The Four Noble Truths
Basic Buddhism (Part I) (The Bus 1.39)
Welcome aboard The Bus!
The Stop
A fundamental doctrine of Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths were taught by the Buddha in his first sermon after achieving enlightenment.1 In this sermon, the Buddha explained his discoveries about the nature of human life, using the Truths to diagnose the human condition: they explain what is wrong with life, why it is wrong, the recognition that something can be done about the problem and, finally, the cure to the problem.2 The Buddha stated in this first sermon that, once he ‘gained absolute and intuitive knowledge’ of the Truths, he ‘achieved complete enlightenment and freedom from future rebirth.’3
The First Noble Truth is dukkah4 - suffering. The Buddha taught that human existence is suffering. No matter the event - birth, ageing, sickness, death, experiencing the unpleasant, losing the pleasant, not fulfilling our desires - all are forms of suffering. In addition to these ordinary forms of suffering is the realisation that the very nature of life is suffering. Life is impermanent - even its beautiful parts cause suffering because they do not last - and the more beautiful and enjoyable they are, the more suffering occurs when they end. ‘All beautiful things decay, our loved ones die’ - and we change and become ‘bored with something or someone that once gave us great pleasure.’5 Both of these forms of suffering lead to further frustration when we realise that despite our best attempts, everything about us - our existence, power, knowledge, etc. - is limited.6 Not to mention that it all ends in death anyway.
The Second Noble Truth examines the causes of dukkah. The Buddha taught the cause of suffering is tanha - craving or desire - which comes about because of three roots: greed, ignorance and hatred. These roots manifest in countless ways: a craving for objects, for love, for power, for happiness, for the feeling of being ‘alive’ or the desire for things to remain unchanged.7 But they also produce our craving to exist in such a state at all - and it is our addiction to ‘worldly life’ which after death continually returns us to this world to do it all over again. Recognising this cycle8 is fuelled by karma - cause and effect - the Buddha understood a chain of interrelated causes creates our human condition - and that by breaking the links, the cycle will end.
The Third Noble Truth is the understanding that we can eliminate suffering by eliminating the cause. The Buddha taught this is possible because he eliminated ‘craving and ignorance and the rest of the causal links’ and was thus a living example of its realisation. Once achieved, ‘for the rest of our time on earth, we still have a consciousness, body, senses, contact and feelings, but they are no longer associated with any craving … [or] suffering, and after death, there is no more rebirth into this situation ever again.’ This is nirvana9 - the state where ‘all craving, ignorance and suffering has been eliminated.’
The Fourth Noble Truth is the Buddha’s technique for ending suffering and attaining nirvana. Known as the Eightfold Path or the Middle Way, it is a way of living based around conscious balance. It avoids indulgence as well as asceticism, instead cultivating a life of ‘morality, meditation and wisdom.’ The Buddhist way of life - whether as a monk or as an ordinary practitioner - is defined by living out this path.10
The Detour
Today’s Detour is to an article from reallifemag.com about our attraction to mobile phones, the language we use when discussing them and the connections we create. If desire and craving are the roots of the problems addressed by the Buddha, then the mobile phone - and our attraction to it - certainly isn’t helping. A thought-provoking article which will make you view your constant companion in a completely different light.
Hold the Line: On the emergence of a folklore of screens
The Book
Today’s book is Stephen Batchelor’s11 Confession of a Buddhist Atheist. Through recounting the story of his lifelong search for meaning, Batchelor locates the historical Buddha’s life in the social and political context of his world and argues the Buddha was more interested in how humans should live in the world than in karma and the afterlife.
