The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism

In the Buddha Dharma, this pivotal realization is called dukkha. It is often translated as “suffering,'” but has a much wider and richer meaning. The historical Buddha began his spiritual journey in earnest with three mesmerizing encounters with sickness, old age, and death.

The elegant clarity of the teaching of dukkha is also a great example of the whole Buddhist approach. Generally we try to ignore dukkha, or just as easily we can get overwhelmed and depressed by our own suffering and the suffering around us. So, the first Noble Truth is about seeing clearly into the nature of dukkha. When we are suffering, how often do we stop and simply examine and understand deeply what is going on? In the classical teachings, there are three main flavors of dukkha:

• Dukkha-dukkha (dukkha as ordinary suffering). This is plain and simple suffering – being sick, being hurt, any direct physical, emotional and mental pain and suffering.
• Vipariṇāma-dukkha (dukkha as produced by change). This is the anxiety or stress of trying to hold onto things that are constantly changing. We are constantly running on a hamster wheel to try to get things as we want them and keep them there.
• Saṃkhāra-dukkha (dukkha of conditioned states). This is a basic unsatisfactoriness or discontent of realizing that, fundamentally, we cannot find happiness where we usually look for it. Everything is conditioned, changing, impermanent and without any inner core or substance. Things never measure up to our expectations or standards.
  

The Eightfold Path

The truth of the path (the fourth Noble Truth), leads us to a solution in the form of the Eightfold Path – a methodology for complete spiritual awakening. Further, these eight are divided into three sections: panna, sila, and samadhi. One way to translate these are wisdom, calm coolness, and meditative absorption, and they correspond to mind, speech, and body.

The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path came at the beginning, and the Buddha went on to teach for forty years. Imagine what awaits those who delve deeper.

The Paramis / Paramitas / Perfections 

To attain the wisdom of a full, experiential understanding the fourth Noble Truth we can study and practice the Paramis, also know as the Paramitas or Perfections.