Introduction to Buddhism (pt.8)
- Mui Kwok Temple
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Welcome back! In this blog we will start to delve into the Four Noble Truths. The Four Noble Truths are a foundational teaching in Buddhism. They are common to all traditions and all other concepts and practices built on them.
The Four Noble Truths are:
Suffering (Sanskrit: Duhkha, Pali: Dukkha)
Cause of Suffering (samudaya)
Cessation of Suffering (nirodha)
Path to the End of Suffering is the Eightfold Path (marga)
The Four Noble Truths were the Buddha’s first sermon under the Bodhi Tree to his five companions. This event marked the establishment of the Three Jewels, Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
After the Buddha proclaimed, demonstrated practice and presented a full understanding of the Four Noble Truths, the five companions obtained Arhatship (enlightenment). This moment was known as setting the Dharma Wheel into motion. As laid out in three statements per noble truth, there are a total of 12 aspects in preaching the Four Noble Truths.
Noble Truth | The Buddha… | The truth of … needed | The Buddha … the truth of … |
Suffering | Realized truth of Suffering | To be understood | Have Understood |
Cause of Suffering | Realized truth of Cause of Suffering | To be given up | Have given up |
Cessation of Suffering | Realized truth of Cessation of Suffering | To be experienced | Have experienced |
Path to the End of Suffering | Realized truth of the Path to the End of Suffering | To be practiced | Have practiced |
*See sutras translations from Plum Village and Sutta Central for more details.
The Four Noble Truths are not concepts invented by the Buddha, but an understanding of our world and how to interact with it skilfully to escape the endless cycle of death and rebirth. It is structured like a doctor explaining illness and its cure. Because of this logical and pragmatic method, Buddhas are seen as great doctors in the Mahayana tradition, who can cure our mind and spirit.
The structure of the Four Noble Truths is similar to how a physician would treat a patient as follows:
What is the illness?
What is the cause of the illness?
How will you feel when the illness has ended?
How to treat the illness?
Let’s delve into each of the Four Noble Truths and the application to our daily lives.
The first noble truth
Dukkha in Pali or Duhkha in Sanskrit. This term loosely translates into suffering, however suffering does not fully encompass the meaning of Dukkha. Dukkha also includes suffering, unhappiness, pain, unsatisfactoriness, unease, stress etc. The Buddha identified life is Dukkha due constant rising of unsatisfactoriness which led to his ultimate quest to end Dukkha.
Some may state that their life is fulfilling and wonderful but when we take a closer look at each deal, Dukkha can be observed everywhere. In sutras, Dukkha can be specified into three, eight or eleven categories.
Note: In Buddhist teachings, the same concept can be expanded to many details or consolidated to one idea. The reasoning for this phenomenon in Buddhism is that the Buddha can present teachings dependent on the needs of the audience.
Three Dukkhas
Dukkha-dukkha 苦苦:
suffering of suffering or physical or mental suffering. An example of physical suffering is aches and pain from old age, while an example of mental suffering could be feelings of distress or anxiety when ill. This dukkha is most prevalent when someone is in a state of active suffering whether physical or mental.
Viparinama-dukkha 壞苦:
suffering of change/decay or stress when a pleasant feeling disappears. An example is when someone leaves a happy gathering or party and the joyous moment ends. This dukkha presents itself when one recognizes a change or loss of something that brings joy or enters into a state of unease.
Sankhara-dukkha 行苦:
suffering of conditioned states or inability to be satisfied with conditioned or impermanent states/things. This dukkha is best described using the concept of the Five Aggregates (below). Because this dukkha is a feature of life, it is presented in the following eight and eleven dukkhas.
Eight Dukkhas
The first four dukkhas are inevitable as every single being will go through each of these physical states that will bring up physical and mental suffering. And the last four dukkhas are forms of mental suffering due to how one interact with their surroundings.
Birth
Old Age
Illness
Death
Parting from what you love
Being around those you resent
Unable to obtain your wants
Suffering of the Five Skandhas (Aggregates)
Eleven Dukkhas
Birth
Old Age
Death
Sorrow
Grief
Physical suffering
Mental suffering
Anger
Parting from what you love
Being around those you resent
Unable to obtain your wants
The eleven dukkhas are summarised by the Buddha as Suffering of the Five Aggregates in the Mahāsatipaṭṭhānasutta of the Digha Nikaya.
Five Aggregates 五蘊
The Five Skandhas (Pali: khandhas) or aggregates are physical and mental components that make up a being. Dukkha arises when one views these aggregates as permanent and unchanging. The frustration from not understanding the components of a being are temporary causes unsatisfactory in us. The Five aggregates are as follows:
Form (Rupa) is the physical object, it is our body, organs, skin, hair etc. Form is the only physical aggregate. The rest are all mental.
"Feeling or sensation" are the feelings that arise when we interact with other forms through our senses. There are three feelings that can arise, pleasant, unpleasant, or indifference.
Perception, much like the definition itself, is how our minds label, organize or interpret what our senses interact with.
Volitional or mental formation is the voluntary action of our mind bases off of the information that we receive.
Consciousness is the awareness and discernment of the other four aggregates. Consciousness arises with contact between external-object and senses with activity from one or more aggregate; therefore it is important to understand that consciousness can also arise from interactions with the mental components only. In further discussions we will go into the 8 different consciousness associated with our sense organs and object of contact.
In Buddhism the concept of an everlasting, unchanging entity (soul) does not exist, therefore the five aggregates explain a being’s makeup. Each of the five aggregates make up parts of one self. Taking this information, you can ponder on each aggregate and observe to see if it is truly permanent or temporary.
For example form aggregate is our physical self. When you closely observe yourself are you the same physical being as you were 5 years ago? How about 1 year ago? Even 1 month ago? It is silly to say you are exactly the same person with no change even from a second ago. Our physical form is truly not permanent.
Now let's ponder the other aggregates, how often do our feelings, perception, volition and consciousness change from moment to moment. Can they be isolated? Can one mental aggregate arise while others don’t? Can an aggregate affect another?
The following image show how each of these components work.
Image from The Five Aggregates | Sutta and the City
The Buddha explained that if we identify each or all aggregates as permanent then we will be unsatisfied with our current state as we will be disappointed by its non-permanence.
Turning Dharma Wheel for the Truth of Suffering:
This is how the Buddha taught this noble truth to his first five disciples.
Sutra translation from Plum Village
“Here, bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of suffering. Birth is suffering. Old age is suffering. Sickness is suffering. Death is suffering. Sorrow, grief, mental anguish, and disturbance are suffering. To be with those you dislike is suffering. To be separated from those you love is suffering. Not having what you long for is suffering. In other words, to grasp the Five Aggregates as though they constitute a self is suffering.
… …
“Monks, when I realised the Noble Truth of suffering, seeing, understanding, insight, wisdom, and light arose in me with regard to things I had not heard before.
“Monks, when I realised the Noble Truth of suffering needs to be understood, seeing, understanding, insight, wisdom, and light arose in me with regard to things I had not heard before.
“Monks, when I realised the Noble Truth of suffering has been understood, seeing, understanding, insight, wisdom, and light arose in me with regard to things I had not heard before.
As explained by the Buddha, our lives feature events that will lead to unsatisfactoriness. If we do not have the skill to combat Dukkha it will lead to an endless cycle of suffering. Like in medicine, in order to deal with the illness we must first identify it, then find its root.
In the next blog we will explore the root of Dukkha.
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