FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

 FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

The Buddha achieved Enlightenment at the age of 35, in Bodh Gaya. After that, he visited Varanasi and turned the wheel of Doctrine of The Four Noble Truths for five ascetics. At that time, Buddha said,                                                     "This is the Truth of Suffering,

  This is the Truth of Origin of Suffering,

                                               This is the Truth of Cessation,

                                               This is the Truth of Path."

He turned the first wheel of Doctrine in the world. They are called ‘Noble Truths’ because they are seen to be true by superior beings, or the Noble Ones. For example, the environment, enjoyment and bodies of samsara are seen by Superior Beings to be of the nature of suffering and it is true that they are of the nature of suffering. Like that, the ‘truth of origin of suffering’ is seen by Superior Beings as the origin of suffering and it is true that they are of the nature of that. Also the truth of cessation and the truth of path are seen by Superior Beings as cessation of delusion and path leading to cessation. This is the nature of those two. Therefore they are called ‘Noble Truths’

Each and every compositional factor has come from nowhere, it arises from its causes and conditions, and therefore the Truth of Suffering arises from its own causes and conditions. And also, the ‘cessation of suffering’ or delusion arises as a result of its own causes and conditions. The Truth of Suffering arises from its own particular causes and the conditions of Truth of Origin of Suffering or the ignorance and volitional acts. The realisation or attainment of cessation of suffering or delusion does dependent on its causes, the path and effort of the individual. You can’t attain the cessation without the effort. In this sense we can therefore say that the path that leads to cessation is the cause of cessation and the effort is the condition which is necessary needed to attain the cessation.

The teaching of Four Noble Truths clearly is distinguished into two sets: the cause and the effect. Those causes which produce suffering and those causes which produce happiness. Therefore, on one hand, two processes of unenlightened existence, which relate to the causal chain between suffering and its origin, on another hand, two processes of enlightened existences which pertain to the causal links between the path and true cessation. Thus, the first two of the four noble truths are the cause to exist in the samsara and the other two are the cause to overcome the ignorance or the samsara.           

 As Buddha says in the Sutra of First Wheel of Dharma,

                                     ‘You should know suffering,

                                      You should abandon the origin of suffering,

                                      You should attain cessation of delusion,

                                      You should meditate on path’.         

 

         The order in which the Four Noble Truths are taught has nothing to do with the order in which things arise in reality. Rather, it is related with the way of individual practice of Buddhist Path. The profound and vast teaching of the Buddha is unique when compared to those of other teachers. The Four Noble Truths are like the foundation of a wall and we extremely need them as the seal of Buddhism. The Four Noble Truths are: Truth of Suffering, Truth of Origin of Suffering, Truth of Cessation of Suffering and Truth of Path.

 

1. THE TRUTH OF SUFFERING

Now the question is, “what is suffering or Dhukha”? In general, Buddhism describes three levels of suffering: Suffering of Suffering, Suffering of Change and Pervasive Suffering.

 Suffering of suffering

When we talk about the First level, Suffering of Suffering; we are talking in very conventional term of experiences which we would all identify as suffering. For example, the suffering of physical and mental pain like, pain of kidney, teeth, head, having no satisfaction, etc.  Even animal recognise this kind of suffering as suffering. In Buddhism there are four main experiences of this type of suffering which are considered to be the fundamental to life in samsara: suffering of birth, sickness, ageing and death. According to the life of young prince Siddhartha, the Buddha said to have caught sight of sick person, and old person and a dead person being carried away. The impact of seeing this suffering led him to realize that as long as he was not free from the infinite process of birth, he would had always to face the other three kinds of suffering. So, all of the four of them are sufferings of suffering.

Since we were born as human we cherish our human body and mind and cling onto them as our own. In dependence upon our aggregates we develop self-grasping, which is the root of all delusion. Our human rebirth in the samsara is source of all the delusion and suffering; so not only the lower realms are of the nature of suffering but even our taking birth in the higher realms is also suffering.  Our rebirth is like the field, and delusion, ageing, sickness and death are like the poison that grows in it. If the field did not exist, such poisonous plants would have no place to take root and flourish.  Although they are not all sufferings in the sense of being painful experiences, they are called true suffering because they are all of the nature of suffering.

