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Concept

The Four Noble Truths

The Buddha's first teaching after his awakening — a four-line diagnosis and prescription that structures all of Buddhism.

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The structure is medical: diagnosis, etiology, prognosis, treatment.

  1. There is Dukkha — unsatisfactoriness pervades conditioned life.
  2. Its cause is tanha — craving, grasping, the wanting-things-otherwise.
  3. Its cessation is possible — this is Nirvana.
  4. The way is the The Eightfold Path.

Each of these is a call to verify, not to believe. Look for yourself at what arises when craving stops. The whole Buddhist technology is built to make that looking possible.

Connections

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Related

Sources

  1. Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56.11), trans. Thanissaro Bhikkhu — The Buddha's first discourse, where the truths are laid out
  2. Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught (Grove Press, 1959) — The most widely used modern introduction

Referenced by