Buddha’s 4 Noble Truths
A direction to seeker’s thought process
Two and a half centuries ago all across India Vedic philosophy was prevalent. During that era Buddh philosophies were born, promoted and spread far flung. This development prods us to think that in an era when Hindu religion was so ancient and deep rooted, a new religion came in to existence and spread so widely that till date wide expanses of people follow Buddh religion- What are the reasons behind this genesis?
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Universal form of Religion
When Vedic philosophy was prevailing across India and customary rituals held great importance in the lives of masses, in the same era Buddh religion came in to inception. During that era the society was classified on the basis of caste-system and its outward form had reached to the lowest level. Though lower in numbers, ‘Brahmins’ had predominance over largely numbered ‘Shudras’ and ‘Vaishyas’ castes. Since this classification was based on birth it was but natural that ‘Brahmin’ sect was considered ’Brahmin’ only by birth and not on the basis of knowledge and abilities. During these times, there was an ongoing canvassing of blind faith, conservatism and inert rituals in the name of religion. The collective exploitation of the masses was certainly growing hatred in them, but since no alternative was available, the possibility of breaking the interwoven tangles of traditions was not there. Under these circumstances, Siddharth Gautam traveling through the path of inner consciousness awakened “Buddhatva” within him and realised the eternal form of religion which was lost in the hollow of time. In paucity of self-awareness the entire ‘Brahmin’ community was in delusion and drawing others into same delusion. The good intent of the rituals was lost and on the grounds of blind faith and in the name of ‘yajna’, homage etc activities people were being looted. Under such circumstances Buddha re-awakened the eternal form of religion and liberated common man from the empty assurances of the ‘Brahmins’.
Ascension from Inferior to rational thought process — The beginning of a new Era
The practices of meaningless rituals advocated by the Brahmins had shut down the avenues of right thinking in people. In these times Buddha introduced to the masses the strength of the original, rational thinking — the advent of new era. At all times every human being has the fundamental desire to be freed from all sorrows and attain happiness. Manipulating on these desires the Brahmins mislead and looted the masses. Just in time Lord Buddha substantiated four crystal clear noble truths which influenced the human psyche in a manner that the fear of exploitation by way of imaginary rituals (enforced by the brahmins) diminished and the introduction to reality began to strengthen. From here a new rational human being was born who could think on the basis of the principle of cause and effect and its observance accordingly.
Buddhism is Scientific
Lord Buddha started a whole new religious era whose perspective was scientific. Just as the entire foundation of science is perched on reasoning, logic and validation — in the similar way Lord Buddha laid the foundation of a religion which was not to be followed by mere blind faith but could be proved with reason and logic. The way science proves its fundamentals in the laboratory to make these principles acceptable to the masses, in the similar way, in his laboratory of self-enlightenment, Lord Buddha realised, tested, patterned and established four Noble truths in a language acceptable to the masses.
Lord Buddha’s religion is known to be scientific because it can be acceptable to masses of any era and region — it’s like the fundamentals of science which cannot be bound in the reserves of any era and region. Similarly, the four Noble truths founded by Lord Buddha cannot be reserved within the boundaries of caste, era or any region.
What are the Four Noble Truths?
The truth propounded by Lord Buddha is known as the Noble Truth. The meaning of Noble here is ‘Supreme’. Meaning there by that the four fundamentals is the supreme truth of life. It also implies that the truth is derived by a Noble (Supreme) being. In the Buddhist era the word Noble was not addressed to a caste but as a symbol of graciousness and etiquette, for that reason the fundamental principles preached by Lord Buddha became famous by the name of Four Noble Truths.
First Noble Truth: There is Sorrow
On the basis of live flow of self experiences, Lord Buddha manifested the first Noble truth, that if one is entangled in the external form of life then it incurs only sorrow. Birth, diseases, death, worries, anger, anxiety, pain, separation of loved ones, encounters with the undesirable, all these are types of sorrows. Whether it was two thousand five hundred years ago or now, man was struggling with these mental states then and is still making unsuccessful attempts to remain away from it in present. To follow the path shown by Lord Buddha, the first necessary affirmation for us to make is that our life has sorrows and in the present as well as in future all our efforts are invariably made to remain away from sorrows.
Second Noble Truth: There is a Cause for Suffering.
From this point Lord Buddha begins his preaching with scientific perception — that, if there is an apparent experience of sorrow in life then certainly there must be some reason for this sorrow. From this juncture the followers of the second Noble truth of Lord Buddha are divided in to two major parts. Those people who consider that the reason of their sorrow are due to external factors like things, people, situation, deeds etc belong to materialistic world, and the other section with the belief that the reason of their sorrows resides within themselves, like their belief system, ignorance of self, illiteracy etc then these beings are seekers. After attending years of Satsangs and having right perception from Sri Guru, one is able to determine that the reason of sorrow is not external but within one self. Until this determination is not profound all efforts to get relief from sorrow are a failure.
Third Noble Truth: There is a solution to end the Cause of Suffering
When a seeker obtains a factual decision on the cause of sorrow, he enters into further journey where on finding a Sri Guru his determination becomes strong that it is possible to be relieved from inner reasons of sorrow. And if this belief is not there then the entire spiritual practice done by the seeker is a waste. For this reason, devotion is placed at the prime in the third Noble Truth by Lord Buddha. There is no possibility of getting relief from the sorrow unless one has complete faith in the path and its pioneer.
Fourth Noble Truth: There is a Path to end Suffering.
Inauguration of a new path takes place in any region and time when there is a background of profound faith on awakened consciousness. In the times of Buddha this was known by the name of Eight Fold Path. It is also known as the three gems of Buddha and the expansion of these three gems — Wisdom, Morality and Mindfulness — is the Eight Fold Path. The Eight Fold Path cautions mankind not to get involved in the two extremities of life, for this reason it is called the Middle Path.
Ordinarily, human beings are entangled either in over-indulgence or over-sacrifice. Lord Buddha said that the path is not in these two extremities but in the Middle. For a seeker to take a decision on the correct Middle path, Buddha preached the Eight Fold Path. The Eight Fold Path is explained in the following figure:
“Eight Fold Path” — A Direction to Seeker’s thought
The Eight Fold Path preached by Lord Buddha later became famous by the name of ‘Dharma Chakra’. This Eight Fold Path preaches the human being to differentiate between right-wrong and choose a wise path. In the entire path of Buddha there is no insistence on rituals but prominence to wise thoughts. As prominence of thoughts is much subtler than that of physical actions, by following the path of Buddha, rectification at the subtle level happens which evolves an eternal inner conscious state of the seeker.
