|
A man has a faith. If he says, "this is my faith," he maintains the truth. However, by that he cannot proceed to the absolute conclusion: "this alone is the Truth, and everything else is False." The ideas produced here are a man's faith. Thinking about them and applying them to one's life, one may find the Truth and happiness. In order to be happy in life one must understand the four noble truths: The ideas produced here are a man's faith. Thinking about them and applying them to one's life, one may find the Truth and happiness. In order to be happy in life one must understand the Four Noble Truths:
THE FIRST NOBLE TRUTH- SORROW (Dukkha) Everybody's life is full of mishaps and falls short of expectations. This creates a feeling of sorrow and suffering in one's mind. Being impatient or angry at suffering does not reduce or remove the suffering. On the contrary, it adds a little more to one's troubles and aggravates an already disagreeable situation. What is necessary is not anger or impatience, but the understanding of the question of suffering, how it comes about, and how to get rid of it. Then work accordingly with patience, intelligence, determination, and energy. And this is the noble truth of sorrow. ¤Birth is painful, ¤Aging is painful, ¤Disease is painful, ¤Death is painful, ¤Contact with the unpleasant is painful, ¤Separation from the pleasant is painful, ¤Every wish unfulfilled is painful- ¤In short all the five components of individuality are painful... THE SECOND NOBLE TRUTH- ORIGIN OF SORROW The origin of sorrow is craving, thirst, desire, or greed, which manifests itself in various ways that gives rise of all forms of sorrow and suffering. The term "thirst" includes not only desire for and attachment to sensory pleasures, wealth, and power, but also desire for and attachment to ideas, views, opinions, theories, and conceptions. It is the craving that bounds up with passionate greed and which finds fresh delight everywhere, namely
THE THIRD NOBLE TRUTH- THE FREEDOM FROM SORROW (DUKKHA) or NIRVANA Nirvana is known as the extinction of thirst (craving), absence of desire, detachment, extinction of hatred and illusion, and freedom from conceit. Nirvana is the annihilation of the illusion, or of the false idea of self. When a person does not cling to anything in the world; he will not be anxious, and he is completely calmed within. He knows at the time of his death, that he has lived a pure life, has done what should be done, and knows that nothing more is left to be done. Now when he experiences a pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral sensation, he knows that it is not permanent. It does not bind him with passion. Without being bound to it, whatever the sensation, may be that he experiences, he knows that all those sensations will be pacified with the dissolution of the body. This is just as the flame of a lamp goes out when the oil or wick give out. What is Absolute Truth? The Absolute Truth is that there is nothing absolute in the world. Everything is relative, conditioned, and impermanent. There is no unchanging, everlasting, absolute substance like "soul" or "atman". This is where Buddhism differs from Hinduism. He who has realized the truth, is the happiest being in the world. He is free from all "complexes" and obsessions, the worries and troubles that torment others. He does not repent the past, nor does he brood over future. He lives fully in the present. Therefore he appreciates and enjoys things in the purest sense without self-projections. He is joyful, free from anxiety, serene, and peaceful. As he is free from selfish desire, hatred, ignorance, conceit, pride and all such "defilements", he is pure and gentle, full of universal love, compassion, kindness, sympathy, understanding, and tolerance. His service to others is pure, for he has no thought of self. He gains nothing, accumulates nothing, not even anything spiritual, because he is free from illusion of self and the "thirst" for becoming. He who understands these teachings should give up even good things as well as bad things. THE FOURTH NOBLE TRUTH-THE PATH TO THE FREEDOM FROM SORROW According to the philosophy taught by Lord Buddha, there are two ends which are not to be served by a wanderer. What are these two? They are the pursuit of desires and of pleasures, and the pursuit of pain and hardship. Pursuit of pleasures springs from desires. It is base, common, leads to rebirth, ignoble and unprofitable. And the pursuit of pain and hardship is grievous, ignoble and unprofitable. The Tathagatha prescribes The Middle Way. It avoids both these ends, is enlightened, brings clear vision, leads to wisdom , peace, insight, complete wisdom and nirvana. What is the Middle Way? It is the Noble Eightfold path, consisting of,
Performance of Four Functions: With regard to the four noble Truths, we have four functions to perform. The first noble truth is Dukkha (sorrow), the nature of life is suffering, its sorrows and joys, its imperfections and unsatisfactoriness, its impermanence and instability. With regard to this, our function is to understand sorrow as a fact, clearly and completely. The second noble Truth is the origin of Dukkha, which is desire, thirst, accompanied by all other passions, defilements, and impurities. A mere understanding of this fact is not sufficient. Here our function is to discard, eliminate, destroy, and eradicate desire, thirst, and passions. The third noble Truth is the cessation of Dukkha. Nirvana is the absolute truth, our function here is to realize it. The fourth noble Truth is the PATH, leading to the realization of Niravana. A mere knowledge of the PATH, however complete, will not do. In this case our function is to properly follow it. |
