Lesson 6

The Timeless
Truth – The
Four Noble
Truths
 Realities of Life
Look around you and see the
sufferings and miseries.
Sickness; deaths; broken
families; suicides
Retrenchments; fightings,
wars
Dissatisfaction; envy; hatred,
etc, etc.

How does Buddhism help us

to deal with these
sufferings?
1. The Direct Approach
Buddhism approaches the
issue of suffering directly as
opposed to other religions.

It goes straight to the heart of

SUFFERING man’s universal experience, to
what is common to all forms of
life and deals with what it finds
there.
The heart of the Buddha’s
teaching lies in the Four Noble
Truths which He expounded in
His first sermon at Isipatana.
1. The Direct Approach
The Buddha said:
“As a result of not
understanding, not
penetrating four things, that I,
as well as you, have
wandered so long through the
long rounds of rebirth.”
1. The Direct Approach
What are the four things? They are:

The Four Noble Truths:

The Noble Truth of Dukkha
The Noble Truth of Arising of Dukkha
The Noble Truth of the End of Dukkha
The Noble Truth of the Path Leading to
the End of Dukkha.
2. The First Noble Truth - Dukkha
What is considered as suffering?
Birth, decay, disease, death, associating
with the unpleasant, separation from the
pleasing, not to get what one wants and
the five aggregates of attachment are
suffering.

The Buddha said “All compounded

things are subject to Dukkha.”
2. The First Noble Truth - Dukkha
Dukkha is linked to impermanence
(Anicca). Nothing is the same at this
moment as it was one moment ago.

Every particle of the human body, even

the hardest, is replaced every 7 years.

Dukkha arises because the thing we

desire undergoes changes.

Clinging at pleasure is like grasping

fine sand in our fist. It escapes
through our fingers even while we are
holding it.
3. The Second Noble Truth –
The Arising (Cause) of Suffering
Suffering does not arise out of chance or without cause.
The Dhammapada states:

“From craving springs grief,

from craving springs fear,
For him who is wholly free from craving,
there is no grief, whence fear?”
3. The Second Noble Truth –
The Arising (Cause) of Suffering
Tanha or craving is the universal cause of
suffering.
Examples of craving:
Desire for power, wealth, pleasures.
Attachment to ideas, thoughts, beliefs.
Lust of the flesh, lust of continued
existence in the world of sense
(eternalism) and the lust of non-
existence (nihilism).
These are all forms of selfishness and
to desire things for oneself, even at
the expense of all other forms of life.
3. The Second Noble Truth – The Arising (Cause) of Suffering

Under the delusion of self and not

realizing Anatta (non-self), a person
clings to things which are impermanent,
changeable, perishable and it leads to
suffering.
Craving, a powerful mental force in all of
us, is the chief cause of most of the ills in
life. It leads to repeated births in Samsara.
3. The Second Noble Truth –
The Arising (Cause) of Suffering

Buddhism has always been criticised

by other people as being pessimistic
because of the First and Second Noble
Truths.

While the first two Noble Truths present

the philosophy of worldly sufferings and
their causes, the Third Noble Truth
declares that suffering can be brought
to an end and the Fourth Noble Truth
prescribed the path to end the
sufferings. Buddhism is hence a
realistic and not pessimistic religion.
 Cause of Suffering

CRAVING
IGNORANCE
As ignorance and craving are the root
causes of suffering, one must eliminate
them to end suffering.

…end of Suffering
When we eradicate the desire/craving for
money, power, prestige, etc, we will
eliminate suffering.
4. The Third Noble Truth –
The End of Suffering

When unpleasant things occur, it is

the mind and not the body which
suffers.

The Buddha said that the five

aggregates, when involved in clinging,
is suffering.
4. The Third Noble Truth –
The End of Suffering

The five aggregates refer to the mind

and body, which together constitutes
the man. If there is grasping at any of
them as being “I” or “mine”, those
aggregates are suffering.

Under the delusion of self, we see

changes as “my” and suffering occurs.
4. The Third Noble Truth –
The End of Suffering

The Buddha strongly affirms that the

complete cure of suffering is possible
and attainable. And He has found the
method which is prescribed in the
Fourth Noble Truth (Lesson 7).

Freedom from suffering and rounds of

rebirths is Nibbana.
 What is Nibbana?
“Nibbana” = departure from or end of craving
It is impossible to describe Nibbana unless
one has experienced it. Nibbana is beyond
logic and reasoning.

Do we have to arrive at this stage after we

are dead? No, Nibbana can be realised in
this very life: it is not necessary to wait
till one dies to attain it.
5. The Buddhist Approach
Many people wrongly imagine
Buddhists to be melancholic or
sorrowful because the religion teaches
Dukkha.
On the contrary, a Buddhist is the
happiest of beings. He is always calm
and serene and is not upset by changes
or calamities as he sees things as they
are.

The Buddha himself always wore a

smile on His face.
5. The Buddhist Approach
Although there is suffering in life, a
Buddhist should not be gloomy over it,
or become angry or impatient at it.

What is necessary is not anger or

impatience, but the understanding of
the question of suffering, how it comes
about, and how to get rid of it.

We then work to overcome it

accordingly with patience,
intelligence, determination and
energy.
The gift of Dhamma excels all gifts
the taste of Dhamma excels all taste,
the delight in dhamma excels all delights,
The Craving-Freed vanquishes all suffering.
- Dhammapada verse 354

End of Lesson 6