The Four Noble Truths: The Noble Eightfold Path

The Eightfold path is the treatment to cure all desires of the heart. Briefly, they are having the right attitudes towards life, in a Buddhist way. It consists of having the Right Knowledge, Right Aspiration, Right Speech, Right Behaviour, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Absorption. It is taught that Buddhism "is a way of living, not merely the theory of life, the treading of this Path is essential to self-deliverance" .

The four noble truths of Buddhism take an important role in this religion. As it is called forth noble truths, it mainly divided in 4 parts: Dukkha, Samudaya, Nirodha, and the last part is the Magga. The four noble truth were discovered by Sakyamuni and it were also announced by him. (Tsering, 2010) the main purpose of the Four Noble Truth is to tell people that the world is full of suffering and the reason that the people suffer is because of human’s

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?

On the surface, the Noble Eightfold Path ideals are incredibly vague and they're open to almost any interpretation. Buddhist sects view them differently, but generally follow the path by approaching the world with patience and joy, compassion, and contemplating the universe through meditation. The fundamental goals are to foster meditation (dhyana), morality (shila), and wisdom (prajna).

Crying and laughing, people experience many different emotions during different stages of their life. Sometimes they would find themselves dissatisfied almost every single moment when they assume that the world is not fulfilling their desire, in other words, their expectations on how the world supposes to be. Dan, an ordinary college student from the story Way of the Peaceful Warrior written by Dan Millman, faces the same obstacle as many others do. Although he has lived a pleased and content life, passion suddenly disappears from him. Such depression stops when he meets Socrates, an old man at the gas station, and learns inspirational lessons which connect to the Four Noble Truths from Socrates. The lessons promote great changes in Dan’s

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.

Siddhartha Gautama (later known as Buddha) is the creator of the Buddhist religion. Gautama believed that the elimination of attachments or problems would prevent any disappointment and consequently suffering. This ideology stems from Gautama’s ‘Four Noble Truths’: suffering is universal, desire is the cause for suffering, suffering can be avoided by eliminating desire and, following the Eightfold Path will eliminate desire. The Eightfold Path is a practical guide laid out by Gautama for his followers to achieve enlightenment, which consists of; right mindfulness, right action, right intention, right livelihood, right effort, right concentration, right speech and right understanding. This is essentially a code of ethics, aiding the path to

Tilopa once said, “It is not the outer objects that entangle us. It is the inner clinging that entangles us.” Over 2500 years ago, Buddha outlined the framework for Buddhist thought in which he declared that he taught suffering, its origin, cessation and path. The four noble truths contain the basis of Buddha’s ideas which he attained while meditating under a bodhi tree, which would later become a Buddhist symbol. While Buddhism is not practiced by many, its affect in the world can be seen in the utilization of the four noble truths that Buddha was enlightened with. By accepting the four noble truths, we are able to identify, heal, and be set free from a life of suffering.

“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” states Luke chapter 2, verses 10-12. These verses show the importance that Jesus had on the people of his town.

The fourth Noble Truths compose the ideologies of the “Eightfold Path”. It’s an idea Buddhist belief of how they can stop the desire that causes suffering. Following the (Eight Path) factors in Buddhism there are fundamental responsibility and accountability that are expected by Buddhist beliefs. Buddhism teaches the concepts of understanding, thoughtful mind, and freedom of speech, action livelihood, encouraging effort, mindfulness and concentration. These categories are divided into sub-sections. The first section is ethical conduct which include the concept of right to speech, right to action and right to livelihood.

There are a variety of belief systems practiced around the world today and have influenced many people. The belief system includes the religions of Buddhism and Shinto, which have hugely impacted people where it is practiced. First of all, Buddhism is a religion practiced by millions of people around the world. The teachings of this belief system was based on Siddhartha Gautama and began in India. Teachings of the religion include “The Four Noble truths” and “”The Noble Eightfold Path”.

The eightfold path are the following. Right view, right intention, right action, right speech, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. Right view is seeing the world as it is right view. Some of the traditions also include kamra (kamma) here, but most secular Buddhist view kamma as intention or action, so we place it under Right Action. Additionally, with secular Buddhists, kamma is not believed to be a system of justice that goes from one life to the next, but instead is about developing wholesome intention behind our actions so we behave ethically in this life, with Right Action. Right View also touches on our own views of the world, how we may grow to them, how we may consider them important, when they are really not important, and how we can get caught up in them. The second of the eightfold path is the path to right intention. In order not to create more suffering, we need to rely on paying attention to what our intentions are with others and with

Siddhartha Gautama was the founder of Buddhism (Van Voorst, R, 2013). Gautama lived a life of a prince until he witnessed physical suffering in the world. Upon observing the suffering, Gautama decided to give up everything to become a holy man. He created the Middle Path meaning the moment between self-denial and regular life. He discovered the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, (Van Voorst, R, 2013).

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

Two of the paradigms in the Eightfold Path are right understanding and right aspiration. When trying to attain right understanding it is essential for one to ask themselves “Am I seeing what’s really there, or what I want to see?”. This is so important to the Eightfold Path to Nirvana because it has to do with our views of the world. We get caught up in our views as if they’re permanent, when they actually are not. When right understanding is achieved, a person is able to see the world, and himself for what they really are (Secular Buddhist Association).When trying to attain right aspiration it very important for one to ask “Am I truly committed to living compassionately?” Having right aspiration is to deeply think about intentions before speaking or acting. If intentions stem from anger or spite, it can lead to more suffering (Secular Buddhist Association). These two paradigms are based on wisdom which Siddhartha talks about in the novel by saying “Wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to