Analyzing Buddha's 'The Four Noble Truths'

The significance of the Buddhist teachings has impacted the everyday lives of Buddhist adherents as it provides a set of guidance, in which the goal of individuals is to improve themselves through effort and ultimately reach Nirvana, enlightenment. Through the Four Noble truths; The existence of Dukkha (Suffering),

Critically discuss the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, explaining the reasons or arguments given by Buddhism to support these Truths and discussing at least one objection that could be raised against the first Noble Truth and one objection that could be raised against thesecond Noble Truth.

From start to Finish, Siddhartha lived his life in search of one main facet; spiritual enlightenment. While in the process of his quest for enlightenment Siddhartha encountered the four noble truths of Buddhism. In the first part of the novel, Siddhartha is portrayed experiencing each of the noble truths.

Buddhism was an incredibly intriguing religion to me due to the emphasis placed on the reality that surrounds us, it’s a rational religion based on peace, self-understanding and the ultimate goal of nirvana. Buddhist followers live their life with three main goals; morality, meditation and enlightenment. Ultimately the core teachings of Buddhism are The Noble Eightfold Path and The Four Noble Truths. It is their lives journey to understand, live kindly and find their inner-peace. In a world so full of hate, misunderstanding, war, segregation and close mindedness; it is unimaginable to not find such a peaceful and understanding religion not attractive in one way or another. However with that, how is it possible that in this same world we find ourselves, those Buddhist followers are able to find such inner peace and understanding when the world around them conducts themselves with such insanity?

Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama who, after leaving an affluent lifestyle, spent 40 days meditating under a tree. At the end of the 40 days, he came to understand suffering and from then on was know as the Buddha. During that time he developed the basic principles of his new belief system. Buddhism has four noble truths and the observance of these truths lead to the escape from the cycle of reincarnation. This escape is called nirvana. One of the most popular religious texts in the Buddhist world was and is the Dhammapada, which provides sayings and truths that shed light on this journey to nirvana. Out of the 423 Buddhist truths presented in the Dhammapada, numbers 20, 75, and 89 provide particular insight into the core

In The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, Thich Nhat Hanh provides a citation from the Buddha, which gives insight into the cure of our distress. “I teach only suffering and the transformation of suffering” (Thich Nhat

The Four Noble Truths, as stated in The Dhammapada, are suffering, the

As a result he left the palace four times to go on four journeys. While traveling Siddhartha observed death, sickness, old age, and poverty. These conditions horrified Siddhartha, with the observing of poverty solidifying his choice to leave the palace as well as his choice to find the answer of how to end suffering.  These four journeys affected Siddhartha so deeply that those four experiences became the roots of the first noble truth. “The first of the Four Noble Truths is duhka. This refers to the Buddhist belief that life consists of pain and sorrow and that people are trapped in a cycle of birth, old age, death, and rebirth.” The pain and sorrow the passage is speaking of is the disease and poverty that Siddhartha witnessed on two of his journeys. Furthermore the cycle of life includes the events from the additional journeys he witnessed. Siddhartha was so greatly affected by the journeys he also included a passage regarding it from the Dhammapada. “Sorrowful are all composite things’; he who perceives the truth of this gets disgusted with this world of suffering. This is the path to purity.” The passage is saying “composite things” bring sorrow and the only way to free oneself from the sorrow is to no longer use composite things and instead take the path of purity to reach nirvana. Another passage relating is, “Transient are all composite things’; he who perceives the truth of this gets

How did the invasions, and attempted conquest of Alexander, aid Chandragupta Maurya to build his empire in northern India? How did his grandson Ashoka manage to govern his large and diverse empire?

