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Page 1: The Four Noble Truths: the doctors diagnosisbristol-buddhist-centre.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Handout... · The Four Noble Truths: the doctors diagnosis 1. ... 4. The cure: the

The Four Noble Truths: the doctors diagnosis

1. The symptom: Life as normally lived is unsatisfactory (dukkha*)

2. The cause: The cause of this unsatisfactoriness is ‘neurotic craving’, based on our belief of separate selfhood and the idea that we can get happiness by grabbing what we do like and pushing away what we don’t like.

3. The prognosis: There is a cure, Enlightenment, where we have grown beyond our limited view of ourselves. This is a state beyond suffering.

4. The cure: the cure is The Noble Eightfold Path, by means of which we transform ourselves and our life in the light of our higher vision:

Right, or Perfect1 Vision2 Emotion3 Speech4 Action5 Livelihood6 Effort7 Awareness/Mindfulness8 Meditation/Higher States

*Dukkha – Unsatisfactoriness This takes four forms:

1. We are bound to experience what we don’t want2. We will not always experience what we do want3. Even when we do experience what we want, this is bound to end, so this

causes sadness and anxiety4. Even if we always got what we want and never got what we didn’t want –

which of course is impossible – we would still be unsatisfied: because true satisfaction comes from within, from inner positivity, contentment and wisdom,and can never be got from outside things and events.