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The Four Noble Truths - List

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The four noble truths are writings in the Pali Canon and are the very first teachings Gautama (Buddha) gave after his awakening.

Buddhist hand with Vajra.Buddhist hand with Vajra.Buddhist hand with Vajra.Buddhist hand with Vajra.
The four noble truths.

The concepts of the four noble truths are foundational to all traditions in Buddhism. When we fully internalize the shifting, unreliable, ungraspable nature of our experience, we will see that there is nothing to grasp for and so no reason for this grasping.
Thought and behaviour patterns develop over our lifetime, these patterns are the core of what is thought of as the identity and our craving is also potentially also based on this illusory understanding of life. When we understand this conditioning, we can begin to let it go and return to our original nature.
i.e. As youth, health, loved ones, and treasured possessions are transient in nature, continuous grasping of these by you is doomed to failure, accepting this, but not being depressed by this (as there are many wonders otherwise) allows you to abandon desire, from which it is said you will then gain liberation from the bondage of your mind.
Changing the basis of operation in our minds is not easy and it takes time. We must be determined to keep in control of our mind day after day, moment after moment, to do this we must use the three bases of wisdom, concentration, and ethical integrity. Gradually we can transform our understanding to appreciate how karma and cause and effect has built the framework of these cravings and find freedom from them.
Releasing craving leads to experiencing its cessation and those moments of cessation open one up the steps of the eightfold path.
The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta in the section which relates to the setting the wheel of dhamma in motion outlines the four truths.
Remember the truths, make then your mantra until understood, then release them as you begin to release.
May all mother sentient beings, limitless as space, have happiness and the causes of happiness!
May they be free from suffering and the causes of suffering!
May they not be separated from the happiness that is free from sorrow!
May they rest in equanimity, free from attachment and aversion!

The Four Noble Truths

01. The truth of suffering, pain or ill. (Dukkha).

The first noble truth is about how normal life is sometimes unsatisfying or seems flawed or stressful and will thus cause us suffering.
But, if we take time to focus on the transience of life, we can see that it is not gloomy but extremely precious. When we embrace life in this manner, we begin to cultivate an open heart, in this fashion we can look at the truth of life and see the beauty in its poignancy and impermanence.
There are three types of suffering; 1. Dukkha-dukkha, or the suffering of suffering for example when we are hungry, thirsty or sick, lonely or poor. 2. Viparinama-dukkha or the suffering of change, not appreciating that we are getting older and frailer, that we may lose friends and loved ones. 3. Sankhara-dukkha – the suffering of existence where as long as we perceive ourselves as distinct from others, we have the underlying sense that something is not right.
Referenced from the Pali Canon; But what, O Monks, is the Noble Truth of Suffering? Birth is suffering, sickness is suffering, old age is suffering, death is suffering; pain, grief, sorrow, lamentation, and despair are suffering. Association with what is unpleasant is suffering, disassociation from what is pleasant is suffering. In short, the five factors of individuality (skandhas, see below) the things which cause suffering.

02. The truth of the origin of suffering. (Samudaya or samodaya).

The origin of the suffering encountered with the first noble truth is desire or craving and attachment to pleasure along with our aversion to pain and suffering.
Our reactivity to life is natural and is not just our reactions like greed, hate, anger, ignorance, and delusion, but also to all irritations expressed through thoughts infused with worry and anxiety.
From the Pali Canon; This, O Monks, is the Truth of the Arising of Suffering. It is this thirst or craving which gives rise to rebirth, which is bound up with passionate delight and which seeks fresh pleasure now here and now there in the form of thirst for sensual pleasure, thirst for existence, and thirst for non-existence. (See the three cravings).

03. The truth of the cessation of suffering. (Nirodha/Nirvana).

There can be an ending to craving and delusion. One needs to stop being beholden to reactivity. Ending greed, hatred, and delusion, allows us more space to be present.
Once we connect with the part of ourselves that sees things as they are using wisdom, clarity and compassion, our suffering subsides as our experience shifts from ego-centeredness to interconnectedness.
From the Pali Canon; This, O Monks, is the Truth of the Cessation of Suffering. It is the utter cessation of that craving, the withdrawal from it, the renouncing of it, the rejection of it, liberation from it, non-attachment to it.
This refers to the blowing out of the fire of dukkha and therefore the cessation of continuity.

04. The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering. (Magga).

The Fourth Noble Truth points us down the path to liberation from dukkha or suffering, which is the Noble Eightfold Path (See below). These will present when we are empty of reactivity and habit.
From the Pali Canon; This, O Monks, is the Truth of the Path that leads to the cessation of suffering. It is this Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of (1) Right View, (2) Right Resolve, (3) Right Speech, (4) Right Action, (5) Right Livelihood, (6) Right Effort, (7) Right Mindfulness, (8) Right Meditation.

Synonyms/tags: the truths of the noble ones, the four aryan truths, Chattari-ariya-saccani, Chatvari-arya-satyani, āryasatya, caturāryasatya




Or, per your interest, look at other related links;

  The 5 Kandha.
  Eightfold path.
  8 Precepts.
  Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56:11)
  The three types of craving.

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