Sunday 5 July 2015

The Four Nobel Truth


1.      The anti-speculative attitude: when anyone asked Buddha metaphysical questions as to whether the soul was different from the body, whether it survived death, whether the world was finite or infinite, eternal or non-eternal, etc., he avoided the discussing them.
2.      The First Noble Truth about Suffering:
it says that there is suffering. And the sights of suffering which upset the mind of young Siddhartha were of disease, old age and death. but to the enlightened mind of Buddha not simply these but the very essential conditions of life, human and sub-human, appeared without exception, to be fraught with misery.
3.      The Second Noble Truth about the cause of Suffering: it has twelve links called pratityasamutpāda or the theory of dependent origination and it is the cause of suffering.
4.      The Third Noble Truth about the Cessation of Suffering: it follows from the second that misery depends on some conditions. If these conditions are removed, misery would cease. But we should try to understand clearly the exact nature of the state called cessation (nirodha) of misery. Liberation from misery is attainable in this very life if certain conditions are fulfilled.
5.      The fourth Noble Truth and the path to liberation: it is also called dukh-nirodh-marga. The path recommended by Buddha consists of eight steps or rules and is, therefre, called the eightfold noble path (astangika-marga). This gives in a nutshell the essentials of Buddha ethics. It consists of the following eight good things:
                               I.            Right views (sammaditthi or samyagdrsti)
                            II.            Right resolve (sammasankalpa or samyaksankalpa)
                         III.            Right speech ( sammavaca or samyagvak)
                         IV.            Right conduct (sammakammanta or samyahharmanta)
                            V.            Right livelihood (samma-ajiva or samyagajiva)
                         VI.            Right effort (sammavayama or samyagajiva)
                      VII.            Right effort (sammavayama or samyagvyayama)
                   VIII.            Right effort (sammasti or samyaksmrti)


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