The First Noble Truth - The Truth of
Suffering
All life involves suffering. There
is the suffering of birth, the suffering of sickness of old age and death,
the suffering of the transient nature of things, and the pervasive suffering
of existence itself. All beings, not just humans, share these kinds
of suffering. There are three main types of suffering:
1. Manifest Suffering
- This type of suffering is easy to recognize. It encompasses all
our pains, illnesses, losses, and mental and emotional disharmony.
2. The Suffering of
Change - It is only through change that one can come to understand this
kind of suffering. These experiences appear to have the quality of
happiness, but as Geshe Tsultim Gyeltsen points out, "Such happiness is
very short-lived, like the dewdrop on the tip of a blade of grass, because
the moment the sun comes out, it is bound to disappear." Just as
suffering changes into happiness, happiness also changes into suffering.
3. The Suffering of
Conditioning - This is a far more subtle kind of suffering. Tibetan
Buddhists believe that we are each a product o our previously created actions
in past rebirths. The conditioning here is not just the social conditioning
wrought on us in this lifetime, but the conditioning of innumerable previous
lives having to do with the very fact of having a physical existence.
Lobsang Gyatso compares the experience of this kind of suffering to a fish
who, having been free to swim in the ocean, finds itself caught in a net.
"Being caught in the net acts as the basis for its suffering." Yet,
however ingrained these sufferings may seem, they all stem from the mind.
It is said that with the proper view and the right method, everyone has
the power to eliminate them.
The Second Noble Truth - The Cause of
Suffering
The second Noble Truth seeks an answer
to the question "Where does suffering come from?" The causes are
said to be: (1) karmic actions contaminated by delusions, and (2) the delusions
themselves, which include attachment/desire, anger, and our fundamental
ignorance. In order to cease karmic actions that cause suffering,
we must cease the afflictive emotions or delusions that cause them.
Our delusions or afflictive emotions are largely the result of not comprehending
the impermanent nature of all things. This understanding is not just
a general intellectual agreement that nothing lasts, but a profoundly personal
comprehension of the fleeting nature of everything around us. Our
houses, our bodies, our family, our friends: All are borrowed and all will
eventually be returned. As the sutras tell us:
Like a star, an optical illusion, or
a flame,
A magic trick, a dewdrop, or a bubble,
Like a dream, a flash of lightning,
or a cloud -
So should one consider all compounded
things.
We are one of those bubbles that the sutras refer to; we may suddenly burst at any moment.
There is also a subtle impermanence that
is not as easy to see as the kind we can understand from observing the
changing world around us. Lobsang Gyatso writes that "when a light
is twirled in a circle fast enough, the eye does not see the motion, but
only the circle of light." In the same way, we generally see things
as static and don't observe the changes going on at subtle levels.
If we can rid ourselves of our habitual grasping at stability, our minds
become more free. When we decrease our attachment to a static world,
we align ourselves with the nature of things, which is to change.
This is why the great Indian poet, Shantideva advises us, "Fix this firmly
in your understanding, all that may be wished for will fade naturally to
nothing."
It is said that the cause of all our delusions
is ignorance, the mind conceiving phenomena in a way that does not accord
with reality. This is not just a reference to impermanence.
Our minds do not understand the interdependent nature of all phenomena,
including the "self". Based on such misconceptions, the mind grasps
at permanently and inherently existing realities. From this wrong
view, negative emotions arise, which lead us to perform negative actions.
An example would be someone becoming angry and attacking another person.
Ignorance about the true nature of the situation causes the delusion (anger),
which in turn causes the negative action (violence). This series
of causes and effects also turns back on itself as the negative action
of violence causes negative karma. This negative karma increases
delusions and the cycle begins again.
The Third Noble Truth - The Cessation
of Suffering
The third truth states that if suffering
is caused by ignorance, anger, and attachment, then it follows that to
find an end to suffering, we must first find an end to the causes of these
delusions. The third truth acknowledges that we can indeed be cured
of our suffering, because our delusions are not inherent in our minds and
can be removed. The third Noble Truth is the prescription against
suffering, but a prescription by itself is not enough. In order to
be cured we must actually take the medicine.
The Fourth Noble Truth - The Truth of
the Path
The fourth Noble Truth offers the healing,
the means by which liberation from delusions can be attained. The
Noble Eightfold Path is a lesson plan in wisdom, ethics, and meditative
skill. These three aspects encompass the entire Wheel of Dharma,
with its central axis of ethical discipline, its stabilizing rim of meditative
concentration, and its sharp spokes of discriminative awareness or wisdom.
1. Right View - Understanding the
interdependent and empty nature of phenomena, including the self;
2. Right Intention - Developing
the right attitude and motivation;
3. Right Speech - Not lying, gossiping,
or engaging in harsh or divisive speech;
4. Right Action - Engaging in virtuous
activity and not engaging in non-virtuous activity;
5. Right Livelihood - Following
a line of work that does not harm others and that leads to a development
of the other aspects of the path;
6. Right Effort - Developing a
level of perseverance that is maintained over time;
7. Right Mindfulness - Developing
a continual awareness of one's own state and one's environment and the
ability to overcome distractions in one's meditation practice;
8. Right Concentration - Achieving
the concentration required to achieve mental stabilization in one's meditation
practice.