were searching for something intangible, something unknown, yet acutely aware of its absence? It’s a question many of us ponder, although not all of us take the time to sit down and ponder. Why do we still feel dissatisfied, even when we have the best of everything? We are not completely happy even if we have a beautiful house, a car, a perfect marriage, wonderful children, and all the rest.
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What is the essence of Buddhism?
We certainly will not be satisfied when we lack all these. When we do not have them, we think, If only I had the best of everything, then I would be satisfied. But we will not be.
There remains an emptiness, a feeling that cannot be described, a longing for something far and deep beyond what money can buy or achievements can achieve. Because if we were satisfied, we would not ask questions and would not seek the “why.” And why not? In Buddhism, there is a concept that describes this, called dukkha.
Dukkha is sometimes translated as suffering, but it goes beyond physical pain and also includes the dissatisfaction, discomfort, and imperfection of life. It is an inevitable part of life that each of us must deal with.
Part 1. What is the essence of Buddhism?
The Buddha once said, both you and I have been forced to walk this endless path of samsara because we have not found and understood the four truths.
What are these four truths? They are the truth of suffering, dukkha, the truth of the origin of suffering, samodhya, the truth of the cessation of suffering, nirodha, and the truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering, megha.
The most fundamental and important doctrine in Buddhism is dependent arising, the Four Noble Truths, and the Noble Eightfold Path.
These three doctrines are the basis of all schools of early Buddhism, as well as Mahayana Buddhism. In previous articles, we have explored what dependent arising is. In this article, we will continue with the next important doctrine, which is the Four Noble Truths, or the Four Truths.
The Four Truths are sometimes called the Four Noble Truths or the Four Noble Truths. The Sanskrit word satya means truth. Arya Satya means noble truth or holy truth.
The word arya means noble. The word truth in Sino-Vietnamese is made up of the word for speech and the word for king. Noble truth means mysterious truth.
The Four Noble Truths are four very important, mysterious, and true facts. The Four Noble Truths were the first formal teaching of the Buddha after his enlightenment, which is still recorded today, and they seem to be the fundamental points of the Buddha’s teachings. The First Sermon.
After attaining enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, the Buddha thought that practice was not aimed at liberating himself alone, but also at liberating all other people and sentient beings. The Buddha remained under the Bodhi tree for a long time, several weeks, to experience the state of peace and freedom of the enlightened being. At the same time, he also thought about how to share his wisdom with everyone, including his parents, relatives, and those who were suffering or would suffer.
During this time, the Buddha was in the village of Oruvala, interacting with the residents, both adults and children. He shared his insights with the patrons who supported him during those weeks. The first formal sermon he gave was in a grove called Sarnath in the Deer Park, north of Varanasi.
He taught it to his five former ascetic friends. Initially, the Buddha wanted to meet his two previous teachers. He thought that if he could meet the teachers who had taught him about the four jhanas and the four non-formational states, he could help them quickly attain the state of arahantship.
However, after inquiring, he learned that both teachers had already passed away, so he decided to look for the five friends with whom he had practiced asceticism in the past. In the past, when they had seen him abandon the ascetic practices and start eating and drinking normally, they had been disappointed. They thought that he had given up and abandoned, so they left him.
Believing that he could help them, he crossed the river north to reach the deer park. When the Buddha arrived, his five former friends did not want to meet him. This was the same Siddhartha who had renounced. Why had he come here now? Therefore, they did not receive him as warmly as they had done before. However, when they saw his demeanor and his aura when he entered, they could no longer remain indifferent. Each of them spontaneously came to greet him warmly.
One brought water to wash his feet, another took his bowl and robe, another took his coat, and they all sat around him. Then he said, Friends, I will teach you the way to liberation. The five friends asked, Siddhartha, how can you teach us the way when you have given up your spiritual search? The Buddha replied, I have attained enlightenment and can teach you.
The others asked again to be sure whether the Buddha had indeed attained enlightenment, and the Buddha said, Friends, you know me well. Have I ever lied to you? No, Siddhartha, you have never lied to us. Have I ever claimed to be enlightened before? Now I say that I have attained the way. I am enlightened and will teach you. Upon hearing this, all five former friends knelt down, ready to listen to the Buddha. This sermon is considered the first sermon on the Four Noble Truths, recorded in the Dhammakapavattana Sutra, Setting the Wheel of Dharma in Motion.