 Asanga says in the Compendium of Abhidharma,‘What are true sufferings? You should know that they are the rebirth of sentient beings and the places in which they are born’.

 Here emphasis is on some common sufferings of the fortunate beings and unfortunates beings or lower realms and higher realms.

Suffering of birth,

Suffering of ageing,

Suffering of sickness, and

Suffering of death

  Thus, under the influence or control of ignorance, there is no possibility of permanent state of happiness. Some kind of trouble and problem always arise. As long as we remain under the power of ignorance, then the suffering comes like ripples on water. So, the pervasive suffering is the fundamental of all sufferings and it refers to the bearing of unenlightened existence.

In short, any suffering that arises from the true origin of suffering is called ‘truth of suffering’.

 2. THE TRUTH OF ORIGIN OF SUFFERING

 Ignorance and volitional acts are the fundamental causes of all suffering as described before; they are called the ‘truth of the origin of suffering’.

Most of our suffering arises from mistaken views and wrong works, which in turn are influenced by mistaken views. For example, to corrupt the public property (Government money) in order to fulfil happiness of the rich. If government knows it through investigation, instead of that he (the corrupter) fouls his name and is put in prison. In some case, the people might not know it but even then he feels uncomfortable forever. Willing to be happy but lacking the method to obtain happiness, instead of that, one has to suffer for unhappiness.

In short, the root of suffering depends on wrong thinking. The mistaken view is called ignorance and wrong work is called volitional act. Of these two, the fundamental cause of suffering is ignorance of hatred and desire. And also, these two arise from awareness grasping at an intrinsic self, which doesn’t know the reality of phenomena. The root of suffering is the unknown. For example, to have a happy life we are studying and the reason to study is to avoid the unknown. We believe that study is a fundamental cause of happiness. Buddha said, "The unknown is the fundamental cause of suffering”.

The unknown or the ignorance is the root cause bringing us into the unenlightened states of being and also the cause for all the suffering that makes us suffer. Ignorance gives rise to the volitional act and consciousness; then name and form and so on. Through that we have to suffer in unenlightened states. As Buddha said in the sutra commentary on the Dependent origination,

‘Because there is this, that ensues.

               Because this comes into being, that comes into being.

               Because there is fundamental ignorance,

               Volitional acts come into being.

                     Because there is volitional acts,

                     Consciousness comes into being,

                     Because there is consciousness,

                    Name and form come into being,

                    Because there is name and form,

                    Sources of perception come into being…’

 Through that Buddha taught the twelve links of dependent origination within samsaric existence. The twelve links of dependent origination are:

Ignorance, volitional acts, consciousness, name and form, sources of perception, contact, feeling, craving, grasping, existence, birth and ageing and death.

Ignorance and volitional acts are the root cause or origin of suffering from the twelve links of dependent origination. Here I am emphasising two of them.

Ignorance

            The Sanskrit word for ignorance or confusion is Avidya, that literally means not-knowing or the unknown. In Buddhism there are several interpretations of what is meant by avidya on the basis of schools of Buddhism, and also there are different views of fundamental Buddhist doctrine of anatma or selflessness.

In general, there are two main different aspects of ignorance in the Buddhism, which are described in the lower vehicle and higher vehicle. But the common between them is that ignorance should be the fundamental cause for the samsaric existence and it should be the innately born delusion. Lower vehicle possesses grasping at self-sufficient substantial existence as ignorance or self-grasping. Within the two schools of the lower vehicle self-grasping and ignorance are same. Higher vehicle possesses the grasping at inherent existence or true existence as the ignorance. The higher vehicle makes an argument to the lower vehicle that the ignorance which grasps at self-sufficient substantial existence in the lower schools is not the true ignorance because it is not an innately born delusion. The grasping at self-sufficient substantial existence arises only because of reasoning, and also the birds and animals cannot grasp at a self like that.

