Four Noble Truths Talks

In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths (Sanskrit: चतुरार्यसत्यानि, romanized: caturāryasatyāni; Pali: caturāriyasaccāni; "The Four Arya Satya") are "the truths of the Noble Ones", the truths or realities for the "spiritually worthy ones". The truths are:

dukkha ("not being at ease", "suffering", from dush-stha, "standing unstable,") is an innate characteristic of the perpetual cycle (samsara, lit. 'wandering') of grasping at things, ideas and habits; samudaya (origin, arising, combination; "cause"): there is dukkha (unease, disbalance) when there is, or it arises simultaneously with, taṇhā ("craving," "desire" or "attachment," lit. 'thirst'). nirodha (cessation, ending, confinement): dukkha can be ended or contained by the confinement or letting go of this taṇhā; marga (path, Noble Eightfold Path) is the path leading to the confinement of tanha and dukkha.

The four truths appear in many 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 as him. 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 a proposition, 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).

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. This tradition was established when prajna, 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.

The four truths grew to be of central importance in the Theravada tradition of Buddhism by about the 5th-century CE, which holds that the insight into the four truths is liberating in itself. They are less prominent in the Mahayana tradition, which sees the higher aims of insight into sunyata, emptiness, and following the Bodhisattva path as central elements in their teachings and practice. The Mahayana 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.

From Four Noble Truths on Wikipedia

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2008.01.23-serial.00113A

Four Noble Truths, Don't Know Mind, Samsara, Buddha Ancestors, difficulty, Fox,...
Jan 23 2008

Intensive Lecture

Big Mind, Four Noble Truths, realization, Suzuki Roshi, Transmission, Zazen,...
Jul 10 2007
City Center

Breathing In, Breathing Out

Serial: SF-01146

Sunday Lecture: simplicity; story of Prajnatara in Malawi; the sun comes up, the sun goes down; connections; the four foundations of mindfulness; Navajo rain dance

Mindfulness, Four Foundations, Book of Serenity, Four Noble Truths, Nirvana, Buddha...
Oct 08 2006
Green Gulch

Buddhas And Sentient Beings Are Not Two

Serial: SF-01026

One-day sitting lecture: positive encouragement; nirvana; five hindrances; preliminary practices; three worlds; jhanas - benefits and ptifalls; Four Noble Truths; Mahayana...

Hindrances, Nirvana, Concentration, Samadhi, Four Noble Truths, Liberation, Freedom,...
Sep 16 2006
Green Gulch

Have Some Tea

Serial: SF-00965

Sunday Lecture: "Have you been here before? Have some tea"; judgment and conduct; Four Noble Truths; Eightfold Path; ethics and etiquette

Four Noble Truths, Right Effort, Triple Treasure, Right Speech, Liberation, Renewal,...
May 07 2006
Green Gulch

2006.02.02-serial.00015

Bodhidharma, Four Noble Truths, Attachment, Precepts, Sangha, resistance, Vinaya,...
Feb 02 2006

No

Serial: SF-00963

Sunday Lecture: Milton's 'Paradise Lost'; myth of Narcissus; Four Noble Truths; Zhaozhou's "No": Marin Organizing Committee/Seniors for Peace

Four Noble Truths, Buddha Nature, Peace, Perfect Wisdom, Freedom, Mill Valley, Echo,...
Nov 20 2005
Green Gulch

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