Four Noble Path Research Paper

Buddhism is a philosophy and a religion based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama who lived approximately 566 B.C.E. Today, Buddhism has millions of followers worldwide, known as Buddhists. (Ballou, 1976) Most practicing Buddhists believe in concepts such as karma, dharma, samsara and nirvana. In addition to these, Buddhists base their lives and actions on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold. Fortress (1999) explains that the name Buddha is a title that means “one who has been awakened” or “the Enlightened One”. On his quest for enlightenment and spirituality, Buddha escaped the life he knew as a husband and father, and turned to a life of meditation, along with ascetic practices. He lived much of his life as a monk in the monastery preaching to his followers that the way to be “awakened” or achieve inner peace and enlightenment is to” live in the now”. (Fortress, 1999) This paper will discuss Buddhism and whether it is a religion of escapism or whether Buddhist live in denial of reality.

All that practice Buddhism also are aware of the four noble truths, Dukkha, Samudaya, Niodah, and Magga. These truths simply state suffering exists, recognition that there is a cause for suffering, there is an end to suffering and in order to end suffering, you must follow the Eightfold Path.

Mindfulness is another way of meditation. Meditation was used to seek to improve one’s psychological or physical health, or spiritual growth. (Brantley, 2007). The history of Mindfulness comes from Buddhism and his search for enlightenment and a foundation of the four noble truths. The Buddha teaching focus on the four noble truths which consist of knowing suffering exists, there is a cause of suffering, there is cessation of suffering and there is a path that leads to the cessation of suffering. (Van Gordon, 2015). The four noble truths were not only there to represent the Buddha’s experiential understanding of suffering, but also to express the truth (Van Gordon, 2015). Studies of Buddhism and the Four Noble Truths teach us that there is always going to be suffering in our life but to find ways to overcome suffering (Tsering, 2005).

The first two steps in the Eightfold Path, which leads to the cessation of suffering, are right understanding and right resolution; a person must first discover and experience the correctness of the Four Noble Truths, and then resolve to follow the correct path. The next three steps form a kind of unit: right speech, right behavior, and right livelihood. These reflect the external aspects of a person's life, which must not be neglected. The interior disciplines constitute the final three steps: right efforts, right mindfulness, and right contemplation. By this means, the follower of Buddha can arrive at Nirvana. (Robinson)

The four noble truths of Buddhism are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path to the end of suffering. These four truths are the basics of Buddha's teaching, and is the most frequently shared belief amongst Buddhists. The first noble truth is suffering, meaning life is Dukkha. This noble truth interpretation is that suffering appears in many shapes. And it is believe that anything short-term is Dukkha, even pleasure. The second truth is the cause of suffering, also known as samudaya. In this truth, Buddhism claims the cause for suffering are cupidity, wants, illiteracy, loathing and devastating desires. The second truth does not mean a person should give up what they love to be happy. But the problem lies within an individual connection to their passion that puts them in trouble. The third truth is the end of suffering, also known as Nirodha. This truth believes that there is a possibility of freedom. The fourth truth is the path to the end of suffering, also known as magga. In the fourth truth, it is believed that in order to end suffering, one must follow the eightfold strategy.

Buddhists have many practices that all mostly focus on the ideas of purifying one’s self through the eightfold path. The practice of meditation in the Buddhist faith

The core principal of Buddhism is the Four Noble Truths. The Buddha Shakyamuni’s first sermon, the setting in motion of the wheel of dharma, detailed the Four Noble Truths. The First Noble Truth is about the inherent nature of suffering in the world; that is, everything is suffering. From a Western standpoint, the idea that the world is entirely suffering appears pessimistic. To the Buddhists, this is not a pessimistic viewpoint, but an honest one. In this paper, I will examine whether or not the world in suffering by looking at first the Buddhist justification and then my personal experiences and beliefs.

As a result of asceticism and hedonism being deemed irrational, Buddhism was born, the middle way between the two. Siddhartha Gautama (later known as the Buddha) is the rishi (founder) of Buddhism which is built on the doctrine that humans are forever burdened with suffering or dukkha. The teachings of Buddha serve as a tool to overcome desire, which is the root of all suffering. In this paper, the nature of the Buddhist’s claim of suffering will be dissected and further examined along with the idea of the noble eightfold path, otherwise known as the solution to all suffering.

Seekers such as monks feel that the teaching of Buddha, has driven them to overcome suffering by accepting the rules of the four noble truth and the eightfold path. In The Vision of the Buddha by Tom Lowenstein, the Buddha say, : "What, monks, is the truth of suffering? Birth is suffering, decay, sickness and death are suffering. To be separated from what you like is suffering. To want something and not get it is suffering. In short, the human personality, liable as it is to clinging and attachment brings suffering" (63). In addition, Buddha has influenced many seekers and has attract followers throughout Asia. The goal of the Buddha's teaching is to help individuals procure the good life, throughout the source of suffering centrally involves claims concerning the nature of a person, as well as how we acquire cognizance about the world and the place in

The Buddha himself had to suffer spiritually while he tried to find his enlightened path. The Four Noble Truths teaches and explores human suffering and have been describe as simplistic but useful. Dukkha is the first of the Four Noble Truths. Dukkha teaches that suffering exists, it is real and universal and has many causes, pain, and failure. Samudaya is number two of The Four Noble Truths. Samudaya teaches that there is a reason for suffering. The belief is Suffering is wanting to control things and can take multiple forms like, wanting sensual pleasures, the need for fame, and wanting to avoid unpleasant sensations. Just as Samudaya teaches that there is a reason for suffering, Nirodha teaches that suffering will end. Suffering will end with final liberation of nirvana, the mind will experience complete freedom. The fourth and final Noble Truth is Magga which teaches that in order to completely end all suffering you must follow the Eightfold Path (Johnson, J. M. 2015). Buddhists do not believe in flashiness, money, and worldly possessions bringing you ultimate

In the Eight-Fold Path, a core teaching in the sacred texts of Theravada Buddhism and the Buddha’s teachings demonstrates the importance of meditation and its influence on becoming enlightened. The eighth teaching, Samma-Samadhi, is translated as meditation or full concentration. Evidently, this proves that meditation is key to becoming

Buddhist teachings consist of teaching others how to end suffering in their own lives. Buddha teaches that if you follow an eightfold path, then you are moving toward reaching nirvana. This is the end of all suffering and the goal of all Buddhists.

After being enlightened by the Great Awakening Gautama, the creator of Buddhism, came up with four truths that explained how to allow peace into one’s life. These four noble truths are that suffering dominates our experience, the cause of suffering is desire or craving, it is possible to extinguish suffering by extinguishing its cause, thereby attaining nirvana, and the noble eightfold path leads to the extinction of desire- that is, and it leads to nirvana. From the noble eightfold path came eight ideals of how you should live your life in order to find truth. They are right views, resolve, speech, conduct, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. Through these four truths and eight ideals Buddhists look to use Buddha’s lessons in order to seek their own enlightenment or realization of life.

The basic Buddhist teachings provide guidance on how to minimize suffering and maintaining inner peace. The essence of basic Buddhism is referred to as the “Three Jewels”. This consists of Sanskrit, Triratna, and Pali which is also considered the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. The four noble truths basically provide a path to reality. It concurs that suffering exist, because there is reasoning behind it. The cause also has an ending, in which the noble eightfold path provides the relief to suffering. The eightfold path provides the passage way to inner peace. You must be able to understand, develop the right intention, be honest in what you say, create actions that prevent hurting another being, commit to the right work, remain consistent in your efforts because meditation creates awareness, and with that it creates inner peace within an individual.

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).