B. Description of the Truths (sacca)

13. [494] The “truths” next to that (XIV.32) are the Four Noble Truths; that is to say, the noble truth of suffering, the noble truth of the origin of suffering, the noble truth of the cessation of suffering, the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering.

14. Herein:

(1) As to class, and (2) derivation,
(3) Division by character, et cetera,
(4) As to meaning, (5) tracing out meaning,
And likewise (6) neither less nor more,
(7) As to order, (8) as to expounding
Birth and so on, (9) knowledge’s function,
(10) As to division of the content,
(11) As to a simile, and (12) tetrad,
(13) As to void, (14) singlefold and so on,
(15) Similar and dissimilar—
Thus should be known the exposition
By those who know the teaching’s order.

15. 1. Herein, as to class: the meanings of [the truths of] suffering, etc., are analyzed as four in each case that are “real, not unreal, not otherwise” (S V 435) and must be penetrated by those penetrating suffering, etc., according as it is said: “Suffering’s meaning of oppressing, meaning of being formed, meaning of burning, meaning of changing, these are suffering’s four meanings of suffering, which are real, not unreal, not otherwise. Origin’s meaning of accumulating, meaning of source, meaning of bondage, meaning of impeding … Cessation’s meaning of escape, meaning of seclusion, meaning of being unformed, meaning of deathlessness … The path’s meaning of outlet, meaning of cause, meaning of seeing, meaning of predominance, these are the path’s meanings of path, which are real, not unreal, not otherwise” (Paṭis II 104; cf. Paṭis I 19). Likewise, “Suffering’s meaning of oppressing, meaning of being formed, meaning of burning, meaning of change, are its meaning of penetration to” (cf. Paṭis I 118), and so on. So suffering, etc., should be understood according to the four meanings analyzed in each case.

16. 2. As to derivation, 3. division by character, et cetera: here, however, firstly “as to derivation” [of the word dukkha (suffering):] the word du (“bad”) is met with in the sense of vile (kucchita);for they call a vile child a du-putta (“bad child”). The word kham (“-ness”), however is met with in the sense of empty (tuccha), for they call empty space “kham.” And the first truth is vile because it is the haunt of many dangers, and it is empty because it is devoid of the lastingness, beauty, pleasure, and self conceived by rash people. So it is called dukkhaṃ (“badness” = suffering, pain), because of vileness and emptiness. [495]

17. [Samudaya (origin):] the word sam (= prefix “con-”) denotes connection, as in the words samāgama (concourse, coming together), sameta (congregated, gone together), and so on. The word u denotes rising up, as in the words uppanna (arisen, uprisen), udita (ascended, gone up), and so on. The word aya^[1] denotes a reason (kāraṇa). And this second truth is the reason for the arising of suffering when combined with the remaining conditions. So it is called dukkha-samudaya (the origin of suffering) because it is the reason in combination for the arising of suffering.

18. [Nirodha (cessation):] the word ni denotes absence, and the word rodha, a prison.^[2] Now, the third truth is void of all destinies [by rebirth] and so there is no constraint (rodha) of suffering here reckoned as the prison of the round of rebirths; or when that cessation has been arrived at, there is no more constraint of suffering reckoned as the prison of the round of rebirths. And being the opposite of that prison, it is called dukkha-nirodha (cessation of suffering). Or alternatively, it is called “cessation of suffering” because it is a condition for the cessation of suffering consisting in non-arising.

19. [Nirodhagāminī paṭipadā (way leading to cessation):] because the fourth truth goes (leads) to the cessation of suffering since it confronts that [cessation] as its object, and being the way to attain cessation of suffering, it is called dukkhanirodha-gāminī paṭipadā, the way leading to the cessation of suffering.

20. They are called Noble Truths because the Noble Ones, the Buddhas, etc., penetrate them, according as it is said: “Bhikkhus, there are these Four Noble Truths. What four? … These, bhikkhus are the Four Noble Truths” (S V 425). The Noble Ones penetrate them, therefore they are called Noble Truths.

21. Besides, the Noble Truths are the Noble One’s Truths, according as it is said: “Bhikkhus, in the world with its deities, its Māras and its Brahmās, in this generation with its ascetics and brahmans, with its princes and men, the Perfect One is the Noble One. That is why they are called Noble Truths” (S V 435). Or alternatively, they are called Noble Truths because of the nobleness implied by their discovery, according as it is said: “Bhikkhus, it is owing to the correct discovery of these Four Noble Truths that the Perfect One is called accomplished, fully enlightened” (S V 433).

22. Besides, the Noble Truths are the Truths that are Noble. To be noble is to be not unreal; the meaning is, not deceptive, according as it is said: “Bhikkhus, these Four Noble Truths are real, not unreal, not otherwise that is why they are called Noble Truths” (S V 435).

This is how the exposition should be known here as to derivation.

23. 3. How as to division by character, et cetera? The truth of suffering has the characteristic of afflicting. [496] Its function is to burn. It is manifested as occurrence (as the course of an existence). The truth of origin has the characteristic of producing. Its function is to prevent interruption. It is manifested as impediment. The truth of cessation has the characteristic of peace. Its function is not to die. It is manifested as the signless.^[3] The truth of the path has the characteristic of an outlet. Its function is to abandon defilements. It is manifested as emergence. They have, moreover, the respective characteristics of occurrence, making occur, non-occurrence, and making not occur, and likewise the characteristics of the formed, craving, the unformed, and seeing. This is how the exposition should be understood here as to characteristic, et cetera.