            Again, ignorance can be classified into two different types:

                         Ignorance of karma,

                         Ignorance of emptiness.

Ignorance of karma functions principally to make us continue taking lower rebirths. As long as we remain confused about actions and their effects we continue to engage in non-virtuous actions that are the cause for the lower birth. Ignorance of emptiness functions principally to keep us bound within samsara. Even when we understand karma, we continue to create the cause for the samsaric rebirths until we have realised emptiness directly.

  Karma

Klesha or karma literally means law of causality. According to the Buddhism, things and events come into being purely as a result of combination of its own causes and conditions. So all of our experiences are the effects of our body, speech and mind actions. There are various effects of countless actions that each individual has performed in the past. We can’t find any two people who have created exactly the same history of action throughout their past life, we cannot find two people with identical states of mind, identical experiences. Each person has different individual karma. Some people are enjoying good health while other are constantly ill. Some people are very beautiful while other ugly and so on.

So within the general field of karmic action we can talk about three different types of action which produce corresponding effects. Actions, which produce suffering or pains are generally considered negative or non-virtuous actions. Action that lead to positive and desirable consequences, such as experience of joy and happiness, are considered to be positive or virtuous actions. The third category includes actions which lead to experiences of equanimity, or neutral feelings and experiences; these are considered to be neutral actions, i.e., neither virtuous nor non-virtuous.

Furthermore, in the scriptures we also find another classification of karmic action into three categories, the action of body, speech and mind. Within those we find a further classification  into three for each group. For example, a body action that leads suffering or pain is non-virtue of body, a body action that leads to joy or happiness is virtue of body, and a body action that leads to experience equanimity is neutral action of body. You can find similarity to the other two.

We may subdivide the ten non-virtuous or ten negative (actions) into three categories: the three actions of body, four actions of speech and three actions of mind. The three bodily negative actions are: killing, stealing and sexual misconduct; the four actions of speech are: lying, engaging in divisive speech, using harsh words and engaging in senseless gossip; and the three negative mental actions are: covetousness, harbouring harmful thought and intention, and holding wrong views. Similarly we can classify the ten virtues. 

            Just as when a gardener sows a pea seed it is definite that peas and not barely will grow, and when he sows nothing it is definite that nothing will grow, so when we perform positive actions it is definite that we shall experience happy result, when we perform negative actions it is definite that we shall experience unhappy result, and when we perform neutral actions it is definite that we shall experience neutral result.

 In the Vinaya Sutra Buddha says,                      

‘For every actions we perform,

we experience a similar result.’   

  In the Wheel of Sharp Weapons Dharmarakshita says that if we now experience any mental disturbance it is because in the past we disturbed the minds of others; and that the main cause of any painful physical illness that we experience is a similar harmful action that we have performed in the past, such as injuring others by beating, shooting, intentionally administering wrong medicine, or serving poisonous food. If this main cause is absent it is impossible to experience the suffering of physical illness.  

In the same way, the main cause for the sufferings for hunger and thirst are actions such as selfishly stealing the food and drink of others. Thus each and every of our enjoying or suffering of good and bad arises from its causes and conditions.

 3. THE TRUTH OF CESSATION OF SUFFERING

             Since we need to be fully happy, that means free from the suffering described before, we have to examine the cause of suffering and try to abandon it rather than just praying to be free from it and to be happy forever. Examine the happiness and the causes of happiness and follow the method to obtain it.

While examining the causes of suffering, we find the two: volition act and delusion, as described before. Concerning these two, with the realization of ignorance as the main source among all the three root delusions, we should try to abandon it. 

To abandon the awareness grasping at an inherent self is not like pulling out a thorn from one’s foot. The mistaken awareness grasping at an inherent self arises from wrong thinking. So there is no way to abandon it like a thorn put out from the foot. To abandon the wrong thinking, we have to change the mind in a right way.

The mistaken awareness grasping at an inherent self is also grasping at phenomena as inherently existent. To abandon it, we have to contemplate the absence of inherent existence, which is directly in contradiction with grasping at phenomena. To gain the cessation of suffering, we have to know selflessness. Because of that, Buddha said, 'The view of selflessness is the most important.'

