The Four Noble Truths: The Four Fundamental Truths of Buddhist Teachings. Buddha teaching the path to the destruction of suffering and salvation.

The life of Buddha (Shakyamuni Buddha) as seen through local photographs] ⒀.
　The Four Sacred Truths: The Four Fundamental Truths of Buddhist Teachings. The Buddha's teaching on the path to salvation and the elimination of suffering.

Previous Article（12）The first turning of the wheel at Sarnath- Buddha's first preaching! The Buddhist Order began here!"In the following section, I have told you about the point where Buddha finally started preaching and five of his fellow practitioners took refuge in him. It is said that the Buddhist Order began with this first turning of the wheel.

And in this article, I will be very brief about what Buddha taught in that first Dharma wheel.

So let's get started.

Four truths taught by the Buddha

What did Buddha preach in the first Dharma wheel?

In fact, this is a rather tricky question, since it is not known exactly what the Buddha really said. Although numerous scriptures describe what the Buddha taught, they all say different things, so there is no one and only one set theory. This is a major difference from Christianity, which compiled the New Testament with a strict distinction between orthodoxy and heresy. Of course, the birth of Jesus Christ was almost 500 years after the birth of Buddha, so the historical situation is also very different. Furthermore, the Bible was compiled even later. However, it is important to note that Buddhism has not produced a unique scripture, but has continued to produce a variety of scriptures. Such an absence of orthodoxy and heresy, a "world without a center," so to speak, is a characteristic of Buddhism. For more on this, see Baba Noritoshi's bookBuddhist Orthodoxy and Heresy: The Establishment of the Pali Cosmopolis."If you are interested, why not read it?

Now, although I have said the original and incoherent statement, "We don't really know what Buddha preached at the first Dharma wheel," there is an approximate common understanding. That is what I mentioned in the title of this article, "the Four Noble Truthsquadratic field.

The Four Sacred Truths mean four sacred truths. And those four truths are.ku..zyuu..metsu..dou.The four words are expressed in the following four phrases. Let us now look at each of these truths.

truth of suffering(Kutai) - All sufferings are suffering. This world is a world of suffering.

The first truth, "suffering resignation.

This is literally the truth that everything in this world is a world of suffering. It is a very blunt truth, but Buddhism believes that everything in the world is the source of our suffering.

Buddha did this.all the pain in the worldtotal recoveryexpressed as "a pain in the neck". To be even more specific, this would be "four or eight pains".

The words "four pains and eight sufferings" are words that we also say on a daily basis, aren't they? The "four sufferings and eight pain" that we casually speak of are in fact one of the truths that Buddha taught.

Let's look at some specifics.

First, Buddha explains that the first half of the four sufferings, the first four, are "birth, aging, sickness, and death.

The Buddha says that life itself is suffering, that old age is suffering, illness is suffering, and death is inevitable suffering. Although the word "life" can be interpreted as "to be born" rather than "to live," let us first understand it as "to live.

And to these four sufferings, "the pain of separation from loved onesthe pain of separation from loved ones, ,the pain of meeting people one dislikesthe pain of meeting people one dislikes, ,the pain of not getting what one seeksmore than enough, ,the five skandhas (the five aggregates: matter, sensation, perception, mental formations and consciousness)the strength of one's fortunesAdding the four "four" together means that it is a four-way struggle.

Ai betsu riku" literally means the suffering of separation from loved ones, and "hatred and enmity" refers to the suffering of having to meet with people you dislike. The "suffering of seeking and not obtaining" refers to the suffering of not being able to obtain what one seeks, and the "suffering of the five skandhas" refers to the suffering of not having one's body and mind at one's disposal.

When you put it this way, all of the four sufferings are nodable to us, aren't they? Thus the Buddha concludes that everything in this world is suffering.

But from our point of view, we say, "Wait a minute! If we live, we can have fun, can't we? And it is too pessimistic to say that there is nothing but suffering in this world! Isn't that just like saying that there is no meaning to life! I think to myself, "Well, that's quite right. When Westerners began to learn about Buddhism in India around the middle of the 19th century, there was a trend to regard Buddhism as nihilistic pessimism and nihilism. The German philosopher Schopenhauer was also in that trend. (*By Chizuko Hashimoto)Nihilism and Nothingness: Schopenhauer/Nietzsche and the Intercultural Elucidation of Indian Thought."and by F. C. Almond.The Discovery of Buddhism in Britain."(See also.)

