The Four Noble Truths
The Four Noble Truths contains all of the Dhamma that is necessary to attain Nibbana. As such, its importance is impossible to overstate.
The First Truth — ‘Life is Suffering’
The first truth states that there is a problem. Except it’s not a problem, it’s the central problem to existence:
Life is suffering.
It’s possible for an atheist to acknowledge that ‘life is suffering’. As far as they’re concerned though, death will resolve the issue. An atheist could have an incredibly shitty life, yet be consoled by the idea that one day in the not too distant future, there won’t be a them to suffer anymore.
So ‘life is suffering’ is not the first Noble truth. It’s a mundane truth that will lead to mundane results. But, it’s a good enough starting point! Let’s flesh it out a bit more.
Whereas many people are under the impression that this is our one and only life, Buddha Dhamma proposes that you never haven’t existed. What’s more the human and animal realms are only two of eight possible realms of existence.
Including the animal realm, there are four destinations below the human realm. It’s here where the most suffering happens. It’s also in the lower four realms where we as beings spend most of our time. There are realms above the human sphere where there is hardly any suffering at all. Existences here last for a very long time but are extremely rare and difficult to attain.
(for a detailed description, read ‘How to Attain Nibbana, Part 2’)
Suppose that World War III has kicked off. You’re of sound mind and body, so have been drafted to the front lines. You spend most of your time on battlefields and in trenches. You’re always terrified, you’re constantly exhausted, hungry and thirsty, and are subjected to things you wouldn’t want even your worst enemy to go through. This is what the lower four realms is like, and again, most of your time is spent here.
Now suppose that you get injured and are sent to the medical wing where you recover for a week. That’s what existence is like as a human. The chaos and carnage of the battlefield is still very close, so you’re not completely safe. But it’s a noticeable improvement none the less. Once the week has passed, you’re sent back to the trenches.
Now imagine that you and your comrades are able to take a month off and visit family. This is much more pleasant. You’re among loved ones and in an idyllic setting. This is what an existence in the Deva realm is akin to (which is what many religions and spiritual traditions think of as heaven).
However, once that month has passed, you’ll more than likely get sent back to the trenches.
Lastly, imagine a year or so without war. During that time, there’s only love and peace. That’s analogous to being in the highest realms of existence (known as the Rupa and Arupa realms). But of course, once those few years have passed, you’re probably going to end up back on the battlefield.
So you can see that even the most preferable outcome only provides a temporary solution to the issue. This is what reality is like and it’s precisely why The Buddha did not teach beings to have existences in the higher realms — because he knew that it wouldn’t solve the central problem of existence.
So with all of that in mind, we are now getting a clearer picture of The First Noble Truth: there is no beginning or end to existence and the overwhelming majority of our time is spent in realms where suffering is the dominant state.
The Second Truth — There are root causes for this central problem
The Second Noble Truth states that there are root causes for the problem of existence: greed, hatred, and ignorance. Greed and hatred are the most fundamental expressions of ignorance, and ignorance is the motherlode. We’re not talking about general ignorance here; it’s specifically ignorance of Dhamma.
It’s critical to understand that Dhamma isn’t a bunch of abstract ideas that have no baring on reality. It’s not philosophising or well-meaning observations for living a good life. Dhamma is an accurate account of how reality operates at a fundamental level.
Dhamma encompasses a great deal. On one occasion, The Buddha explained to some Bhikkhus that the amount of Dhamma he understood is far greater than what he shared with the world (56.31. The Siṁsapa Grove). So then, we don’t need to understand all of Dhamma. We just need to understand the aspects of Dhamma that pertain to this central problem of existence.
With that in mind, we need to circle in on The Five Aggregates and The Three Characteristics of Nature. The Five Aggregates cover your experience of reality in its entirety. They are as follows:
Rupa — this is material form as well as your mental impressions of material form. This includes anything you see, hear, smell, taste, touch, or think.
Vedana — The role of Vedana is to recognise the kind of sensory input that is occurring. For instance if the Rupa were to be the sight of a tree, Vedana acknowledges that the sense input relates to seeing.
Sanna — This is perception. So if the Rupa is the sight of a tree, and the Vedana is to acknowledge that seeing is taking place, Sanna recognises that it’s a tree that is being seen.
Samphassa ja Vedana — This is another kind of Vedana, and it plays a very important role. Once a sense input has been registered and perceived, our own personal feelings about the object in question are incorporated.
For example:
Rupa — the sound of a dog barking occurs
Vedana — it is recognised that hearing is taking place
Sanna — it is recognised that the sound is of a dog barking
Now suppose that you were bitten by a dog when you were a kid. That will inform your Sanna (perception) of the sound of the dog barking. This leads to…
Samphassa ja Vedana — a negative feeling associated with the sound of the dog barking emerges
Sankhara — These are actions that you take and they fall into three categories. The first is called Mano Sankhara. This is an immediate, intuitive response that’s informed by your habits, preferences and deeply rooted tendencies. For instance, you see an attractive person and then you have this very quick, nonverbal thought that implies something to the effect of “look, it’s an attractive person! I like attractive people! I should pay attention to them”. It unfolds so quickly that it’s impossible to exercise control over it.