The wheel of dharma is the wheel of learning, and turning the wheel of dharma means to start turning the wheels of learning. The wheel of dharma has always been there, but it had to be turned. The Buddha’s first sermon was like the act of taking hold of the wheel of dharma and turning it with force, and from that moment on the wheel of dharma kept turning. To this day, the wheel of dharma is still in motion. Dhamma kapavatana means that the wheel of dharma is always turning. Four truths.
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"The Buddha speaks of turning the wheel of Dharma"
This sutra exists in many versions, in Pali, Chinese, and Sanskrit. One of the Chinese versions is “The Buddha Speaks on the Turning of the Wheel of Dharma.” The Turning of the Wheel of Dharma.
In English, it is called the “Four Noble Truths.” In this sutra, the Buddha speaks of four truths. There is suffering, there is the origin of suffering, there is the cessation of suffering, and there is the path leading out of suffering.
The Emperor of Suffering, the Noble Truth of the Origin, the Noble Truth of the Cessation, the Noble Truth of the Path, dukkha, samodhya, nirodha, marga. The truth of suffering, dukkha, is the first truth that we must understand and learn. Dukkha, which means inability to satisfy or dissatisfaction, suffering or torment, broadly speaking, is what makes us uncomfortable.
The Noble Truth of Origin, that is, the accumulation of causes that lead to suffering, the physical and mental food that is consumed and leads to suffering. This is the second truth to be known and transformed. The third truth is the noble truth of cessation.
Cessation here is the absence, the elimination of the causes that led to suffering. And the fourth truth is the noble truth. Tao means path. What path? The path that leads to the destruction of the causes of suffering is also called the Noble Eightfold Path.
Part 2. The First Truth. What is the truth of suffering?
Whether Buddhas appear or not, suffering still exists. It is still something that has not changed since ancient times and thousands of years later. The Buddha is not the creator or source of this truth. This truth is something that exists.
The Buddha is only the one who discovered and understood this truth and then preached it to living beings. The first truth is the truth of suffering, dukkha. Dukkha is a word that is very difficult to translate into any other language.
People often translate dukkha as suffering or torment. However, suffering or torment can only express some of the features and qualities of dukkha. Relatively complete, accurate and complete about dukkha, we can roughly understand it this way.
All physiological changes in the body that lead to pain, weakness, illness, old age and death are dukkha. All changes and variations in psychological states such as love, hatred, resentment, sadness, depression, despair, hatred are all dukkha.
In an abstract philosophical sense, anything that is difficult to bear, unsatisfactory, unsatisfying, hard to endure is dukkha. “D” means difficult. “K” means to suffer. In broad terms, it means anything that makes you uncomfortable.
The Essence of the Buddha’s Teachings. What is dukkha? So, what is the truth of suffering? The Buddha attained enlightenment and preached in the Dhammakapavattana Sutra with a short statement:
Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering, not getting what you want is suffering, encountering what you don’t like is suffering, separation from what you love is suffering. In summary, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering.
Most people understand the truth of suffering as the eight sufferings, which include all eight mentioned above. But that’s not all. The content of this passage points to the seven sufferings in the first part to see the truth of suffering, which is the presence of suffering in the above seven states, while the second part concludes that the five aggregates are suffering to know the truth of suffering.
Seeing the truth of suffering. In this world, except for those who have awakened to the Dharma as skillfully taught by the Tathagata, almost everyone else, regardless of age, gender, wealth, intelligence, ethnicity, or religion, experiences these seven types of suffering. Everyone born into this world inevitably encounters suffering, whether they live for a few years or a few decades.
Life often feels like it contains little joy, much sorrow, and even greater danger. Being born means that everyone will grow old, and with aging comes frequent aches, slow movements, blurred vision, diminished memory, and even confusion, and no one is exempt from this suffering. Being born means having a body, and the Buddha stated the Truth.
Whoever thinks that this body will not get sick is mistaken, and when it gets sick, everyone feels the presence of suffering. To be born means that death will come, and the approach of death is a terrifying fear. In other words, death is truly suffering.
Humans always crave material and spiritual happiness found in beauty, glory, smell, taste, gentle touch, and so they search here and there. When they do not get what they want, suffering arises. When they get it, they cling to it, hoping that it will last forever, but its temporary nature leads to decay, destruction, loss, and suffering arises.
