The Four Noble Truths

According to the scriptures, the Buddha taught that in life there exists sorrow / suffering which is caused by desire and it can be cured (ceased) by following the Noble Eightfold Path (Sanskrit: Ārya 'aṣṭāṅga Mārgaḥ , Pāli: Ariyo Aṭṭhaṅgiko Maggo). This teaching is called the Catvāry Āryasatyāni (Pali: Cattāri Ariyasaccāni), the "Four Noble Truths".

Suffering: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering.

The cause of suffering: The desire which leads to renewed existence (rebirth) (the cycle of samsara)

The cessation of suffering: The cessation of desire.

 
The way leading to the cessation of suffering: The Noble Eightfold Path;

According to the scriptures, the Four Noble Truths were the topic of the first sermon given by the Buddha after his enlightenment[6], which was given to the five ascetics with whom he had practiced austerities, and were originally spoken by the Buddha, not in the form of a religious or philosophical text, but in the form of a common medical prescription of the time.

 

The Four Noble Truths  

Noble Eightfold Path

Bodhi

Refuge in the Three Jewels

 Sila

 Samadhi, Vipassana, and Buddhist meditation

Prajñā  Wisdom

Early Buddhism

Rise of Mahayana Buddhism

Emergence of the Vajrayāna

Decline of Buddhism in India and Central Asia

Southern Buddhism

Eastern Buddhism

Northern Buddhism

Buddhist Texts

Hinduism and Buddhism

Similarities between Hinduism and Buddhism

Buddhism and Eastern Teaching

God in Buddhism

Go Back to Buddisim