Basics of Buddhism - 2 - The Four Noble Truths

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"The Four Noble Truths" was the first teaching given by the Buddha after his enlightenment experience under the Bodhi Tree in what is now Bodh Gaya, in northern India.  But first, let’s explore how he ended up sitting under a tree trying to get enlightened in the first place.  2500 years ago, this young man named Siddhartha Gautama was raised in the lap of luxury—his father was the leader of a small kingdom in Northern India.  The story is told that he was given whatever he wanted—the best clothes, food, women and entertainment.  He lived the first 29 years of his life as a life of excess.  Then, one day he traveled outside the palace walls, and discovered that people were suffering—from accidents, sickness, old age and death.  He realized that he had led a very sheltered life and decided to leave behind the luxury and go forth to find an end to suffering. 

He made friends with a group of men who were living in the forest and practicing a spiritual lifestyle called asceticism.  Ascetics eat very little, have no possessions and sleep on the ground.  They believe that taking away all the comforts of life will lead to enlightenment.  So, Siddhartha went from excess to asceticism in search of the “cure” for suffering.  After six years, he found that he was no closer to enlightenment, but was close to dying.   Isn’t this often the way we view the world?  Hoping for a black and white answer to our own suffering?  He was bathing in the river and almost drowned when he passed out from lack of food.  A woman named Sujata saw this and gave him milk and rice, which he accepted gratefully.  So, if not for that woman, there may never have been a Buddha or Buddhism! (Go Sujata!) At that moment, it’s said that he realized that there must be a middle way, between the extremes, that would end suffering. 

I'll interject a great question from Joseph who added that Siddhartha's experience as an ascetic and learning yoga in those six years prepared him for his awakening, by training his body and mind to become more focused and highly tolerant of uncomfortable experiences.  I'm sure this training was very supportive of his awakening.  Is it truly possible for us, here in the 21st Century, with our flabby focus and avoidance of discomfort, to become enlightened?  Although we might be ready for the spiritual Olympics, I have found that we can create major change in our experience by starting with a program of meditation, focused awareness and positive imagery (more on that next week).  These simple tools can help tone and tighten our focus and ability to tolerate discomfort, enough to transform our perspective quite a lot.  As Joseph added, we can change over time, like water wears down rocks.  

Back to the story of The Buddha--When his friends found him eating, they were disgusted that he had given up asceticism and left him.  He walked a few miles and decided to sit down under a peepal tree, determined to sit until he discovered the “cure” for suffering.  The folklore varies about how long he sat there, but he experienced what we all here experience when we simply sit in silence.  Our minds create a never-ending display of stories and drama and restlessness and boredom and feelings and sensations, trying desperately to distract us.  Siddhartha decided to sit with it all.  When he quit responding to every whim and whisper of his mind and body, he realized he could create a gap between stimulus and response, and that precious gap enabled him to be awakened to the possibilities that life has to offer.

The whole trajectory of his life changed when he discovered that GAP.   It is said that he walked around for weeks in bliss, no longer held hostage by his thoughts, emotions and sensations.  The Buddha had discovered that we can pro-actively manage our experience of life by creating a gap between stimulus and response, by going beyond conditioned reactions and old ways of experiencing ourselves and the world around us.

He went and found his five ascetic friends so he could teach them what he had discovered.   They could see that something tremendous had happened to him, so they sat down and listened. Siddhartha, who then became known as the Buddha, meaning “The Awakened One”, began to teach, and his first talk was called, “The Four Noble Truths”.

•        There is suffering in life.

•        There is suffering because we seek to satisfy ourselves in inherently unsatisfying ways.

•        The possibility of liberation from suffering exists for everyone.

•        The way to free ourselves is to practice the Eightfold Path that results in enlightened living.

The first Truth is that life includes suffering.  The word in Pali, the original language used to write down the teachings, was dukkha. Dukkha can be translates in three ways:  suffering, insecurity or just feeling unsatisfied.  The Buddha realized that most of us live life with some sense that things, or we, are just not quite right.  Sometimes, this feeling lingers in the background, or sometimes it slaps us in the face.  We might a passing sense of pleasure, by achieving a goal, or feeling successful for a bit, then we often go right back to feeling that there is something more to be done, that something is missing.  Our culture encourages this sense of “never enough”, encourages doing over being.  In fact, “doing” can be confused as the thing the only thing that gives us value as a person.

The Buddha also recognized that there is unavoidable pain in life--we get old, we get sick, we die.  Those that we love get old, get sick, and die. This is the reality of living, and we often suffer because of it.  The First Noble Truth is to face this reality honestly. Buddhism is sometimes misunderstood as having a very negative perspective on life.  I offer the exact opposite perspective.  Buddhist practices encourage us to face the facts!  Be honest!  And out of that honesty, comes a starting place for real joy, real happiness. 

Another misconception about Buddhism is that we are trying to trying to STOP our thoughts or emotions.   Many of us may have probably tried denying our true thoughts and emotions in order to avoid being hurt.  Sometimes, this method seems to work for awhile.  But in the long run, we lose the most precious gift of life—being fully and completely engaged in living. 

We are encouraged to get to know ourselves in a deeply honest and compassionate way, to become aware of what we are thinking, feeling and sensing.  The Buddhist concept of “non-attachment” is to realize that thoughts, emotions and sensations are NOT who we truly are. But FIRST, we learn to SEE them more clearly in order to transform our response to them.  Compassionate awareness and honesty are key ingredients to the Buddhist path. 

THE SECOND NOBLE TRUTH IS that life includes suffering because we seek to satisfy ourselves in ways that are inherently unsatisfying.  We keep trying to rearrange our external world and respond with clinging, aversion or ignorance to our thoughts and emotions, hoping to create a sense of happiness.  It might work for a short while, but never for the long term.  THESE METHODS ARE INHERENTLY UNSATISFYING and also a whole lot of work.  It takes so much energy to constantly be trying to rearrange things and people and places to make them make us happy. 

Here’s the good news:  The Third Noble Truth is that the possibility of liberation from difficulties exists for everyone.  We each have within us the incredible potential to be happy, to have a deep sense well-being REGARDLESS OF OUR EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES OR WHATEVER MIGHT BE OUR RANDOM THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS.  This realization is what catapulted the Buddha into a radically different life.  This is what caused people to flock around him to listen to his every word, to follow him wherever he went.  He taught to anyone who would listen:  kings and paupers, men and women, anyone who might have a glimpse that his teachings might true.  He was egalitarian at a time when solely supporting your tribe was seen as the safest bet for safety.  He threw out the idea that some people were better than others.  He realized that we all have this great potential within us.

The Fourth Noble Truth became the Eightfold Path, eight ways to see and experience yourself and the world differently to create this inner happiness and peace.  For today, we’ll stop here, and talk in more depth about the Eightfold Path next week.  For now, we can delight in this realization that we can change the way we see ourselves and the world by first getting fully honest with ourselves.

The question we can ask ourselves this week is:  What is it in my life right now that is causing me a sense of suffering, insecurity or dissatisfaction?  What makes this moment feel like something is quite right or not enough?