                The Buddha says,

                               ‘Whoever sees the dependent origination,

                               Sees the Dharma,

                               Whoever sees the Dharma,

                                Sees the Tathagata.’

               As Nagarjuna says,

            ‘A true understanding of liberation should be based on an understanding of emptiness, because liberation is nothing other than the total elimination or total cessation of delusion and suffering through insight of emptiness.’ 

 Emptiness / selflessness

           When we talk about the emptiness in Buddhism, it is clear that it refers to absence of something, a form of negation. Depending upon one’s philosophical interpretation of the Buddha’s teaching of anatma or selflessness there will difference in the way one identifies what is being negated here. Non-Buddhist schools of philosophy assert the atma or self as the substantially existent (reality), as soul that exists within each of us. At the first level the anatma is negated here is that the self or atma exists as substantially existent, a stance which was possessed by the lower schools or lower vehicle.

            Then we have the interpretation of mind-only school or Chittamatra School that understands fundamental ignorance as belief in the duality of mind and matter, so the object to be negated with respect to anatma is precisely this belief.

Third, according to Madhyamaka Svatantrika, or autonomist school of middle way, understanding of emptiness. Although things come into being as a result of causes and conditions, and the status of things as existing is in one sense or another dependent on our perception, nevertheless there is a certain intrinsic reality to things and events. What is negated by this school is the assertion that objects exist independently of perception, and it is this that constitutes their understanding of emptiness.

This is not the final meaning of Buddha’s teaching on anatma from the view-point of Madhyamaka-Prasangika or consequence school of Middle way schools. According to this school as long as we have not deconstructed or dismantled the notion that things and events can have any type of intrinsic existence whatsoever, then we are still grasping at things as real, as though they enjoyed some kind of independent status. Therefore they negate the intrinsic existence and identity of things and events, and claim that this is the true meaning of emptiness.

 In the Fundamental Treatise on the Middle way, Nagarjuna says,

                  ‘That which is dependently originated,

                 I call empty.  And that is, in turn, dependently designated’                  

4. THE TRUTH OF PATH

If we accept the liberation is an achievable goal, how is it possible to achieve it? This question brings us to the fourth Noble Truth, which deals with the true path.

           In the Buddhism they divide the path into five, which are the path of accumulation, the path of preparation, path of seeing, path of meditation and the path of no-more learning.

The path that attains the cessation of grasping at the root cause of suffering is called ‘the truth of path’. Madhyamaka explains that the true path should be understood in term of developing a directly intuitive realisation of emptiness. That is because intuitive realisation of emptiness leads directly to the attainment of cessation.

However, to have such realisation one would need to have a practice of single-pointed meditation. This leads to an experiential knowledge of emptiness. The point at which an individual attains the experiential knowledge is said to be the beginning of the path of Preparation, and the path which gain directly intuitive realisation of emptiness is called the path of seeing. The experiential knowledge of emptiness must in turn be based on an intellectual understanding of knowledge, developed through inference. Indeed, without that, it is impossible to attain a meditatively-based experience of emptiness. That initial stage of developing intellectual understanding is part of what is known as the path of accumulation. Meditating again and again on that through the directly intuitive realisation of emptiness is known to be the path of meditation. The final stage or liberation from the samsara is known to be the path of no more learning..

According to the Shravaka Vehicle, the Truth of Path should     be understood in term of developing the directly intuitive realisation of the Four Noble Truths.

The grasping at inherent existence that which brings us to unenlightened states has two type of delusion: one is the delusion that is imputed by the reason and the other is the innately born delusion. So also the path to abandon the delusion has two types: on the path of seeing, one sees selflessness directly and abandons the imputed delusion; and on the path of meditation, one meditates again and again to see selflessness directly and abandons the innately born delusion.

In short, the paths of seeing and meditation, which are collected in the eightfold noble path, are ‘the truth of path’. That is the path which abandons the cause of delusion, and the method to obtain the cessation of suffering and delusion.