In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths (; ; "The Four arya satya") are "the truths of the noble one (the Buddha)," a statement of how things really are when they are seen correctly. The four truths are dukkha (not being at ease, 'suffering', from dush-stha, standing unstable). Dukkha is an innate characteristic of transient existence, which cannot give enduring fulfillment or consolation;Four Noble Truths: BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Quote: "The first truth, suffering (Pali: dukkha; Sanskrit: duhkha), is characteristic of existence in the realm of rebirth, called samsara ()." samudaya (origin, arising, combination; 'cause'): in conjunction with this unsteadiness there is thirst (desire, longing, craving) for, attachment to, and repulsion towards transient, unsatisfactory things and feelings;Four Noble Truths: BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Quote: "The second truth is the origin (Pali and Sanskrit: samudaya) or cause of suffering, which the Buddha associated with craving or attachment in his first sermon." nirodha (cessation, ending, confinement): this whole mass of unease, desire, attachment and revulsion can be 'blown out' (nirvana) or contained by the confinement or letting go of this craving and revulsion; marga (road, path, way): the Noble Eightfold Path is the path leading to the confinement of this desire, attachment, and revulsion, and the release from dukkha.
The four truths appear in various grammatical forms in the ancient Buddhist texts, and are traditionally identified as the first teaching given by the Buddha. While often called one of the most important teachings in Buddhism, they have both a symbolic and a propositional function. Symbolically, they represent the awakening and liberation of the Buddha, and of the potential for his followers to reach the same liberation and freedom that he did. As propositions, the Four Truths are a conceptual framework that appear in the Pali canon and early Hybrid Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures, as a part of the broader "network of teachings" (the "dhamma matrix"), which have to be taken together. They provide a conceptual framework for introducing and explaining Buddhist thought, which has to be personally understood or "experienced".
As propositions, the four truths defy an exact definition, but refer to and express the basic orientation of Buddhism: unguarded sensory contact gives rise to craving and clinging to impermanent states and things, which are dukkha, "unsatisfactory," "incapable of satisfying" and painful. This craving keeps us caught in saṃsāra, "wandering", usually interpreted as the endless cycle of repeated rebirth, and the continued dukkha that comes with it, but also referring to the endless cycle of attraction and rejection that perpetuates the ego-mind. There is a way to end this cycle, namely by attaining nirvana, cessation of craving, whereafter rebirth and the accompanying dukkha will no longer arise again. This can be accomplished by following the eightfold path, confining our automatic responses to sensory contact by restraining oneself, cultivating discipline and wholesome states, and practicing mindfulness and dhyana (meditation).
Since the 19th century, scholars have argued that the formulation of the four truths were a later development in Buddhism. According to Carol S. Anderson, the function of the four truths, and their importance, developed over time and the Buddhist tradition slowly recognized them as the Buddha's first teaching. According to orientalist Johannes Bronkhorst and Anderson this tradition was established when prajñā, or "liberating insight", came to be regarded as liberating in itself, instead of or in addition to the practice of dhyana. This "liberating insight" gained a prominent place in the sutras, and the four truths came to represent this liberating insight, as a part of the enlightenment story of the Buddha.
Anderson proposes that the four truths grew to be of central importance in the Theravāda tradition of Buddhism by about the 5th-century CE, with the composition of the commentaries, with the Theravāda tradition claiming that the insight into the four truths is liberating in itself. The four truths are less prominent in the Mahāyāna tradition, which sees the higher aims of insight into śūnyatā, emptiness, and following the Bodhisattva path as central elements in their teachings and practice. The Mahāyāna tradition reinterpreted the four truths to explain how a liberated being can still be "pervasively operative in this world". Beginning with the exploration of Buddhism by western colonialists in the 19th century and the development of Buddhist modernism, they came to be often presented in the west as the central teaching of Buddhism, sometimes with novel modernistic reinterpretations very different from the historic Buddhist traditions in Asia.
The Four Truths
Full set – Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta The four truths are best known from their presentation in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta text, which contains two sets of the four truths, while various other sets can be found in the Pāli Canon, a collection of scriptures in the Theravadan Buddhist tradition. The full set, which is most commonly used in modern expositions, contains grammatical errors, pointing to multiple sources for this set and translation problems within the ancient Buddhist community. Nevertheless, they were considered correct by the Pali tradition, which did not correct them.
