Sunday, February 7, 2010

Happiness and the Four Noble Truths


Wisdom Quarterly (based on Access to Insight article)

Breaking Free
"Monastics, it is through not realizing, through not penetrating the Four Noble Truths that this long round of birth and death has been passed through and undergone by me as well as by you. What four?
  1. noble truth of dukkha [unsatisfactoriness, woe, suffering]
  2. noble truth of the way to the cessation of dukkha.

"But, monastics, now that these four have been realized and penetrated, cut off is the craving for conditioned existence, destroyed is that which leads to renewed becoming, and there is no fresh becoming." — DN 16

What is "Dukkha"?
Duhkha (Sanskrit) [dus + kha, or from duhstha standing badly, unsteady, unhappy] Painful, difficult, out of kilter. As a noun it means pain, affliction, trouble. Dukkha (Pali): (1) painful bodily or psychological feeling. (2) suffering, ill, woe. As the first of the Four Noble Truths and the second of the Three Marks of Existence (ti-lakkhaṇa), the term is not limited to painful experience. It refers to the unsatisfactory nature and general insecurity of all conditioned existence. All phenomena are impermant, impersonal, and ultimately unsatisfactory. This also includes pleasurable experiences. The first noble truth does not deny the existence of pleasurable experience or happiness, as is sometimes wrongly assumed. This is illustrated by the following texts.*

The Elephant's Footprint
"Friends," announced Ven. Sariputra, "just as the footprints of all legged animals are encompassed by the footprint of the elephant, and the elephant's footprint is reckoned foremost among them in terms of size, in the same way, all skillful qualities are gathered under the Four Noble Truths. What four? Under the noble truth of dukkha, its origin, its cessation, and the noble truth of the path of practice leading to its cessation." — MN 28

What to do with each of the Four Noble Truths
When the Buddha spoke of reaching enlightenment he said, "Vision arose, insight arose, understanding arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose with regard to things never heard before:

  • 'This is the noble truth of dukkha...'
  • 'This noble truth of dukkha is to be comprehended...'
  • 'This noble truth of dukkha has been comprehended...'

"Vision arose, insight arose, understanding arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose with regard to things never heard before:

  • 'This is the truth of the origination of dukkha...'
  • 'This noble truth of the origination of dukkha is to be abandoned...'
  • 'This noble truth of the origination of dukkha has been abandoned.'

"Vision arose, insight arose, understanding arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose with regard to things never heard before:

  • 'This is the truth of the cessation of dukkha...'
  • 'This noble truth of the cessation of dukkha is to be directly experienced...'
  • 'This noble truth of the cessation of dukkha has been directly experienced.'

"Vision arose, insight arose, understanding arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose with regard to things never heard before:

  • 'This is the truth of the path leading to the cessation of dukkha...'
  • 'This noble truth of the path leading to the cessation of dukkha is to be developed...'
  • 'This noble truth of the path leading to the cessation of dukkha has been developed.'

"So long as this knowledge and vision — with its three rounds and twelve permutations concerning these Four Noble Truths (cattari ariya saccani) as they actually are — was not perfectly clear, I did not claim to have awakened to perfect enlightenment unexcelled in the universe with its deities (devas), detractors (maras, lit. "killers" or "demons"), and divinities (brahmas), with its recluses and brahmin priests, its royalty and many folk.

"But when this knowledge and vision — with its three rounds and 12 permutations concerning these Four Noble Truths as they actually are — was perfectly clear, then only did I claim to have directly awakened to perfect enlightenment unexcelled in the universe with its deities, detractors, and divinities, with its recluses and brahmin priests, its royalty and many folk.

"Knowledge and vision arose in the following way. 'Unprompted is my complete release. This is my last birth. There is now no further becoming.'" — SN 56.11

*DUKKHA: "Seeking satisfaction in the world, monastics, I pursued my way. I found that satisfaction in the world. Insofar as satisfaction exists in the world, I have well perceived it by wisdom. Seeking for misery in the world, monastics, I pursued my way. That misery in the world I found. Insofar as misery exists in the world, I well perceived it by wisdom.

"Seeking for an escape from the world, monastics, I pursued my way. Such escape from the world I found. Insofar as an escape from the world exists, I well perceived it by wisdom" (A. 111, 101).

For "If there were no satisfaction to be found in the world, beings would not become attached to the world.... If there were no misery to be found in the world, beings would not become disenchanted with the world.... If there were no release from the world, beings could not escape from it" (A. 111, 102).

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