Four Noble Truths

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The Four Noble Truths (Pali: Cattāri ariyasaccāni, Sanskrit: Catvāri āryasatyāni, Chinese: Sìshèngdì, Thai: อริยสัจสี่, Ariyasaj Sii) are one of the most fundamental Buddhist teachings. They appear many times throughout the most ancient Buddhist texts, the Pali Canon. They are among the truths Gautama Buddha is said to have realized during his experience of enlightenment.[1]

Why the Buddha is said to have taught in this way is illuminated by the social context of the time in which he lived. The Buddha was a Śramaṇa, a wandering ascetic whose "aim was to discover the truth and attain happiness."[2] He is said to have achieved this aim while under a bodhi tree near the River Neranjana; the Four Noble Truths are a formulation of his understanding of the nature of "suffering",[3] the fundamental cause of all suffering, the escape from suffering, and what effort a person can go to so that they themselves can "attain happiness."[2]

These truths are not expressed as a hypothesis or tentative idea, rather the Buddha says:

“ These Four Noble Truths, monks, are actual, unerring, not otherwise. Therefore, they are called noble truths.[4] ”

The Buddha says that he taught them...

“ ...because it is beneficial, it belongs to the fundamentals of the holy life, it leads to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation of suffering, to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nirvana. That is why I have declared it.[5] ”

This teaching was the basis of the Buddha's first discourse after his enlightenment.[6] In early Buddhism this is the most advanced teaching in the Buddha's Gradual Training.

Mahayana Buddhism regards these as a preliminary teaching for people not ready for its own teachings.[7]

Strictly speaking, "truths" is a mistranslation; "realities" would be better: these are "things", not statements, in the original grammar.[8]

Contents

  1. The Nature of Suffering (Dukkha):
    "Now this ... is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering."[6]
  2. Suffering's Origin (Samudaya):
    "Now this ... is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: it is this craving which leads to renewed existence, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there, that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, craving for extermination."[6]
  3. Suffering's Cessation (Nirodha):
    "Now this ... is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: it is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, nonreliance on it."[6]
  4. The Way (Magga) Leading to the Cessation of Suffering:
    "Now this ... is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering: it is the Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.[9][10]

Certain major Mahayana sutras, including the Mahaparinirvana Sutra and the Angulimaliya Sutra, present variant versions of the Four Noble Truths in line with their own metaphysics and soteriology. The Srimala Sutra accepts the Four Noble Truths, but insists that only the Third - that of the cessation of suffering - is eternally true. In the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Buddha presents a new formulation of the Truths:

  • the Truth of Suffering relates to the failure to recognize the eternity of the Buddha;
  • the Truth of the Cause of Suffering concerns the perversion and distortion of the True Dharma (i.e. wrongly insisting that the Buddha and Dharma are impermanent);
  • the Truth of the Cessation of Suffering relates to the correct meditative cultivation of the tathagatagarbha (indwelling Buddha Essence in all beings) and not erroneously viewing it as non-Self and empty; cessation of suffering also arises with the elimination of inner defilements, when one can then enter into the Buddhic Essence within oneself: "When the afflictions have been eradicated, then one will perceive entry into the tathāgata-garbha";
  • the Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering entails envisioning the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha as eternal, unshakeable and indestructible. (Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, tr. by Kosho Yamamoto, ed. by Dr. Tony Page, Nirvana Publications, London, 1999-2000)

The Angulimaliya Sutra similarly emphasises the seeing and knowing of the Buddha's eternality, immutability and peace as the key factors in liberation from suffering; failure to see this eternal nature of ultimate reality is said to constitute the primary cause of beings' continued entrapment in the sufferings of samsara.

It should be noted that this view is specific to certain Mahayana schools, most notably the Tathagatagarbha tradition. The ideas that the Buddha and his Dharma are eternal and that one's inner Buddhanature is not empty would be denied in other Buddhist traditions such as Madhyamaka and Zen.

  1. ^ Nanamoli (1995), p. 106
  2. ^ a b Warder (1970), p. 34.
  3. ^ The term used by the Buddha is dukkha. While suffering - i.e., being in a state of physical or mental pain - is one aspect of dukkha, it is believed by many that suffering is too narrow a translation and that it is best to leave dukkha untranslated: see more at the article Dukkha.
  4. ^ Nanamoli (1995), p. 1856.
  5. ^ Nanamoli (1995), pp. 533-36.
  6. ^ a b c d Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56.11), trans. Bodhi (2000), pp. 1843-47.
  7. ^ Harvey (1990), p. 92.
  8. ^ Gethin (1998), p. 60.
  9. ^ SN 56.11, trans. Bodhi (2000), p. 1844. In this translation, Bodhi elides the six middle factors of the Noble Eightfold Path (between right view and right concentration). Thus Bodhi's translation for the six middle factors was taken from his translation of SN 45.1 (Bodhi, 2000, p. 1523-24). See also Feer (1976), p. 421f.
  10. ^ In AN 3.61, the Buddha provides an alternate elaboration on the second and third noble truths identifying the arising and cessation of suffering in accordance with Dependent Origination's Twelve Causes, from ignorance to old age and death (Thanissaro, 1997).

  • Bodhi, Bhikkhu (trans.) (2000). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-331-1. 
  • Gethin, Rupert (1988). Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford University Press.
  • Harvey, Peter (1990). Introduction to Buddhism. Cambridge University Press.
  • Nanamoli, Bhikkhu (trans.) (1995, ed. Bhikkhu Bodhi). The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-072-X. 
  • Warder, A.K. (1970). Indian Buddhism. 
  • Yamamoto, Kosho (1999-2000, ed. & rev. by Dr. Tony Page). The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra in 12 Volumes. Nirvana Publications.

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