According to the Buddhist tradition, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, "Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion", contains the first teachings that the Buddha gave after attaining full awakening, and liberation from rebirth. According to Buddhist scholar L. S. Cousins, many scholars are of the view that "this discourse was identified as the first sermon of the Buddha only at a later date," and according to Carol S. Anderson the four truths may originally not have been part of this sutta, but were later added in some versions. Within this discourse, the four noble truths are given as follows ("bhikkhus" is normally translated as "Buddhist monks"):
According to this sutra, with the complete comprehension of these four truths release from samsara, the cycle of rebirth, was attained:
The comprehension of these four truths by his audience leads to the opening of the Dhamma Eye, that is, the attainment of right vision:
Basic set According to philologist K.R. Norman, the basic set is as follows: idaṃ dukkhaṃ, "this is pain" ayaṃ dukkha-samudayo, "this is the origin of pain" ayaṃ dukkha-nirodho, "this is the cessation of pain" ayaṃ dukkha-nirodha-gāminī paṭipadā, "this is the path leading to the cessation of pain." The key terms in the longer version of this expression, dukkha-nirodha-gāminī paṭipadā, can be translated as follows: Gāminī: leading to, making for Paṭipadā: road, path, way; the means of reaching a goal or destination
Mnemonic set According to Norman, the Pali canon contains various shortened forms of the four truths, the "mnemonic set", which were "intended to remind the hearer of the full form of the NTs." The earliest form of the mnemonic set was "dukkham samudayo nirodho marga", without the reference to the Pali terms sacca or arya, which were later added to the formula. The four mnemonic terms can be translated as follows: Dukkha – "incapable of satisfying", "the unsatisfactory nature and the general insecurity of all conditioned phenomena"; "painful," from dush-stha, "standing unstable,"Dukkha is most commonly translated as "suffering". According to Khantipalo, this is an incorrect translation, since it refers to the ultimately unsatisfactory nature of temporary states and things, including pleasant but temporary experiences. According to Emmanuel, Dukkha is the opposite of sukha, (non-transient) "pleasure", and it is better translated as "pain". Samudaya – "origin", "source", "arising", "coming to existence"; "aggregate of the constituent elements or factors of any being or existence", "cluster", "coming together", "combination", "producing cause", "rising".Sanskrit Dictionary for spoken Sanskrit, samudaya Conjunct of: sam – "with, together with";DDSA: The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary, at Wisdom Library sam udaya – "rising," "swelling up";Dictionary of Spoken Sanskrit, udaya "rising up, coming forth"; "elevation, exaltation, rise; growth"; "result, consequence";DDSA: The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary, at Wisdom Library udaya Nirodha – cessation; release; to confine; "prevention, suppression, enclosing, restraint"spokensanskrit.de, nirodha Marga – "path".
Alternative formulations According to L.S. Cousins, the four truths are not restricted to the well-known form where dukkha is the subject. Other forms take "the world, the arising of the world" or "the āsavas, the arising of the āsavas" as their subject. According to Cousins, "the well-known form is simply shorthand for all of the forms." "The world" refers to the saṅkhāras, that is, all compounded things, or to the six sense spheres.
The various terms all point to the same basic idea of Buddhism, as described in five skandhas and twelve nidānas. In the five skandhas, sense-contact with objects leads to sensation and perception; the saṅkhāra ('inclinations', c.q. craving etc.) determine the interpretation of, and the response to, these sensations and perceptions, and affect consciousness in specific ways. The twelve nidānas describe the further process: craving and clinging (upādāna) lead to bhava (becoming) and jāti (birth).
In the orthodox interpretation, bhava is interpreted as kammabhava, that is , karma, while jāti is interpreted as rebirth: from sensation comes craving, from craving comes karma, from karma comes rebirth. The aim of the Buddhist path is to reverse this causal chain: when there is no (response to) sensation, there is no craving, no karma, no rebirth. In Thai Buddhism, bhava is interpreted as behavior which serves craving and clinging, while jāti is interpreted as the repeated birth of the ego or self-sense, which perpetuates the process of self-serving responses and actions.
Truths for the noble ones The Pali terms ariya sacca (Sanskrit: arya satya) are commonly translated as "noble truths". This translation is a convention started by the earliest translators of Buddhist texts into English. According to K.R. Norman, this is just one of several possible translations. According to Buddhist scholar Paul Williams,
The term "arya" was later added to the four truths. The term ariya (Sanskrit: arya) can be translated as "noble", "not ordinary", "valuable", "precious". "pure". Paul Williams:
The term sacca (Sanskrit: satya) is a central term in Indian thought and religion. It is typically translated as "truth"; but it also means "that which is in accord with reality", or "reality". According to Buddhist scholar Rupert Gethin, the four truths are "four 'true things' or 'realities' whose nature, we are told, the Buddha finally understood on the night of his awakening." They function as "a convenient conceptual framework for making sense of Buddhist thought." According to K. R. Norman, probably the best translation is "the truth[s] of the noble one (the Buddha)". It is a statement of how things are seen by a Buddha, how things really are when seen correctly. It is the truthful way of seeing. Through not seeing things this way, and behaving accordingly, we suffer.
Symbolic and propositional function
According to Anderson, the four truths have both a symbolic and a propositional function:
As a symbol, they refer to the possibility of awakening, as represented by the Buddha, and are of utmost importance: