These are the basis of the Buddhist teaching.
The four noble truths are:
The truth
of suffering
The truth of the origin of suffering
The truth of the cessation of suffering
The truth of the path that leads to the cessation of suffering.
The first truth says that all
existence is characterized by suffering and does not bring satisfaction.
Everything is suffering; birth, sickness, death; coming together
with what one does not like; separating from what one does like;
not obtaining what one desires; and the five aggregates of attachment
that constitute the personality.
The second truth gives as the
cause of suffering craving or desire, the thirst for sensual
pleasure, for becoming and passing away. This craving binds
beings to the cycle of existence.
The third truth says that through
remainderless elimination of craving, suffering can be brought
to an end.
The fourth truth gives the eightfold
path as the means for the ending of suffering.
Nonrecognition of the four noble
truths is ignorance.
The discovery of the four noble
truths by the Buddha constituted, according to the various traditions,
his actual enlightenment. Buddha expounded these truths in the
Benares discourse as his first teaching immediately after his
enlightenment.
The Sutras explain the four noble truths in the following words:
"But what, O monks, it the
noble truth of suffering? Birth is suffering; decay is sufffering;
death is suffering; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair
are suffering; in short the five groups [aggregates] of existence
connected with clinging are suffering.
"But what, O monks, is the
noble truth of the origin of suffering? It is that craving which
gives rise to fresh rebirth and, bound up with lust and greed,
now here, now there, finds ever fresh delight. It is the sensual
craving, the craving for existence, the craving for non-existence
or self-annihilation.
"But what, O monks, is the
noble truth of the extinction of suffering? It is the complete
fading away and extinction of this craving, its forsaking and
giving up, liberation and detachment from it.
"But what, O monks, is the
noble truth of the path leading to the extinction of suffering?
It is the noble eightfold path that leads to the extinction
of suffering, namely; perfect view, perfect thought, perfect
speech, perfect action, perfect livelihood, perfect effort,
perfect concentration:.
(trans. From Nyanatiloka 1971,
pp 151-152).
From The Shambhala Dictionary
of Buddhism and Zen
