The Four Noble Truths Thus has it been said by the Buddha, the Enlightened One: D.16. It is through not understanding, not realizing four things that I, Disciples, as well as you, had to wander so long through this round of rebirths. And what are these four things ? They are: 1. The Noble Truth of Suffering (dukkha); 2. The Noble Truth of the Origin

After 6 years of strenuous striving in His last life, the Buddha finally realized the Truth when He attained Supreme Enlightenment under the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, India. This monumental event happened on the full-moon day of Wesak in 588 BC. This topic of the “Four Noble Truths” is the very heart and core of Buddhism: These Truths, made known by the Buddha after His

Buddha’s first sermon was the teaching of the Four Noble Truths, the summary of all Buddha teachings, experienced by Buddha himself.The short summary of all Buddhist teachings was given by Buddha Shakyamuni, the great and venerable teacher himself, soon after his Enlightenment in the place near Sarnath in India, known also as Jetavana or Deer Park. This event is known as the First Turning of

The First Truth I. The Noble Truth of Suffering D.22 What, now, is the Noble Truth of Suffering? Birth is suffering; Decay is suffering; Death is suffering; Sorrow, Lamentation, Pain, Grief, and Despair are suffering; not to get what one desires, is suffering; in short: the Five Groups of Existence are suffering. What, now, is Birth? The birth of beings belonging to this or that

The Second Truth II. The Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering D. 22 What, now, is the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering? It is craving, which gives rise to fresh rebirth, and, bound up with pleasure and lust, now here, now there, finds ever-fresh delight. The Threefold Craving There is the ‘Sensual Craving’ (kāma-taṇhā), the ‘Craving for (Eternal) Existence’ (bhava-taṇhā), the ‘Craving

The Third Truth III. The Noble Truth of the Extinction of Suffering D.22 What, now, is the Noble Truth of the Extinction of Suffering? It is the complete fading away and extinction of this craving, its forsaking and abandonment, liberation and detachment from it. But where may this craving vanish, where may it be extinguished? Wherever in the world there are delightful and pleasurable things,

The Fourth Truth. IV. The Noble Truth of the Path that leads to the extinction of suffering. The Two Extremes and the Middle Path SS. LVI. 11 To give oneself up to indulgence in Sensual Pleasure, the base, common, vulgar, unholy, unprofitable; or to give oneself up to Self-mortification, the painful, unholy, unprofitable: both these two extremes, the Perfect One has avoided, and has found