This is the suffering of not getting what one wants, and no one is exempt from it. Hatred or contempt for something, be it objects, phenomena, people, information, will also cause suffering, which is a universal truth of human life, known as the suffering of encountering what one hates. Love and separation bring suffering to everyone, known as the suffering of separation from what one loves.
This is seeing the truth of suffering, a multidimensional, inclusive view of suffering, a universal truth for all humanity, without exception, whether it is a powerful president, the richest billionaire in the world, a prisoner, a beggar, a person with disabilities, or one with extraordinary intelligence. All living beings are equal in their suffering, except for enlightened beings. However, worldly beings see suffering one-sidedly, perceiving only the poor, the sick, the uneducated, or the unsuccessful as suffering, while those who are rich, successful, powerful, or famous are not seen as suffering.
To know the truth of suffering, that is, the five aggregates are suffering. This means that grasping at the five aggregates as mine, as my own, will cause suffering to arise. Specifically, ignorance, delusion, wrong view, attachment to form, feeling, perception, mental formations, or failure of consciousness, as my own, will cause suffering to arise, not that the five aggregates themselves are suffering.
Therefore, suffering arises in conditions, and the path of the arising of the conditions for suffering is summarized in the 12 links of dependent origination. Due to contact, there is feeling. Due to feeling, there is craving.
Due to craving, there is grasping. Due to grasping, there is becoming. Due to becoming, there is birth, aging, illness, death, sorrow, grief, pain, and despair.
Contact, feeling, craving, grasping, becoming, suffering. If described in full detail, the path of the formation of the conditions for suffering is the path of the eight wrong practices of worldly beings. Touch, feeling, perception, wrong awareness, wrong thought, mind with wrong views, greed, hatred, delusion, wrong concentration, desire, wrong effort, unwholesome mental formation, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood, birth, aging, illness, death, sorrow, grief, pain, despair.
In the path of the eight wrong practices, the mind with wrong views is the thought of grasping at the five aggregates as mine, as my own, which are precisely the five aggregates. Suffering arises in the path of the eight wrong practices, and therefore suffering belongs to the realm of consciousness and does not exist in the external world as worldly beings understand it. Suffering, as a phenomenon created by conditions, has the nature of impermanence, lack of ownership, lack of possession or selflessness, that is, there is no self as the owner or possessor of suffering, and this is the meaning of selflessness.
One of the issues of suffering is the understanding of impermanence, lack of ownership or selflessness was clearly clarified through a dialogue between a Brahman and the Buddha.
The Brahman asked, Is suffering caused by yourself and born of yourself? That is, is there a Mr. A who is the owner and creator of the cause of suffering and also the owner of the suffering he created from the past? The Buddha replied, Not so, this is eternity.
That is, due to a lack of true understanding that suffering has the nature of impermanence and non-self, anatta, worldly beings do not see that the term Mr. A refers to the processes of formation and dissolution of the five aggregates, which serve to distinguish this group of aggregates as A from another group as B, but does not imply the existence of an eternal, unchanging being, Mr. A from past to present and future, as the owner, the creator of the cause of suffering, and the bearer of suffering.
Such an understanding by worldly beings is called eternalism. The brahmin then asked, is suffering caused by others and born of oneself? For example, suffering as punishment from God for the sins of Adam and Eve, suffering from our ancestors in the spiritual world, punishing their descendants, such as the saying, the father eats salty food, the son is thirsty, or the sins of the father are punished on the son. The Buddha replied, Not so, this is extinction.
The Brahman continued, then there is no suffering. The Buddha replied, there is suffering, I have seen suffering, I know suffering. The Brahman asked, where is suffering then? The Buddha replied, suffering arises due to contact.
This means that suffering is a phenomenon that is created in conditions due to contact between the sense base and the object leading to formation according to the path of the eightfold path. Therefore, it is not permanent, it is not permanent, it is not situated in the external material world as the concepts of materialism and eternity think. Nor is it a reward or punishment from God or the spiritual world as the concepts of idealism and extinction think.
It is ownerless, possessive, meaning there is no one, no creator, no self, no self that creates or bears, who possesses suffering, and this is the meaning of no-self, anatta. The three kinds of suffering: suffering of suffering, suffering of change, and suffering of conditioning. What are they? For example, illness as suffering should be understood in this way.
Due to a lack of correct understanding that the state of health is a temporary, pleasant feeling, devoid of self, a person enjoys and clings to the state of health as mine, as my own, and wants it to last forever. Therefore, when illness comes, suffering arises with the disappearance of the state of health. The pleasant feeling disappears, which leads to sorrow, grief, pain, distress and despair.
