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[[Image:Four Noble Truths.JPG| | [[Image:Four Noble Truths.JPG|thumb|Buddha Turning the Wheel of Dharma for the first time]]The '''Four Noble Truths''' (Skt. ''catvāryāryasatyā''; Tib. ''pakpé denpa shyi''; [[Wyl.]] '' 'phags pa'i bden pa bzhi'') or the Four Realities of the [[Arya]]s, were taught by [[Buddha Shakyamuni]] as the central theme of the so-called [[Three turnings|first turning]] of the wheel of the [[Dharma]] after his attainment of [[enlightenment]]. They are: | ||
'''Four Noble Truths''' (Skt. ''catvāryāryasatyā''; Tib. ''pakpé denpa shyi''; [[Wyl.]] '' 'phags pa'i bden pa bzhi'') | |||
*the truth of [[suffering]] (Skt. ''duḥkha-satya'') which is to be understood, | *the truth (or reality) of [[suffering]] (Skt. ''duḥkha-satya'') which is to be understood, | ||
*the truth of the [[origin]] of suffering (Skt. ''samudaya-satya''), which is to be abandoned, | *the truth (or reality) of the [[origin]] of suffering (Skt. ''samudaya-satya''), which is to be abandoned, | ||
*the truth of [[cessation]] (Skt. ''nirodha-satya''), which is to be actualized, and | *the truth (or reality) of [[cessation]] (Skt. ''nirodha-satya''), which is to be actualized, and | ||
*the truth of the [[path]] (Skt. ''mārga-satya''), which is to be relied upon. | *the truth (or reality) of the [[path]] (Skt. ''mārga-satya''), which is to be relied upon. | ||
==Cause & Effect== | |||
The four truths can be divided into two pairs of cause and effect, known as the cause and effect of '[[thorough affliction]]' (Skt. ''saṃkliṣṭa''; Wyl. ''kun nyon'') or [[samsara]], and the cause and effect of '[[complete purification]]' (Skt. ''vyavadāna''; Wyl. ''rnam byang'') or [[nirvana]]. | |||
==Sixteen Aspects of the Four Noble Truths== | ==Sixteen Aspects of the Four Noble Truths== | ||
Revision as of 13:46, 21 December 2010
The Four Noble Truths (Skt. catvāryāryasatyā; Tib. pakpé denpa shyi; Wyl. 'phags pa'i bden pa bzhi) or the Four Realities of the Aryas, were taught by Buddha Shakyamuni as the central theme of the so-called first turning of the wheel of the Dharma after his attainment of enlightenment. They are:
- the truth (or reality) of suffering (Skt. duḥkha-satya) which is to be understood,
- the truth (or reality) of the origin of suffering (Skt. samudaya-satya), which is to be abandoned,
- the truth (or reality) of cessation (Skt. nirodha-satya), which is to be actualized, and
- the truth (or reality) of the path (Skt. mārga-satya), which is to be relied upon.
Cause & Effect
The four truths can be divided into two pairs of cause and effect, known as the cause and effect of 'thorough affliction' (Skt. saṃkliṣṭa; Wyl. kun nyon) or samsara, and the cause and effect of 'complete purification' (Skt. vyavadāna; Wyl. rnam byang) or nirvana.
Sixteen Aspects of the Four Noble Truths
Suffering
1. Suffering (Skt. duḥkha; Tib. སྡུག་བསྔལ་བ་)
2. Impermanence (Skt. anitya; Tib. མི་རྟག་པ་)
3. Emptiness (Skt. śūnyatā; Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
4. Selflessness (Skt. anātmaka; Tib. བདག་མེད་པ་)
Origination
5. Cause (Skt. hetu; Tib. རྒྱུ་)
6. Origination (Skt.samudaya; Tib. ཀུན་འབྱུང་)
7. Intense Arising (Skt. prabhava; Tib. རབ་སྐྱེ་)
8. Condition (Skt. pratyaya; Tib. རྐྱེན་)
Cessation
9. Peace (Skt. śānta; Tib. ཞི་བ་)
10. Cessation (Skt. nirodha; Tib. འགོག་པ་)
11. Perfection (Skt. praṇīta; Tib. གྱ་ནོམ་པ་)
12. True Deliverance (Skt. niḥsaraṇa; Tib. ངེས་འབྱུང་, Wyl. nges 'byung)
Path
13. Path (Skt. mārga; Tib. ལམ་)
14. Appropriate (Skt. nyāya; Tib. རིགས་པ་)
15. Effective (Skt. pratipatti; Tib. སྒྲུབ་པ་)
16. Truly Delivering (Skt. nairyāṇika; Tib. ངེས་འབྱིན་)
Further Reading
- Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche, Gateway to Knowledge, VOL II (Hong Kong, Boudhanath & Esby: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 2000).
- Kangyur Rinpoche, Treasury of Precious Qualities (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2001), pages 67-84 & 'Appendix 3'.
- Ringu Tulku, Daring Steps Towards Fearlessness: The Three Vehicles of Buddhism, Snow Lion, 2005