Buddhism: Four Noble Truths

First truth: dukkha

Dukkha (Pāli; Sanskrit: duḥkha; Tibetan: སྡུག་བསྔལ་ sdug bsngal, pr. “duk-ngel”) is a Buddhist term commonly translated as “suffering”, “anxiety”, “stress”, or “unsatisfactoriness”

• The dukkha of ordinary suffering (dukkha-dukkha) — the physical and mental suffering associated with birth, growing old, illness and dying.
• The dukkha produced by change (vipariṇāma-dukkha) — the anxiety or stress of trying to hold onto concepts of situations, people, or things that are constantly changing.
• The dukkha of conditioning (saṃkhāra-dukkha)— a basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all forms of existence, due to ignorance of the fact that all forms of life are changing, impermanent and without any inner core or substance. On this level, the term indicates a lack of satisfaction, a sense that things never measure up to our expectations or standards.

By Renzo & Telerman

Second truth: arising or origin of dukkha

Samudaya sacca (Pali, also Samudaya saccã; Sanskrit: samudaya-satya) is the second of the four noble truths withinBuddhist tradition. It refers to the origin or causes of dukkha (suffering).

These three poisons are:

• Ignorance: misunderstanding of the nature of reality; bewilderment.
• Attachment: attachment to pleasurable experiences.
• Aversion: a fear of getting what we don’t want, or not getting what we do want.

By Renzo

Third truth: cessation of dukkha

Cessation is the goal of one’s practice in the Buddhist tradition.

According to the Buddhist point of view, once we have developed a genuine understanding of the causes of suffering, such as craving (tanha) and ignorance (avijja), then we can completely eradicate these causes and thus be free from suffering.

Cessation is often equated with nirvana (Sanskrit; Pali nibbana), which can be described as the state of being in cessation or the event or process of the cessation.[24] Atemporary state of nirvana can be said to occur whenever the causes of suffering (e.g. craving) have ceased in our mind

By Renzo

Fourth truth: path to the cessation of dukkha

The eightfold path consists of Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. The tenfold path adds Right Insight and Right Liberation.

The path may be understood either as a series of stages leading to liberating insight c.q. practice, or as an interconnected collection of practices without a gardual progression.

By Renzo