Search results for: "The Four Noble Truths"

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  2. At the Door of the Cage
     … Several years back I was leading a day-long discussion on the four noble truths. When we got to the third noble truth, the cessation of suffering, the passages we were discussing contained descriptions of nibbana, and the general consensus in the group was that they didn’t like the sound of it. It seemed too alien, too foreign to be really appealing. Then … 
  3. The Wisdom of Dualities
     … This is why the Buddha’s first teaching was the four noble truths. Right view teaches that there are desires leading to suffering and there are the desires that can, when implemented properly, lead to the end of suffering. One course is better than the other. So have some appreciation for dualities. Have some appreciation for the fact that there really is a skillful … 
  4. Goodwill as Right View
     … After all, the four noble truths: What are they but an expression of goodwill? Taking everybody’s suffering as the big issue and showing how we can all put an end to our suffering: Goodwill is what the Buddha depended on to teach, to go out of his way to establish the Dhamma and Vinaya. Ordinarily, a teaching Buddha has only one duty, which … 
  5. Using the Committee of the Mind
     … You try to starve them by pulling out and looking at them with appropriate attention, asking yourself, “What is this? If you were to apply the four noble truths, or the basic distinction between skillful and unskillful, where would this mind state fall?” Would it fall into the causes of suffering? Something unskillful? In cases like that, the duty is to abandon it. Our … 
  6. True Honesty
     … This is why the Buddha’s teachings focus on the four noble truths, because they’re right there in our actions: what we do that causes suffering, what we could do to stop suffering. Recently I’ve been reading some Dhamma talks where the teacher seems to think that the great part of honesty is to be honest about what a miserable meditator he … 
  7. Heedfulness Is Auspicious
     … And then think: “Where does this apply to me right now? And what can I do to get out?” It’s in this context that the Buddha discovered the four noble truths. He realized that the problem was the craving in the mind that led to all these actions that caused suffering, but also that that craving could be ended through the factors of … 
  8. A Complete Training
     … And we’re fortunate that we have the Buddha’s teachings on the four noble truths to remind us that when you let go, it can bring the end of suffering. That way, you’re more willing to let go. This is why the Buddha has you contemplate not only things outside—things that would have pulled you away from your concentration—in terms … 
  9. A True Man of No Rank
     … In terms of our practice, in terms of the four noble truths, we have our duties. And even the things that we do voluntarily—when you look around and see something should be done, and there’s nobody doing it, well, you go ahead and do it. That’s a good trait to have as a practitioner, because your ability to look after your … 
  10. From Anxiety to Confidence
     … Of course, that refers to the duties of the four noble truths. Those are things you can do every day, which means you can do them today. Some people say, “Well, I can do them any day,” and then they put it off to a later day. That’s not the proper attitude. The proper attitude is that today is the day because who … 
  11. Delight & Beyond Delight
     … This is why, when the Buddha taught the four noble truths, there are four. There’s not just one noble truth. It wasn’t just that life is suffering. Life has suffering, but life also has the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path you can follow to get there. You want to keep that possibility in mind. That helps teach … 
  12. Investing Your Happiness
     … People often complain about how the four noble truths focus on suffering, but if you look at them carefully you see that the most important of them is the fourth truth, the path to the end of suffering. It’s the first one the Buddha taught. It’s the one truth that contains all four noble truths right there in Right View. At its … 
  13. Purity Comes Through Discernment
     … To see the four noble truths is like seeing a clear still pool of water in the mountains. You see the fish and the rocks very clearly because the water is still. Why is the water still? Because you’re not stirring it up. When you’re still, you can see even the slightest movements in the mind. You catch yourself, “Oh, I had … 
  14. Goodwill First & Last
     … Looking at intentions as skillful and unskillful, looking at views as right and wrong, and applying those perspectives to the question of suffering, he discovered the four noble truths. He applied them, followed the tasks appropriate to them, and gained awakening. So notice the pattern. It starts with his own narratives, moves to the larger picture, and then focuses in on the present moment … 
  15. Mental Movements
     … And when the Buddha talks in terms of the four noble truths, that’s the suffering he’s focusing on, where there’s clinging to the five aggregates: clinging to your body or forms of any kind; clinging to feelings, perceptions, thought-constructs, consciousness. There’s clinging only when there’s craving. So, these are the issues we have to watch out for. He … 
  16. Overcoming Delusion
     … And that’s what the Buddha provided in his teachings on the four noble truths. These are the categories of what he called appropriate attention: Look at things in terms of cause and effect, skillful and unskillful. Judge them by the level of stress or harm or suffering that they cause. That’s how you want to look at things. Look at your own … 
  17. Between You and Your Eyes
     … I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say about meditation, “Well, get the mind to be still and then start looking for the three characteristics.” That’s skipping over a huge area of practice, which is based on the four noble truths. Look for where there is stress. Try to comprehend it. Comprehending means knowing it so thoroughly that when … 
  18. Hold onto the Breath
    Earlier this year I was giving a talk back East, and I pointed out the fact that in terms of the four noble truths, the first noble truth is basically the clinging. We cling to the five aggregates, and the clinging itself is the suffering. Then, later on in the talk, I mentioned that there’s got to be some clinging in the path … 
  19. Not Just a Witness
     … Appropriate attention frames things in terms of the four noble truths. Inappropriate attention frames things in other ways—or maybe it doesn’t even have a frame. That’s what bare attention would be. But look at where attention is in the lineup of dependent co-arising. There are factors before it that shape it, give it a frame. By the time you get … 
  20. In Accordance with the Dhamma
     … You have to raise your sights as to what true well-being is and bring your oughts or your shoulds, your sense of what should be done, in line with the duties of the four noble truths, because as the Buddha said, this is the way to true happiness. This is the way to freedom. This is the way to stop oppressing the rest … 
  21. Dhamma is Timeless
     … Buddha said, they’re categorical, which means they’re always true, always beneficial, no matter where you go. There are only two of his teachings that he said were categorical: the four noble truths and the teaching that skillful qualities should be developed, and unskillful ones should be abandoned. The two principles come together, because the noble truths are not just ideas that sit … 
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