24. 4. As to meaning, 5. tracing out the meaning: as to “meaning” firstly, what is the “meaning of truth” (saccattha)? It is that which, for those who examine it with the eye of understanding, is not misleading like an illusion, deceptive like a mirage, or undiscoverable like the self of the sectarians, but is rather the domain of noble knowledge as the real unmisleading actual state with its aspects of affliction, production, quiet, and outlet. It is this real unmisleading actualness that should be understood as the “meaning of truth” just as [heat is] the characteristic of fire, and just as [it is] in the nature of the world [that things are subject to birth, ageing and death], according as it is said, “Bhikkhus, this suffering is real, not unreal, not otherwise” (S V 430), and so on, in detail.

25. Furthermore:

There is no pain but is affliction.
And naught that is not pain afflicts:
This certainty that it afflicts
Is what is reckoned here as truth.

No other source of pain than craving.
Nor aught that source provides but pain:
This certainty in causing pain
Is why it is considered truth.

There is no peace except Nibbāna,
Nibbāna cannot but be peace:
This certainty that it is peace
Is what is reckoned here as truth.

No outlet other than the path.
Nor fails the path to be the outlet:
Its status as the very outlet
Has made it recognized as truth.

This real infallibility.
Which is their true essential core.
Is what the wise declare to be
Truth’s meaning common to all four.

This is how the exposition should be understood as to meaning.

26. 5. How as to tracing out the meaning? This word “truth” (sacca) is met with in various meanings. In such passages as “Let him speak truth and not be angry” (Dhp 224) it is verbal truth. In such passages as “Ascetics and brahmans base themselves on truth” (?) it is the truth of abstinence [from lying]. In such passages as [497] “Why do they declare diverse truths, the clever talkers that hold forth?” (Sn 885) it is truth as views. And in such passages as “Truth is one, there is no second” (Sn 884) it is, as truth in the ultimate sense, both Nibbāna and the path.

In such passages as “Of the four truths how many are profitable?” (Vibh 112; Paṭis II 108) it is noble truth. And here too it is proper as noble truth.

This is how the exposition should be understood as to tracing out the meaning.

27. 6. As to neither less nor more: but why are exactly four noble truths stated, neither less nor more? Because no other exists and because none can be eliminated. For there is none extra to them, nor can any one of them be eliminated, according as it is said: “Bhikkhus, that an ascetic or brahman here should come and say: ‘This is not the truth of suffering, the truth of suffering is another; I shall set aside this truth of suffering and make known another truth of suffering’—that is not possible” (?) and so on, and according as it is said: “Bhikkhus, that any ascetic or brahman should say thus: ‘This is not the first noble truth of suffering that is taught by the ascetic Gotama; rejecting this first noble truth of suffering, I shall make known another first noble truth of suffering’—that is not possible” (S V 428) and so on.

28. Furthermore, when announcing occurrence, [that is, the process of existence,] the Blessed One announced it with a cause, and he announced non-occurrence as having a means thereto. So they are stated as four at the most as occurrence and non-occurrence and the cause of each. Likewise, they are stated as four since they have to be respectively fully understood, abandoned, realized, and developed; and also since they are the basis for craving, craving, the cessation of craving, and the means to the cessation of craving; and also since they are the reliance [depended upon], the delight in the reliance, removal of the reliance, and the means to the removal of the reliance.

This is how the exposition should be understood here as to neither less nor more.

29. 7. As to order, this too is only order of teaching (see XIV.211). The truth of suffering is given first since it is easy to understand because of its grossness and because it is common to all living beings. The truth of origin is given next to show its cause. Then the truth of cessation, to make it known that with the cessation of the cause there is the cessation of the fruit. The truth of the path comes last to show the means to achieve that. [498]

30. Or alternatively, he announced the truth of suffering first to instill a sense of urgency into living beings caught up in the enjoyment of the pleasure of becoming; and next to that, the truth of origin to make it known that that [suffering] neither comes about of itself as something not made nor is it due to creation by an Overlord, etc. (see §85), but that on the contrary it is due to this [cause]; after that, cessation, to instill comfort by showing the escape to those who seek the escape from suffering with a sense of urgency because overwhelmed by suffering with its cause. And after that, the path that leads to cessation, to enable them to attain cessation. This is how the exposition should be understood here as to order.

31. 8. As to expounding birth and so on: the exposition should be understood here in accordance with the expositions of the things beginning with birth given by the Blessed One when describing the Four Noble Truths, that is to say, (i) the twelve things in the description of suffering: “Birth is suffering, ageing is suffering,^[4] death is suffering, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair are suffering, association with the unloved is suffering, separation from the loved is suffering, not to get what one wants is suffering, in short, the five aggregates [as objects] of clinging are suffering” (Vibh 99); and (ii) the threefold craving in the description of origin: “That craving which produces further becoming, is accompanied by delight and greed, delighting in this and that, that is to say, craving for sense desires, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming” (Vibh 101); and (iii) Nibbāna, which has one meaning only, in the description of cessation: “That which is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, giving it up, relinquishing it, letting it go, not relying on it” (Vibh 103); and (iv) the eight things in the description of the path: “What is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering? It is this Noble Eightfold Path, that is to say, right view, right thinking, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration” (Vibh 104).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Aya—“reason”: not in PED in this sense.

[2]:

Cāraka—“prison”: not in PED in this sense; see XIV.221.

[3]:

“‘Signless’: being secluded from the sign of the five aggregates, it is taken as having no graspable entity (aviggaha)” (Vism-mhṭ 525).

[4]:

“Sickness is not included here (as at D II 305 for example) because no particular person is meant, and there are persons in whom sickness does not arise at all, like the venerable Bakkula (MN 124); otherwise it may be taken as already included by suffering itself; for in the ultimate sense sickness is bodily pain conditioned by disturbance of elements” (Vism-mhṭ 527).