This suffering is called the suffering of change, which concerns the mind and not the external world, and it is the suffering of not getting what one wants. When the pleasant feeling is lost, the thing that I held on to as mine, as my own, the clinging to the feeling aggregate is replaced by the feeling of suffering, pain, and the irritation from the feeling of suffering arises, and this is the suffering of encountering what one does not like. This suffering is called the suffering of suffering.
It is mental, not external. When there is such pain, there is also the fear of death, thoughts of searching and hopes for a cure for the disease. Therefore, sorrow, grief, pain, distress and despair arise.
This suffering is called the suffering of conditioning. Thus, due to clinging to health, clinging to my death, my own failures, clinging to the feeling aggregate, clinging to the formation aggregate, physical suffering arises, and mental suffering of change, suffering of suffering and suffering of conditioning arise. Another example, a grandmother, due to clinging to the form, feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness of her grandson as my own, my own failures, experiences sorrow, grief, pain, distress and despair when her grandson dies in an accident.
On the other hand, because she does not cling to the form, feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness of the neighbor’s child as my own, my own failures, the death of the neighbor’s child in an accident does not cause her sorrow, grief, pain, distress and despair.
A young man, although he knows the girl but is not in love with her, does not have the thought of clinging, of thinking that the girl, her parents, her brothers are mine, as mine, and therefore he does not feel happy when they are happy and does not suffer when they suffer.
But when he falls in love and marries the girl, he immediately clings to the girl along with her parents and brothers as mine, as mine, and therefore he will share in their joy and suffer in their suffering.
In summary, the five aggregates as suffering are as described. Part 3. Three rounds. Twelve aspects.
Three propositions and twelve direct understandings. Each truth has three propositions, and thus the twelve direct understandings are formed. In the Theravada tradition, having attained the state of arahantship, one who has fully understood the Four Noble Truths with the Three propositions and the Twelve Direct Understandings is considered to have understood the truth.
Suggestion 1. Recognition. The first is recognition, meaning acknowledging the suffering. This is truly my suffering.
If you want to help a friend, you say, This is really your suffering. Do you see that? The first task of a doctor is to let the patient know that he is sick, and the patient must acknowledge his illness so that the doctor can cooperate. Recognizing suffering does not come out of nowhere.
It requires knowledge, experience, and practice. You have to listen and observe carefully to know your true suffering.
Proposition 2. Understanding.
The second action is understanding, that is, to say, I want to fully understand this suffering. To fully understand means to understand thoroughly. To know that you have a disease, it is necessary to see the nature of the disease clearly.
What are the symptoms? How severe is it? How does the disease manifest itself in the morning, at noon, in the evening? How does it manifest itself during sleep? This is a complete understanding of the suffering, after you have acknowledged it, but it needs to be explored further. This is the second action that turns the wheel of dharma further, which is called the second turning.
Proposition 3. Realization.
Understanding the nature. The third is realization, which is the experience that this suffering has been fully understood. Here, realization means to practice, to see and fully understand suffering.
The first round leads to the second, and the second leads to the third. In summary, for the first truth, there are three stages of practice. The first stage of practice is recognition.
The second stage of practice is the deep desire to understand, to change, and the third is to understand the nature, the properties of pain and suffering. This is the three-fold round. For the second truth, the origin of suffering, there is also a three-fold round.
The first is the practice of recognizing the immediate and remote causes that lead to suffering. Observation is needed to see the contributing factors. With the help of teachers and friends, one can observe more clearly.
This is the formation of suffering. Because I eat this, drink this, my ears hear this sound, my eyes see this sight, I consume these foods every day, and therefore now I have this illness, this pain and suffering. This should be seen as a practice.
The second, the encouragement to turn, is the beginning of the intention to eliminate these causes. I know that my body is sick and in pain because I ate like this, drank like this, slept like this, worked like this. Now I must stop eating like this, stop drinking like this, stop living my daily life like this.
This aspect needs to be eliminated, and this is the encouragement to turn the second truth. If this desire is not strong enough, it will never be possible to eliminate suffering. The desire to uproot the seeds of suffering must be very strong.
One must be determined to finish it. After that, the turn of realization is the actual realization that this source has been eliminated. Cessation also has three rounds.
Cessation is the absence of suffering, that is, happiness, which is the recognition of the presence of inner peace. Previously, we did not suffer the suffering that we are suffering now. There are people around us who do not suffer from this suffering.
