Chapter 1.2 - Buddha’s Teachings and the Four Noble Truths

Buddha’s teachings moulded the life of millions and still influence the greater part of the eastern world. He was a refuge of humanity and a master (mahapurusha) of knowledge and compassion. He had all the wonderful qualities of a superman. As a reformer, Buddha became the leading light and spirit of the ignorant and suffering masses. The meaning and value of life are determined by the mystery of unknown of the universal principle which is the governing factor of the world. Man believes in a transcendent supreme reality, because rational thought demands its existence. So, the empirical world is bounded by a mystery in which rational thought ends. The systems of religious thought have given two theologies. The first one is an esoteric enquiry into the divine nature of the supreme or an indefinable Absolute. The second one is the laws and rules closer to the ethical world and its daily practice for the lay man. For Buddha his silence on the metaphysical questions gave different explanations and various definitions about the nature. Buddha denies the absolute reality, and so nothing permanent in the self or soul. But he believed in Nirvana, the annihilation, that is prajna or in the Buddhist terminology it is Shunyata. A beautiful discourse explains it when Buddha narrates it to his disciples in the Saranath grove. Buddha was sitting under the simsapa tree.

He took few leaves from the tree and asked his surrounded disciples:

“What you think my disciples, which are more, the few simsapa leaves which I have gathered in my hand, or the other leaves yonder in this simsapa grove? Many more are in the grove sir, and a few leaves which you hold are not many, said the surrounded disciples.”

So, my disciples, is that much more I have learned and not told you is less which brings no profit to you and also it does not conduce any progress in holiness. So, metaphysical inquiries have no benefit in this world of suffering. Buddha knew the truth, though he did not proclaim it. He believed and preached the non-soul theory or Anatma. He said that control our thoughts and purify our desires, there will shine out the godlike splendor of virtue, the perfect goodness, the eternal dharma, this is the theory of Nairatmyavada. Buddha never claimed to be more than an ordinary simple human being. Thus, he encouraged everyone to develop and cultivate for the emancipation of oneself and others. Service (Altruism) being the central fact of purification of the mind, the idea of social responsibility was therefore inherent in individual responsibility. The philosophy of Buddha is humane and for the benefit of sentient all beings. The central point of Buddhist philosophy is to explain the law of becoming. These teachings are called the four noble truths. Before analyzing the detailed study of the philosophy of the Tathagata, the Buddha, one should see the essence of his teaching which lays his approach and reason on the phenomenal world, which he placed as a scientist or a savior of humankind.

These teachings are:

1. The world is full of suffering (Duhkha),
2. Origin of suffering (Duhkha-samudaya),
3. cessation of suffering (Niroddha),
4. the way leading to the cessation of suffering (Magga).

Buddha, was born as Siddhartha (who was accomplished), in the Lumbini garden, is the territory of Kapilavastu between Ganga and Nepal. His father was Sudhodhana (rich of great merits) and the mother was Mayadevi. The child grew under the care of his maternal aunt Mahaprajapati and was brought up in luxury. He was married to Yasodhara, and had a son named Rahula. Siddhartha was trained as lived in an atmosphere of Vedic rituals and thoughts. Siddhartha derived these authoritarianisms of Vedic systems of rituals and sacrifices as meaningless. His approach to rational thinking and to solve the suffering of the problem in an inquisitive manner led him to abandon the household life and became an ascetic. On a night, Siddhartha entered the deep forest of ‘Uruvela’^[1] by crossing over the river ‘anoma’. It is described by Buddhist writers as the great renunciation (abhiniskramana). Siddhartha underwent severe austerities and followed methods of painful self-mortification. Several years he practiced various methods of asceticism. There he met the hermit Kaundinya and the yogic teachers of him Alarakalama and Uddaka Ramaputta are teachers of Sankhya ways and Yogic practices. Impressed by his sincerity, a company of five mendicants became his disciples later. Siddhartha sat under an Aasvatha tree (Bo-tree)- (Fiens-religiosa), the tree of awakening. After a deep meditation and austerities, he attained the Nirvana.^[2]

He emphasized the impermanency of the world experience. Old age, death and sickness are natural to living. There is nothing that is unchanging in this world. We have been speaking of endangered species of birds and animals. But ‘trishna’ (tanha) or desire will turn human into an endangered species. His teachings were in Pali. Pali was the common man’s language in the Vaisali at that time.

In Pali language, ‘duhkha’ means pain, misery, suffering etc. the conception of duhkha can be viewed from three aspects.

1. Duhkha-as ordinary suffering (duhkha-duhkha)
2. Duhkha-viparinamaduhkha-produced by change
3. Duhkha-samkhara-conditionedstates.

The first and the important point of the philosophy of Buddha is to show the way of becoming.

In the process of his journey is ever upward, he himself shall discover the way of liberation from the root causes of suffering (duhkha). The existence of suffering is the fundamental theme of Buddhism. Suffering is usually brought about by a certain psychological disposition of the individual. Therefore, this disposition has to be mastered by the individual. The problem which the Buddha set himself to solve was freedom from the power of sorrow. To Buddha, it was not the question of escaping from suffering, but to conquer it. He declared that the ultimate cause of universal suffering is craving (trishna), which is based on ignorance (avidya).

