Knowing and Seeing (sutra)

Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw, Knowing and Seeing (4th rev. ed.); Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

The 12 causal links (nidanas) of Dependent Origination are typically shown along outer rim of a Bhavachakra in Buddhist art (Wonderlane, Sakya Monastery, Seattle, USA/traditional wall mural of Yama/Death holding the Wheel of Rebirth, the Buddha pointing the way out)

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THE BUDDHA'S DISPENSATION

Now I know. Now I see.

On one occasion, the Blessed One was dwelling among the Vajjians in Kotigama. There he addressed the meditators [bhikkhus] with the following words:

"Meditators, it is because of not understanding and not penetrating the Four Noble Truths that you and I have for a long time wandered the round of rebirth. What are the four?

1. It is because of not understanding and not penetrating the Noble Truth of Suffering (dukkha, disappointment) that you and I have for a long time wandered the round of rebirth.
2. It is because of not understanding and not penetrating the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering (samudaya) that you and I have for a long time wandered the round of rebirth.
3. It is because of not understanding and not penetrating the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering (nirodha) that you and I have for a long time wandered the round of rebirth.
4. It is because of not understanding and not penetrating the Noble Truth of the Path Leading to the Cessation of Suffering [magga] that you and I have for a long time wandered the round of rebirth. 

• What is "truth" (sacca), conventional and ultimate?

The eight-spoked wheel of the Dharma

The Four Noble Truths are the foundation of the Buddha's Teaching (the Dharma), this Dispensation (sasana). He then explains:

1. "The Noble Truth of Suffering, meditators, has been understood and penetrated [personally realized, directly grasped].
2. The Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering has been understood and penetrated.
3. The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering has been understood and penetrated (nirvana).
4. The Noble Truth of the Path Leading to the Cessation of Suffering has been understood and penetrated.

Craving for continued becoming [continued wandering on, rebirth, impermanent-unsatisfactory-impersonal existence, bhava] has been cut off; the tendency to rebirth has been destroyed; now there is no more renewed becoming" (S.V.XII.iii.l).

Let us then see how the Four Noble Truths are related to each other.

• This introduction is an addition to the book Knowing and Seeing (rev. 4th ed.) For the untranslated Pali version, see Appendix 1 "Glossary of Untranslated Pali Terms," p. 283.

Knowing and Seeing

WHAT NEEDS TO BE FULLY REALIZED?

The Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths for us to realize the Third Noble Truth, nirvana, which is to put a complete end to rebirth and therefore to all suffering. But that is not possible without the right conditions. 

 

In the Kutidgodra Sutra ("Peaked-House Discourse"), the Buddha explains first the conditions that make it impossible to put a complete end to suffering:

• A peaked house is here a single-storied house with four outside pillars that are surmounted with beams that support a high roof that peaks (S.V.XII.v.4).

Indeed, meditators, if anyone were to say, "Without having built the lower [foundation, support, bottom] structure of a peaked house, I shall erect the upper structure [roof, top]," such a thing is impossible. So, too, if anyone were to say:

1. 'Without penetrating the Noble Truth of Suffering as it really is,
2. without penetrating the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering as it really is,
3. without penetrating the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering as it really is,
4. without penetrating the Noble Truth of the [Noble Eightfold] Path Leading to the Cessation of Suffering as it really is,

I shall put a complete end to suffering,' such a thing is impossible."

This means that we cannot put a complete end to suffering (i.e., attain the Third Noble Truth, nirvana) unless we have first fully realized the First Noble Truth (dukkha), and fully realized the Second Noble Truth (the origin of suffering, samudaya). Only then are we able to realize also the supramundane Fourth Noble Truth, the supramundane Noble Eightfold Path.
 

The only way to attain these realizations is to first practice the mundane Fourth Noble Truth, the mundane path truth (lokiya magga-sacca), which is the mundane Noble Eightfold Path often called the Threefold Training:

1. Virtue (morality, ethics, sila)
2. Calm (coherence, collectedness, concentration, samadhi)
3. Wisdom (panna)

For monastics, morality is Patimokkha (direct "path to liberation") restraint, and for laypeople, it is the Eight or Five Precepts. When we are established in morality, we can develop access-concentration and full-concentration (appana-samadhi), which is "absorption" (meditation, jhana), and we can then proceed to develop wisdom, which is insight meditation (vipassana).
 

First samadhi (jhana) then insight

Insight meditation is nothing other than to realize the impermanent, unsatisfactory (disappointing, unfulfilling), and impersonal (non-self) nature of the Noble Truth of Suffering and Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering.

Only when we practice insight meditation well and thoroughly, and fully realize these two noble truths, are we able to realize the supramundane Fourth Noble Truth, the Noble Eightfold Path associated with supramundane Path Truth (lokuttara magga-sacca): the Path (magga) of Stream-Entry, Once-Returning, Non-Returning, and Arahantship (full enlightenment).

In summary, the aim of the Fourth Noble Truth (the Eightfold Noble Path) is to realize the Third Noble Truth (nirvana), which is achieved only by fully realizing the First and Second Noble Truths (Suffering and the Origin of Suffering).

"This is explained in the commentary to Maha Gopalaka Suttam ("The Great Cowherd Sutra," M.I.iv.3), where The Buddha explains the eleven qualities in a monastic that make it impossible for him/her to progress in this Doctrine and Discipline (Dhamma-Vinaya)." More