The Four Noble Truths

The Four Noble Truths

Siddhartha, after meditating under the pipal tree, described enlightenment as having four noble truths: Dukkha, the noble truth of suffering; Samudaya, the noble truth of the origin of suffering; Nibbana, the noble truth of the cessation of suffering; and Marga, the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering. All, obviously, inextricably entwined, they show a path that leads to enlightenment, and to the true value of the human. Siddhartha, after reaching enlightenment determined that suffering was a psychological dissonance, meaning he believed it was just a mind confused as to what it actually wanted. Siddhartha, acknowledged as the first and highest Buddha, believed that the practice of the Eightfold path could lead to the end of suffering, a human condition. While his views are not widely understood or even considered feasible, Buddhism has withstood the test of time, and has shown that the four noble truths may contain the truth Buddhists believe they do.

Dukkha, the noble truth of suffering is the most obvious and understandable suffering humans encounter. While the translation of "Dukkha" literally means suffering, translating it at all makes it lose some its potency and it's best left as Dukkha which encompasses suffering of the body, the suffering of unfortunate change, and the suffering of the mind. Dukkha is the beginning, according to Buddhists, and is explained and understood with the other three noble truths.

Because Dukkha is simply the suffering, Buddhists believe that there needs to be an explanation for why there is that suffering. Thus Samudaya is the noble truth of the origin of suffering and as such it explains why and how we suffer. According to Buddhism, the reason for this is a cycle of causation: "The chain of interdependent events that binds men to the wheel of sufferingÐ'..." (Saddhatissa; 510) Being such, Buddhists believe that everything is connected and life is constantly in flux. They believe so because Buddha asked himself "Where is the "I"? Is it the body? Is it feelings? Is it the will? Or the mind? Nowhere can be found a permanent identity. What then "passes over" after death?" (Saddhatissa; 510) Buddhists believe that the explanation behind suffering is that it is because of our interconnectedness to the wheel of suffering, and because we are connected we will constantly suffer.

"Buddha said, Ð''I teach but two things- dukkha and the release from dukkha'" (Saddhatissa; 511) Buddha claims to teach two things, the existence