From the back: In his classic Buddhism Without Beliefs, Stephen Batchelor offered a profound, secular approach to the teachings of the Buddha that struck an emotional chord with Western readers. Now, with the same brilliance and boldness of thought, he paints a groundbreaking portrait of the historical Buddha - told from the author’s unique perspective as a former Buddhist monk and modern seeker. Drawing from the original Pali Canon, the seminal collection of Buddhist discourses complied after the Buddha’s death by his followers, Batchelor shows us the Buddha as a flesh-and-blood man who looked at life in a radically new way. Batchelor also reveals the everyday challenges and doubts of his own devotional journey - from meeting the Dalai Lama in India, to training as a Zen monk in Korea, to finding his path as a lay teacher of Buddhism living in France. Both controversial and deeply personal, Stephen Batchelor’s refreshingly doctrine-free, life-informed account is essential reading for anyone interested in Buddhism.
A review from thebuddhistcentre.com:
Review: Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist by Stephen Batchelor
Remember: You can buy Confession of a Buddhist Atheist at Amazon, but you can also get it from your local new or used bookstore - or check it out from the library. And those options are better for everyone.
The Sounds
Today’s playlist is a collection of five tracks that - in my mind at least - encapsulate some of the existentialist elements of Buddhism: Fugazi’s ‘Waiting Room’ (1989), The Smashing Pumpkins’s ‘Bullet With Butterfly Wings’ (1995), ‘Kimberly Austin’ by Porno for Pyros (1996), ‘Lake of Fire’ by Meat Puppets (1984) and - appropriately, given the Stop - ‘Namaste’ by the Beastie Boys (1992). Regardless of the (admittedly) tenuous connection, they’re all brilliant tracks. Enjoy.
The Thought
Today’s Thought is a brief Buddhist parable:
Once there was a monk who found a precious jewel. One day he met a traveller with whom he shared his food. The traveller spotted the jewel and asked for it. The monk happily handed it over.
The traveller left the monk happy and full of joy. He knew the jewel would give him enough money to be secure for the rest of his life. However, a few days later the traveller returned to the monk and begged him for something more precious than the jewel: that which made him able to give him the jewel in the first place.
If you have a thought on this Thought - or any part of today’s issue - please leave a comment below:
And that’s the end of this stop - I hope you enjoyed a brief diversion from your regular journey!
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Until the next stop …
The sermon is known as either the ‘Deer Park Sermon’ or the ‘Setting in Motion of the Wheel of the Law.’ I’ve taught Buddhism for several years and have been interested in it as a philosophy for many more. Consequently, most of this Stop is from my own knowledge, though I’ve also used Cush, Denise. Buddhism. London: Hodder, 1991. For further information, see: Buddhanet and Four Noble Truths (Britannica). I’ll return to Buddhist beliefs in future Stops - thus the subtitle.
Although most people believe the term ‘noble’ relates to the truths themselves, this is a mistranslation of the original Pali. The word actually refers to ‘those who understand them,’ which means a better translation might be ‘four truths for the [spiritually] noble.’
Buddhism emerged from Hinduism and thus to understand it requires appreciating the Hindu belief in the cyclic nature of life - the idea that we are trapped in an endless cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth. Radically, the Buddha taught this cycle can be broken once and for all, releasing a person and setting them free for eternity.
Buddhism’s technical terms exist in many languages - Pali and Sanskrit are the ‘classical’ ones. I’ve used both in this Issue, basing my choice on what is the most common one in Western usage. Nevertheless, Pali is the older of the two and considered closest to the language used by the Buddha.
For the Buddha, this is why even people who appear satisfied are still unhappy.
We might call this angst.
Think of our modern world’s craving to remain young. Insane amounts of money are spent on makeup, botox treatments, plastic surgery, SuperDry hoodies, etc. to maintain that youthful look … and it’s all ultimately futile.
This cycle is known as samsara.
Nirvana means ‘extinguishing’ - it is attained when one has extinguished the fires of greed, delusion and hatred which fuel karma.
The Eightfold Path will come along as another Stop, but the eight aspects to follow - not in any order, but as a way of supporting and reinforcing each other - are Right Understanding, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.
Batchelor has had quite the life. See: Stephen Batchelor.
Love that parable! Your take on the Four Noble Truths is as straightforward and direct as I’ve ever seen.