Four Noble Truths/Eightfold Path

By Hrukti Maat

Introduction

• The Four Noble Truth are: Life is suffering (dukkha), Origin of Suffering, The Cessation of Suffering, and the Path Leading to Cessation of Suffering

• The gist of Four Noble Truth is the understanding and the way to evade Suffering along the Eightfold Path

• This is the foundational teaching--the advance teaching of Buddhism takes a different turn on the perspective of suffering

Four Noble Truth

• The First Truth—Life is suffering• Buddha’s initial motivation to seek

enlightenment is due to suffering• The eight inevitable sufferings of life are:– Birth --Aging– Sickness --Death– Unfulfilled desires --Overwhelming senses– Separation of beloved --Gathering of hateful

Four Noble Truth

• The First Truth—Life is Suffering• The Buddhist perspective is that life is a

suffering sea and that sufferings are inevitable part of life

• Therefore the evasion of the sufferings of life is the primary goal of Buddhist practitioner and that the subsequent works are gearing toward this goal

Four Noble Truth

• The Second Truth—The Origin of Suffering• There are many types of desires, all of which

can lead to suffering– Types of desires: • Sensual desires--cravings (i.e. food, sleep, sex) • Emotional desires—desire for love, power, dominance• Spiritual desires—need to exist (physical attachment)

– Desire arise out of “ignorance” – Ignorance arise out of ego

Four Noble Truth

• The Second Truth—The Origin of Suffering• By understand the origin of suffering, the

practitioner gains a perspective on suffering and realize their pursue of desires are the root cause of their sufferings

• With the new found perspective, the practitioners can begin to reverse the cycle of suffering and transcend out of suffering

The Four Noble Truth

• The Third Truth—The Cessation of Suffering• The eradication of all desires is the way toward

the cessation of suffering• When a person achieved the state of without

desires, then the Nirvana experience will occur, by which the person will no longer get caught in the cycle of suffering

• The way to achieve the state without desire is the Fourth Truth

The Four Noble Truth

• The Fourth Truth—the Path toward the Cessation of Suffering

• The Eightfold path is the Fourth truth and the path toward the cessation of suffering

• The Eightfold path are:– Right perspective --Right thought– Right speech --Right action– Right livelihood --Right endeavor– Right mindfulness --Right meditation

Overview

• The gist of the Eightfold path is the concept of “righteousness” and the applications of this concept

• Righteousness is the most powerful spiritual element and the application of righteousness to various aspects of spiritual practice will ensure evasion of suffering and spiritual accomplishment

Right View

• Right View means right perspective or correct way of seeing events and things

• Right view means do not see the world as your enemy, do not think money is everything and do not think you’re the king and everyone is your slave, etc.

• Right view enables a person to see through the falsehood of the world and be able to release hatred, greed and attachment

Right Thought

• Right thought is the promotion of good thought and positive thinking

• Right thought means do not think of negative thought of death or destruction, do not think of harm to anyone, etc.

• Right thought is very important because every evil Karma is initiated in the mind and so safeguarding the mind is very critical to the success of spiritual endeavor

Right Speech

• Right speech pertains to everything that a person says

• Right speech means no profanity, no deception, no mockery, no rumor, etc. (nothing that may harm a person’s feelings or reputation)

• Know that your words are mantra with magical power, so use them wisely

Right Action

• Right action means doing things to benefit others instead of harming others

• Right action means no killing, no stealing, no fornication, no violence, etc.. (nothing that would harm another person’s body or property)

• Right action also means to do things that benefits other people such as giving and serving (again do what is right)

Right Livelihood

• Right livelihood means having jobs or career that are positive and beneficial

• Right livelihood means don’t be a professional criminal (i.e. Mafia hit man), don’t be a butcher or hunter, don’t be a prostitute, etc.

• Some less desirable professions are: cook, bartender, casino dealer, lawyer for criminal defense

Right Effort

• Right effort means the right endeavor or right personal pursue

• Right effort means do not pursue hobbies such as hunting or fishing, weapon creation, writing that promotes negativity, etc.

• Right effort means endeavor to do things that are beneficial to other and promote peace and harmony in the society

Right Mindfulness

• Right Mindfulness also means right intention or right motivation

• Right mindfulness means do not wish others ill, do not curse, do not pray for disaster, do not wish for stock market crash, etc.

• Know that your thoughts and intention are loudly broadcasted in the spirit world and your mindfulness attracts the similar type of spirits into your life

Right Concentration

• Right concentration also means right meditation or mental focus

• Right concentration means practicing the meditation that will be most beneficial to a person’s enlightenment (i.e. Three Treasures)

• Without right concentration, a person can waste his or her whole life and achieve only minor or trivial success

The Four Noble Truth

• The Advance Perspective– The Hinayana tradition (the small vehicle) is totally

focused on the Four Noble Truth so their entire focus of practice is on the evasion of sufferings

– The Mahayana tradition (the great vehicle tradition) is less focus on the evasion of suffering, rather it focus on the expansion of the capacity to endure suffering

– The Bodhisattva way is the enduring of sufferings for others so they too can attain Nirvana

Conclusion

• The Four Noble Truth (along with the Eightfold path) are the foundational teachings of Buddhism.

• The entire focus is on the evasion of suffering and the ways to achieve the state of non-suffering (or Nirvana)

• The Mahayana tradition expanded on the teaching to the embrace of sufferings

Questions