The Four-Noble Truth Of Suffering

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),

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 of Buddhism suggest that suffering is caused by desire, and to eliminate suffering, it is essential to eliminate desire. This concept is so simple, and yet so difficult to achieve. From the moment we wake up, desire consumes our thoughts. Desire can inspire us to achieve great things, but desire can also weigh us down and prevent us from achieving those same goals. The key is to be in control of one's mind, so that we are not slaves to desire. We can watch the ebbs and flows of our longing, and act with full awareness that what we do is a conscious choice and not a habitual behavior.

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.

The four sights that Siddhartha Guatama are also known as the Four Noble Truths are: life is suffering, suffering is caused by craving and grasping, suffering ceases with the extinction (nirvana) of craving or grasping, and the Eightfold Path (Lec. 2015). The Four Noble Truths are a teaching given by Buddha in his first sermon after his enlighten. Examining the first Noble Truth: dukkha or suffering, dukkha means a condition that will last only for a short time. For example sickness, or a broken heart may last for a while but, eventually healing and a mended heart will come back to the person who went through this suffering. Buddha taught that dukkha is the suffering believers brings upon themselves and how the believers either handles it,

The First Noble Truth is that life is suffering. "Dukkha in Pali" stands for life is suffering, but what some people fail to realize is that an opinion that life is bad or suffering. In Buddhism it is realized that life being suffering is a reality to everyone and an outlook on life. As we go through life we lose loved ones to death, friends for many various reason, and etc. From the Buddhism perspective there is no way to escape the things in life that cause suffering and therefore looking for the "good things" in life or things believed to bring happiness are pointless. "Birth is suffering; decay is suffering; illness is suffering; death is suffering. Presence of objects we hate is suffering; separation from objects we love is suffering; not to obtain what we desire is suffering." (Young, 2005) Complete understanding of this First Noble Truth is important to be able to prosper along with following and understanding the proceeding Truths.

In the Second Noble Truth, the Buddha explains the causes of the third type of suffering. Our attachment to sense pleasure is the first cause of suffering. However, the Buddha was not trying to teach about avoiding sense pleasure. Just that we should simply not be controlled by our own desires. (Rahula 22) Again, there is nothing wrong with having views and opinions. We all do. This becomes suffering for ourselves and others when we become attached.

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

Being the first born, I feel I lived a very sheltered life. It was important to both of my parents that I was happy, lived in a nice home, participated in everything that I wanted, and had the things necessary for life. It was also important to them that I did not get hurt. They tried to protect me for the truths of the world, such as death and suffering and pain. Growing up in the area that I did made that easy. Coming from a small area, I was not exposed to poverty or many deaths but I was exposed to love. No matter how much my parents tried to protect me, the truth of the matter is that someday I would be exposed to the many things they tried

Buddhists trust that affliction is a basic piece of life's presence. Because of the impermanent time spent in human life, experiencing is inescapable whether the starting or to the end of one's life. Buddhists have built up an approach to end that misery by taking after the instructing of the Four Noble Truths. The four dukkho, or sufferings, embraced in one's life comprise of misery from the earliest starting point or understanding that torment exists, longing for regarding life, what to think about it a player in the private world, expelling all anguish from one's life lastly the real suspension of the agony from one's life. Numerous things can bring about affliction in one's life from physical and mental, individuals and circumstance or

Suffering, either physical, mental or emotional, in a world engulfed with evil and hate is inevitable. We live in a society where violence is at every corner and if we are lucky, we won’t be directly affected by the dangers of our surroundings. It is important to note that many people find refuge in beliefs and in the deeper understanding of why things occur. However , it is even more astounding to know that one can find healing and freedom from suffering, as taught in the Hindu religion through the Four Noble Truths, established by Buddha himself while meditating, which include the truth of suffering (Dukkha), the truth of the origin of suffering (Samudaya), the truth about ending suffering (Nirodha), and the truth that the freedom from suffering

The Four Noble Truths lead to the end of suffering and attachment. The first truth is that there is suffering, second is suffering is created by the thirst for pleasures, third is suffering can end, and fourth is the path to end suffering (Keown 50). Thanissaro states that these truths should be recognized as they are and nothing else and should be performed appropriately. If one completes this task and “develop(s) the path of virtue, concentration, and discernment to a state of calm well-being.”(Thanissaro), one will cease asking questions about the self and will instead ask questions about how stress and suffering plays a role in a specific experience. These questions lead to direct answers that

The four noble truths are one of the features that distinguish Buddhist ethics most from Western ethics. The truth of suffering is the problem that Buddhism tries to solve. The universe is strongly affected by suffering and the causes of suffering. The Buddha assumed that suffering is a bad thing. No such thing in Western ethics mentions that suffering is bad. There is no problem to be solved. If you love headaches then don’t bother taking aspirin, if you don’t, then you may consider taking medication. The Buddha argued that suffering doesn’t just happen; it comes as a consequence of actions that you have done that were related to attachment and dislike.

One of the characteristics of Buddhist reality is “dukkha”, which is translated as suffering. The Buddhist understanding of suffering is more of a dissatisfaction or dis-ease with life. This is caused by the constant change that comes with living in the physical world. Even when experiencing a

“Thus has it been said by the Buddha, the Enlightened One: It is through not understanding, not realizing four things, that I, Disciples, as well as you, had to wander so long through this round of rebirths. And what are these four things? They are the Noble Truth of Suffering, the Noble Truth of the Origin