The second kind of Sankhara is called Vaci Sankhara. This is thinking that happens on the conscious level. Daydreaming, inner monologue or talking to someone are all examples of Vaci sankhara. The third and final kind of sankhara is called Kaya Sankhara. This is bodily actions. Drinking a beer, helping an elderly person cross the street, or punching someone in the face are examples of Kaya Sankhara.
Let’s recap what we’ve got so far with another example:
Rupa — There is some food that produces a smell
Vedana — it is recognised that smelling is taking place
Sanna — it is recognised that the smell is of fresh pastries
Samphassa ja Vedana — a feeling of pleasure associated with the smell of pastry occurs
Sankhara — You look over to the source of the smell (kaya sankhara) and see a bakery. You then think to yourself that you should go inside and buy something (vaci sankhara)
The final aggregate is Vinnana and for the time being, you can think of it as the overall conscious experience of an event. It is the combination of vedana, sanna, and sankhara as well as the corresponding expectation you have (e.g. “I will experience pleasure from eating one of those pastries”).
Next, we need to look at the three characteristics of nature. As the name suggests, these are underlying, inescapable qualities that reality possesses. Briefly, they are as follows (for a detailed description, read How to Attain Nibbana, Part 1):
Anicca — You cannot maintain anything to your satisfaction. There’s nothing in the world that’s a source of absolute, lasting fulfilment.
Dukkha — Being attached to something with the mistaken belief that you can have it be the way you want it to be results in suffering.
Anatta — It’s futile to cling to anything in the world with the belief that it will lead to lasting fulfilment. So long as you believe that it’s worth attaching to things in the world, you are helpless and aimlessly wandering.
By contrast, if someone hasn’t comprehended Dhamma, they will believe that reality has the opposite characteristics:
Nicca — It’s possible to have things be the way you want them to be, and to keep them that way.
Sukha — Because you can have things be the way you want them to be and you can keep them that way, things within the world are a source of lasting fulfilment.
Therefore:
Atta — Things within the world and existence itself is substantive, valuable, and worth holding onto.
Now, we have enough to piece together The Second Noble Truth: the central problem of existence occurs when someone believes that The Five Aggregates (rupa, vedana, sanna, sankhara, and vinnana) are of nicca, sukha, and atta nature.
Greed occurs due to mistakenly believing that rupa, vedana, sanna, sankhara, and vinnana are of nicca, sukha, and atta nature. Likewise, hatred occurs when someone mistakenly believes that The Five Aggregates are of nicca, sukha, and atta nature.
Someone lustfully attaches to something because they see it as a source of lasting fulfilment and believe they can have it be the way they want it to be. That is the manifestation of greed due to ignorance of Dhamma. If things aren’t the way someone wants them to be, they experience aversion. That is the manifestation of hatred due to ignorance of Dhamma.
The Third Truth — It is possible to overcome the central problem of existence
The central problem of existence is overcome by removing the root causes — greed, hatred, and ignorance of Dhamma. Specifically, the root causes are removed by fully comprehending that The Five Aggregates are of anicca, dukkha, and anatta nature. When someone has achieved this, they have attained Nibbana.
The Fourth Truth — the way to overcome the central problem of existence is by walking The Eightfold Noble Path
The Eightfold Noble Path includes the following:
- Right World View
- Right Thinking
- Right Speech
- Right Actions
- Right Livelihood
- Right effort
- Right Mindfulness
- Right Concentration
But what constitutes right? Dhamma is right. Of course, it’s only in retrospect that this is known to be the case. That’s why it’s only possible to be on The Eightfold Noble Path once Dhamma has been comprehended.
(as an aside, that’s why I personally feel that the term ‘path-enterer’ is a great equivalent to ‘sotapanna’ and alternative to ‘stream-enterer’, because a ‘path-enterer’ is someone who has entered The Eightfold Noble Path)
So when someone is on The Eightfold Noble Path, they think, speak, and act in a way that reflects their understanding of Dhamma. They establish right livelihood as a result, because their life is about living in a way that is aligned with what they know to be true about the nature of reality. This leads to right effort, because they’re making the appropriate amount of effort that’s necessary to attain Nibbana.
Because of all of these factors, they have the right mindfulness. There are literally an infinite amount of things they could focus on, but none of those things are conducive to attaining Nibbana. They only associate with whatever is conducive to attaining Nibbana. That’s right mindfulness and it establishes the concentration that is necessary in order to fully comprehend the true nature of reality (i.e. Dhamma).
To conclude, here are The Four Noble Truths stated succinctly:
- There is no beginning or end to existence and the overwhelming majority of our time is spent in realms where suffering is the dominant state.
- This central problem of existence occurs when someone believes that The Five Aggregates are of nicca, sukha, and atta nature.
- It is possible to overcome this central problem of existence. That is done by removing the root causes of greed, hatred, and ignorance of Dhamma, which occurs when it is fully comprehended that The Five Aggregates are of anicca, dukkha, and anatta nature.
- This is done by walking The Eightfold Noble Path.
