1. General View

Philosophy is not just expressed in language, but language itself is often its main object of interest and enquiry. The task of philosophy of language is the study of linguistic meaning which, not of course in the sense of grammar and style, is more the realm of linguistics and literary investigation. According to principle of compositionality, the meaning of a sentence is determined by the meanings of the words that constitute it and by the way those words are put together, by the syntactic structure of the sentence (Horwich 2006). Obviously, this is a fairly uncontroversial fact about language.

Language facilitates our conceptualising capacity. It reflects patterns of thought, and can be seen as a means of encoding and externalizing thought. It not just enables us to acquire knowledge of the world and of other people, but also is our means of learning about science and culture, mathematics and history: information that makes up our much of our vision of the wider world. As pointed out by Chomsky (1990:513) that “Internalized language is a system represented in the mind/brain, ultimately in physical mechanisms that are now largely unknown.” The patterns of meaning in language represent a conventional means of encoding conceptual structure and organisation for purposes of communication. Different ways of expressing or encoding ideas in language represent different patterns of thought, so that encountering different linguistic ‘options’ for encoding ideas can influence the way we reason. For the Buddha, language has to serve a practical purpose in producing the required utility in the minds of the listeners. The Buddha considers the meaning to be directly linked to the training path, and any divergent view on the aspect of meaning to be not tolerable. For the Buddha, as we have seen in several Suttas in the Nikāyas, knowing of the meaning should enable the flashing of the knowing of the Dhamma. Thus, language, whatever way used, should produce the necessary meaning that matures into the realization of Dhamma, which will mean very much to us for realizing the goal of emancipation and deliverance from the rounds of birth and death (see §4.8).

Main Points of the Teaching

The Buddha’s teachings in the Tipiṭaka in general and in the Nikāyas in particular cover a wide range of topics and issues concerning thought, cognition, meaning, truth, reality, metaphor, metaphysics, pragmatics, semantics, logic, epistemology, ontology, mind, and so on. Many others such as the philosophy of language, the meaning in language, the references, the structures of language, and so on, and such concepts of linguistics are also contained in these three baskets. However, say, their essences can be summed up in the first sermon; that is, The Four Noble Truths, in which the Buddha taught that there were two extremes to be avoided. What two? “The pursuit of sensual happiness in sensual pleasure, which is low, vulgar, the way of worldlings, ignoble, unbeneficial, and the pursuit of selfmortification, which is painful ignoble, unbeneficial” (Samyutta Nikāya, Sutta number 56.11). The Buddha had had experience of both himself, and the “Tathāgata has awakened to the middle way, which gives rise to vision, which gives rise to knowledge, which gives rise peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbāna” (Samyutta Nikāya, Sutta number 56.11). Thus, Buddhism is the middle way between these extremes, and also between some other pairs of opposites, such as eternalism and annihilationism (see DG, Sutta number 1). The form of the Four

Noble Truths is the most succinct formulation of the teaching of the Buddha:

[Suffering] “Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering.

[The Origin of Suffering] “Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: it is this craving which leads to renewed existence, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there; that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, craving for extermination.

[The Cessation of Suffering] “Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: it is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, nonreliance on it.

[Path Leading to the Cessation of Suffering] “Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering: it is this Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view... right concentration.

(Samyutta Nikāya, Sutta number 56.11; see also §3.6.3)

As the above Sutta pointed out the way leading to the cessation of suffering is nothing more than the Noble Eightfold Path (see §3.6.4).

Thus:

And what, bhikkhus, is that middle way awakened to by the Tathāgata, which gives rise to vision... which leads to Nibbāna? It is this Noble Eightfold Path; that is, [i] right view, [ii] right intention/[thought], [iii] right speech, [iv] right action, [v] right livelihood, [vi] right effort, [vii] right mindfulness, [viii] right concentration. This, bhikkhus, is that middle way awakened to by the Tathāgata, which gives rise to vision, which gives rise to knowledge, which leads to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbāna. (Samyutta Nikāya, Sutta number 56.11)

The Noble Eightfold Path can further be subsumed under the three heads of (I) Morality (sīlai) ((iii)–(v)), (II) Concentration (samādhi) ((vi)–(viii)); and (III) Wisdom (paññnā). It will necessary be noticed that in this arrangement the order is different. This is because, while some preliminary wisdom is needed to start on the path, the final flowering of the higher wisdom follows after development of the morality and concentration (for a full account of these, see Aṅguttara Nikāya, Sutta number 22, verses 18-22; and (Aṅguttara Nikāya, Sutta number 23).

From the above discussions as well as Suttas illustrated, the teaching of the Buddha on the Four Noble Truths is considered to be the most essential doctrine of his teachings.

“when my knowledge and vision of these Four Noble Truths as they really are in their three phases and twelve aspects was thoroughly purified in this way, then I claimed to have awakened to the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment in this world with its devas, Mara, and Brahma, in this generatio