Schopenhauer (1788-1860)Wikipedia.

that (someone or something distant from both speaker and listener, or situation unfamiliar to both speaker and listener)On Happiness."The Buddhist influence is surprisingly apparent in the collection of essays called

This is why it is true that Buddhism is often perceived as pessimism or nihilism, that "all this world is nothing but suffering," but this is not actually the case.

In order for us to realize that this world is "not a world based on our desires," we must first realize that it is full of suffering. Then we think about what we can do and put it into practice. In order to take these steps, it is essential to recognize "all suffering. Once we destroy our worldview based on our own vexations, we can open up our lives from there under a new perception of the world. In a sense, Buddhism has a positive outlook on life, rather than a pessimistic one. I cannot go into more detail here, but if you are interested, please read the introductory book on Buddhism by Prof. Shizuka Sasaki.The Birth of Buddhism.We hope that you will be able to pick up a book

Zittai- You must know that the cause of suffering is vexation.

Following the truth of "suffering resignation," which states that "everything in this world is suffering," the next truth is "the truth that everything in this world is suffering," which states that "everything in this world is suffering.Zittai.It will be called "the

The truth is that the cause of suffering is our vexations.

Everything in this world is suffering. And the cause of it is our own vexations.

In this way, Buddha revealed the reason for the human world.

Mettai- To attain enlightenment, leaving the world of suffering, by abstaining from vexations.

By looking at the Kutai and Zittai, it was revealed to me that this world is a world of suffering and that the cause of this suffering is our vexations.

Finally, the truth of "renounce worldly desires and you will attain salvation" is discussed.

However, even if we say that we have renounced vexations, what exactly constitutes the renunciation of vexations, and what are vexations in the first place? The word "vexation" is often used in our daily lives, but what should we do if we are told that all human desires are vexations? Appetite for food and sleep are essential for human beings. If we were to deny all of them, it would mean the abandonment of our life activities.

However, since the purpose of this article is to grasp the life of the Buddha, we will not go into the details of his thought. First of all, please keep in mind that Buddha taught in the Four Noble Truths that everything in this world is suffering, that the cause of suffering is our vexations, and that we can attain salvation by destroying these vexations.

Doutai- 8 correct practices to destroy vexations.

Now, the three truths so far have given us Buddha's basic worldview.

This world is a world of suffering, and we can be saved from this world of suffering by destroying our vexations.

Then, the final truth, "Doutai," is what we should do to achieve this.

The "Tao Tei," as the word implies, shows us the path we should take.

Its basic stance is first to "middle way..

⑹The Buddha finally attains enlightenment after renouncing suffering. There are anecdotes of his confrontation with Mara (the demon) and of Sujata's milk gruel."As I mentioned in the article "The Buddha's Path to Enlightenment," the Buddha concludes that neither severe suffering nor a life filled with ease is conducive to enlightenment. The Buddha discovered that the middle way, away from the extremes, is the path to enlightenment.

And from there, as a definite method of practice leading to enlightenment, "hassyoudou..

Hasshoudo" literally means eight correct paths (deeds).

The eight avenues are as follows.

Right view.
Right thinking (correct way of thinking about things)
Correct language
Righteous deeds.
Righteous Life
Right diligence (right effort)
Right Concentration
Shodou (Right Meditation)

It would be difficult to go into the specifics of each of these practices, so for now, I think it is sufficient to know that there are eight practices. As I have said many times before, if you want to know more details, please read various reference books.

At any rate, Buddha preached this "Four Sacred Truths" in the first Dharma Wheel.

The world is a world of suffering (Kutai), the cause of which is our vexations (Zittai), and we can be saved by destroying our vexations (Mettai), and this path is the correct practice of the Eight-Fold Path (Doutai).

The teachings are incredibly simple in words, but it is said that the five fellow practitioners who heard these teachings were immediately enlightened. We today are not instantly enlightened by these teachings, but for these practitioners who learned them directly from the Buddha, his teachings were truly astounding.

In the next article, we will take a break from the life of the Buddha to talk about the religious situation in India. If we understand the historical background of the time, we can better understand what was innovative in Buddha's teachings. And if we understand the historical background, we can understand the meaning of the surprise of the five fellow practitioners. What was revolutionary about this seemingly simple teaching is a very important point when considering Buddhism. I hope you will continue to stay with us.

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