👈🏼 previous note, 07.07. ‘Wise Attention’, Yoniso Manasikara
There is suffering, a cause for suffering, an end to the cause for suffering ~ and that end is the Eightfold Path.
These truths are what the Buddha is said to have realised upon his awakening, and they are at the core of what he taught. They are called “noble” because understanding them (non-conceptually, but with penetrative insight) results in the highest state of virtue and happiness, and Buddhism is ultimately about improving our conduct and being happy or content with reality as it is.
The Four Noble Truths are:
- there is suffering (dukkha ariya-sacca)
- there is a cause for suffering (dukkha-samudaya ariya-sacca)
- there is an end to the cause of suffering (dukkha-nirodha ariya-sacca)
- and the end to the cause of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path (dukkha-nirodha-gāminī paṭipadā ariya-sacca)
When we say suffering in this context, it is honestly not as bad as it sounds ~ it is a misconception that the Buddha taught that all life is suffering. What, then, is suffering? 👇🏼
There is Suffering
dukkha ariya-sacca Proximity with the unpleasant, separation from the pleasant. The five aggregates (of clinging), which is the cause of suffering 👇🏼).
There is a Cause for Suffering
dukkha-samudaya ariya-sacca
Clinging. The end.
There is an End to the Cause of Suffering
dukkha-nirodha ariya-sacca
The End to the Cause of Suffering …
dukkha-nirodha-gāminī paṭipadā ariya-sacca
… is the the Noble Eightfold Path 👉🏻
✅