The Buddha's Four Noble Truths: A Logical Basis for Philosophy      The Buddha Shakyamuni was born in the 6th century BCE in the area presently known as Nepal. During his 80 year lifetime, he systematically developed a pragmatic, empirically based philosophy which he claimed would lead its followers towards an enlightened existence. Buddhism is commonly called a religion; however, it differs from the usual definition of a religion in that it has no deities, does not promote worship of demigods, and is based on logical reasoning and observation rather than spiritual faith. At the heart of Buddhist philosophy is the Buddha's enumeration of Four Noble Truths: Dukkha (suffering), Samudaya (origin of suffering),

The first Noble Truth “Life means suffering” is shown throughout Siddhartha’s journey to reach enlightenment. Siddhartha experiences suffering both physically and mentally. Siddhartha suffers physically when he decides to join the Samanas and must neglect his body in order to eliminate himself. He also experiences suffering when his son does not obey him, and he decides to leave the river and go to the city. For this first Noble Truth, I believe that life is suffering and change, and they are the only constants in life. Both happiness and sadness exist in the world, but you can’t have one and not the other and that’s the reality of human life because it isn’t perfect. Therefore, after reading of Siddhartha’s physical and mental struggles, I felt that I could really relate to them as a college freshman. There are so many temptations surrounding me including drinking and partying, but by partaking in these activities, I won’t feel happy permanently. I may feel happy temporarily and then I will likely suffer after when I have studying or I don’t feel well.

Lastly Suffering or Sorrow. According to the text, this refers to the fact that life, when lived in a typical manner can never be fully satisfying because of its constant change. Even in the midst of pleasure, we are always aware that pleasure is short-lived. The Sanskrit word for this is duhkha. Buddha rejected the notion of a permanent soul but believed in rebirth. Buddhism proposes that certain elements of personality (not necessarily a soul) that make up an individual can recombine and continue from one lifetime to another while karma determines how an individual will be reborn and his/her life’s circumstances. (pages 131-132)

These Truths are seen as the four most deeply rooted convictions held about life by Buddha, and were presented in his sermon in the town of Sarnath. The First Noble, as stated by Huston Smith is as follows: “… life is dukkha, usually translated as suffering, ”(Smith, 99). However, it shouldn’t be assumed that Buddha thought that all of life was suffering, but rather that we should aim to improve on it. Buddha’s goal was that we would not live life as we typically would, which is unfulfilled and insecure. Smith states this about the First Truth: “… Life (in the condition it has got itself into) is dislocated. Something has gone wrong. It is out of joint. As its pivot is not true, fiction (interpersonal conflict) is excessive, movement (creativity) is blocked, and it hurts,” (Smith, 101). Six points in life have been identified to perfectly represent this: birth, sickness, decrepitude, fear of death, to be attached to what one hates, and to be removed from what someone loves. The Second Noble Truth is as Smith puts it: “The cause of life’s dislocation is Tanha,” (Smith, 102). Tanha can be seen to mean desire, which is egocentric. The Third Noble Truth is seen as a result of the Second. It states that: in order to achieve Nirvana, you must eliminate all the Tanha in your life. Smith phrases like this: “If we could be released from the narrow limits of self-interest into the vast expanse of

Buddhism first appeared in India between the 5th and 6th BCE and is considered to be one of the oldest practiced religion and philosophy. It is a way of life that is governed by a series of passages and countless rules. These passages and rules are meant to enable an individual to further their growth as an agent of transformations to reach the ultimate goal of enlightenment. Though Buddhism, as its original form, is a strict and non peruvious practice of life, it provides of practical outlook on life and how one should be with their environment. The first teaching or the first Dharma, dictated by Siddhartha Gautama, were the Four Noble Truths. Not only are the four noble truths the backbone of Buddhism and they help us understand the

The First Noble Truth of Buddhism is also referred to as the truth about suffering or dukkha, which posits that suffering, comes in various forms such as pain, desire and or deaths. However, the three types of sufferings coincide with the ones the Buddha witnesses on his journey outside his palace: they were sickness, old age, and death (Hardy, 2005; Young, 2013). Buddha argued that human beings are exposed to cravings and desires and even if they are able to satisfy these particular desires that satisfaction is merely temporary. In that case, pleasure is ephemeral and whenever it lasts it results into monotony (Velasquez, 2011; Besser-Jones & Slote, 2015).