This is the recognition of the state of health, of the conditions of liberation, peace, happiness. If we cannot recognize suffering, we do not have the ability to eliminate suffering. A person with a headache, recognizing that he has a headache is the first truth.
Then recognizing the reason why he has a headache is the second truth. Recognizing that there is a state of headache-freeness, which we have experienced in the past and will experience in the future if we undergo treatment. Recognizing that there are people around us who do not suffer from headaches is the third truth.
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This peace, this truth about cessation, must be understood
This peace, this truth about cessation, must be understood, must be realized. I want to return to the old state of silence. I want to live in a state of peace like you, because you do not have the disease like me.
This is the encouragement for the round. And the third, the round of realization, is a state where the disease has been eradicated and this experience has been experienced. Here, I have reached peace.
I no longer have a headache. And the path also includes three rounds. The first round is to see it as a path, as a method for stopping suffering.
The confirmation that there is a path, a method, the recognition that the path and the method help us escape from suffering and achieve inner peace. The second round is that this path must be practiced, and this is the encouragement for the round. To arouse the desire to practice because we know that only through practice can change be achieved.
No divine being can practice for us. We must practice ourselves. If we want to reach the goal, we must walk on our own feet.
The third is the realization of the path. After practicing the path naturally, cessation has been achieved, the origin has been eradicated, and suffering has been fully understood. In the Buddha’s first sermon, we see that the Buddha’s teaching is not a religion of worship.
We do not pray to any divine being to attain happiness and relief from suffering, we must walk the path with our feet towards the cessation of suffering. Each noble truth involves three actions, multiplied by four truths, which creates twelve aspects. This is called the triple round and the twelve aspects.
The Buddha said to his five disciples, monks, in the past when I did not fully understand the aspects of suffering, origin, cessation, and path, I did not claim to be fully enlightened. But now, having fully understood the aspect of suffering, I have fully understood suffering. I have known the origin.
I have eliminated the origin. I have known the cessation. I have realized the cessation.
I have known the path. I have practiced the path. Now, I declare that I am fully enlightened.
The Buddha also said, monks, because I can see with direct knowledge the three rounds and twelve aspects of these four truths, this seeing and understanding has brought wisdom, has brought light. So, I declare before all the gods, all the demons, all the monks, all the brahmins in all the worlds, that I have eliminated all the defilements and am liberated, I realize the state of full enlightenment.
We can see that at first the five disciples did not believe that the Buddha was enlightened, but later they were forced to believe that the Buddha was enlightened because he had a deep understanding of the four noble truths, not by intellectual power, but through direct experience and understanding, because he had gone through the three rounds, the twelve aspects. This repetition emphasizes, monks, that before I truly understood the three rounds and twelve aspects of the Four Truths, I never claimed to be fully enlightened.
But now that I truly understand the three rounds and twelve aspects of the Four Truths, I declare before all beings that I am fully enlightened. True understanding is expressed in the sutra, as direct knowledge, knowledge not by intellectual power, but knowledge through experience, knowledge through your direct vision called direct knowledge. The Four Noble Truths as a lifelong inquiry.
We apply the Four Noble Truths to our self-discipline. We integrate them into the ordinary aspects of life, down to the small attachments and obsessions of the mind. With these truths, we can examine our graspings to achieve self-understanding.
Through the third truth, the truth of cessation, we can grasp the cessation and ending of suffering and practice the Noble Eightfold Path until we gain insight. Once the Noble Eightfold Path is fully developed, the practitioner will understand the path and attain arahantship. Four truths, three propositions, twelve direct understandings.
These may sound complicated, but they are actually very simple. They are tools to help us understand suffering and how to move away from it. In the Buddhist world, many Buddhists are not well informed about the Four Noble Truths.
Some say, oh, the Four Noble Truths, that’s basic and consider it a basic teaching. It’s just for beginners, for children. The higher studies must be there.
Then they chase after complex theories and thoughts, forgetting the deepest and most mysterious gate of the Dharma. The Four Noble Truths are a lifelong investigation. It is not just understanding the Four Noble Truths, the Threefold Turning, and the Twelve Aspects, the Three Offerings, and the Twelve Direct Understandings, to become an Arahant and settle down somewhere, and then move on to a higher realm.
The Four Noble Truths are not so simple. They require constant vigilance because they provide the framework for examining the whole of life.