Second noble truth is Samudya or arising of duhkha. Desire, thirst, greed etc. Buddha uses the term ‘tanha’ trishna; it makes all the troubles in the world we experience. Buddhism does not advocate permanency of anything. Life is a continuous series of fleeting moments that changes every moment. So, there is no permanency and it is the momentariness which makes the phenomena and the world of appearances in the life process of personal experiences. From this delusion springs all our sorrows. This selfcenteredness is the source of sin and worries. This deludes his mind and the man himself.

The third noble truth concerned with Nirodha-the cessation of duhkha. Right mindfulness and right action overcoming all the dejections. It is self-mastery by means of self-knowledge; right belief and right aspiration give right understanding on the development of the progress of path. This reflects in the mindfulness of the person in reasoning and meditation on the inward transformation. This is liberation form suffering. This is Nirvana (Emancipation). It is the cessation of continuity and becoming (bhavanirodha). One who has attained this state has no fears, anxieties, sorrow etc. He is serene and calm. His mind is clear like a mirror. He is in clarity of thought. He achieves peace and silence.

The fourth is ‘magga’, the path, the middle path. This middle path is advocated by Mahayana and the Madhyamika traditions. It is called Madhyamika, because it avoids two extremes. Seeking happiness from eternal search and seeking happiness through the worldly enjoyments, pleasures, the laws of nature require a tranquility to live together and work together in harmony in order to survive. Buddha then teaches the eight-fold path which purifies the mind and character. And comprising these methods of right livelihood promotes Sila or ethical conduct, Samadhi or contemplation and Panna (prajna) the wisdom. The Buddha’s teaching of non-soul or non-self is not a negative concept. It is Reality of Truth (Nirvana), Dharma Tathatha-the ‘Bodhi’.

To attain this Bodhi or Nirvana, he ordained before the disciples an eight-fold path which is coherent with each other and enables them to live harmoniously in this world of impermanence. And it is also conducive to the spiritual quest or enlightenment. This pursuit of disciplined eight-fold path^[3] helps one to realize the inner spiritual growth, which is the experience of four fold brahma viharas^[4] , which is emphasized in the Vinayapitakas.

Buddha’s teachings are spread as the discourses with his nearest disciples and those who wanted to enquire about truth. In the Risipathana or ‘deer park’ in the Saranath near Varanasi, he delivered the first discourse to the five disciples those who were present earlier at the Bodhgaya (where he practiced severe austerities and physical tortures to know the reality, eventually he attained). The discourse is known as ‘Dhammachakkapavathana sutta’ (Dharma Cakra Pravarthana Sutra in Sanskrit), which means the law of dharma. Later it was collected and preserved by succeeding teachers and commentators in the monasteries all over the Eastern regions.

Buddha preached and practiced the Madhya marga or the middle way between the two extremes of self-mortification and self-indulgence. These teachings are codified as three baskets or ‘Tripitakas’ three-fold canon.

They are

1. Sutta pitaka –Utterances of the Buddha,
2. Vinayapitaka–rules of discipline, and
3. Abhidhammapitaka–philosophic discussions^[5]

From his own experience, Buddha declares Absolute bliss is ‘Nirvana’. This very cardinal conception of Buddhism teaches us about emancipation or release from the fetters of the world of sorrows and its causation. One should be freed from the bondages, which is the outcome of one’s own activities. He must be liberated by his own efforts, without any outside help, from all attachments, from fear, from greed, passions and lust. Here Nirvana is for the spiritual development through the universal charity to all beings and the world. In short, Buddha’s philosophy enshrines axiomatic principles of prajna and karuna. The general trend of all philosophies was to accept an absolute or an ultimate truth. The universe, and hence this world and mankind were contingent upon the existence of an absolute, transcendent being. Most schools accepted this ultimate essence of reality. Though the nature of this ultimate reality was different in different schools, they all accepted that there is, in fact some form of ultimate.

Truth, for Buddhism, is relative. There is no single unchanging, absolute reality or being as in the other schools. The Buddha did not teach that there is an Ultimate, nor did he deny it. He did not declare the Ultimate to be ineffable because mystical and inherently beyond the scope of thought, nor did he embrace agnosticism and say that we just can never know its nature. The Buddha simply would not talk about it. When a concept was discussed in relation to a metaphysical thing, he would declare this concept to be neither wrong, nor right, nor both, nor neither. It just should not be discussed.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Modern Buddha Gaya

[2]:

Nirvana is a state of annihilation of all the dharmas.

[3]:

Sammaditthi-Right understanding, Samma sankappa-Right thought, Samma vacaRight speech, Samma kammanta-Right action, Sammaajiva-Rightlivelyhood,

Sammavayama-Right effort, Sammasati-Right mindfulness and Sama SamadhiRight meditation. C.F. Allen, The Buddha’s Philosophy, -Selections from the Pali canon, George Allen & Unwin Limited, London, 1959, p.45.

[4]:

Sublime states of mind, Metta, Karuna, Mudita (joyous sympathy), and Upeksha (equanimity) formed the four brahma viharas.

[5]:

N. Gangulee, The Buddha and his message, Popular book depot, Bombay, p. 91.