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Born
circa 560 BCE in what is now southern nepal, the Buddha was born Siddartha
Gautama, the son of King Suddhodhana and Queen Maya of the Shakya Clan.
At his birth, Brahmin astrologers predicted that the boy would either
become an opulent world conqueror or an aescetic world liberator, a fully
enlightened Buddha, which term means "Awakened One". Despite
the efforts of King Suddhodhana to immerse his son in wordly delights
and prevent any thought of renunciation from arising in his son's mind,
Siddartha's experience of old age, sickness, and death led him to renounce
palace life and live as an ascetic yogi.
After
six years of harsh austerity, Siddartha renounced a life devoted solely
to asceticism and travelled to what is now known as Bodh Gaya in India.
There, seated on a cushion of pliant grass beneath the Bo Tree, Siddartha
vowed not to move until he had found the way out of the miseries of incarnate
existence. Thereupon he was approached by Mara the Tempter, the embodiment
of the Ego. Having failed to seduce, frighten, or cajole Siddartha, Mara,
who had confounded worlds, was defeated. That night, Siddartha experienced
the extinction of ignorance, craving, and aversion, thus awakening to
his own enlightened nature. Thus he became the Buddha, the Awakened One,
the Teacher of Gods and Men.
After
his enlightenment, the Buddha gave three cycles of teachings. These are:
the Theravada ("Way of the Elders"), or the teachings of individual
liberation; the Mahayana ("Universal Vehicle"), which combines
the teachings of individual liberation with those of universal compassion
and emptiness; and the Vajrayana ("Lightning Vehicle"), which
teaches that Buddhahood can be realized by all sentient beings in a single
lifetime. However, all the teachings of the Buddha spring from his most
fundamental teaching, known as the Four Noble Truths. These are:The Noble
Truth Of Suffering , The Noble Truth of the Cause Of Suffering ,The Noble
Truth of the End of Suffering, and The Noble Truth of the path leading
to the End Of Suffering.
The
Noble Truth Of Suffering
What is
the Noble Truth of Suffering? Birth is suffering, ageing is suffering,
sickness is suffering, dissociatiom from the loved one is suffering, not
getting what one wants is suffering: in short this five categories affected
by clinging are suffering. There is this Noble Truth of Suffering: such
was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in me about
things not heard before. This Noble Truth must be penertrated by fully
understanding suffering: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing
and light that arose in me about things not heard before. (Samyutta Nikaya
LV1,11)
The
Noble Truth of the Cause Of Suffering
What is
the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering? It is craving which renews
being and is accompanied by relish and lust, relishing this and that:
in other words, craving for sensual desires, craving for being, craving
for non-being. But where does this craving arise and flourish? Whenever
there is what seems lovable and gratifying, theron it arises and flourishes.
There is this Noble Truth of the origin of Suffering: such was the vision,
insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in me about things not heard
before. This Noble Truth must be penertrated to by abandoning the origin
of suffering: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light
that arose in me about things not heard before. This Noble Truth has been
penertrated to by abandoning the origin of suffering: such was the vision,
insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in me about things not heard
before. (Samyutta Nikaya LV1,11)
The Noble Truth of the End
of Suffering
What is
the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering? It is the remainderless
fading and cessation of that same raving; the rejecting, relinquishing,
leaving and renouncing of it. But whereon is this craving abandoned and
made to cease? Wherever there is what seems lovable and gratifying, thereon
it is abandoned and made to cease. There is this Noble Truth of the Cessation
of Suffering: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light
that arose in me about things not heard before. This Noble Truth must
be penertrated to by realising the Cessation of suffering: such was the
vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in me about things
not heard before. This Noble Truth has been penertrated to by realising
the Cessation of suffering: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing
and light that arose in me about things not heard before. (Samyutta Nikaya
LV1,11)
The Noble Truth of the path leading to the End Of
Suffering
What is
the Noble Truth of the Way Leading to the Cessation of Suffering? It is
this Noble Eightfold Path, that is to say: Right view, Right Intention,
Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness
and Right Concentration. There is this Noble Truth of the Path leading
to the Cessation of Suffering: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing
and light that arose in me about things not heard before. This Noble Truth
must be penertrated to by cultivating the Path leading to the Cessation
of suffering: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light
that arose in me about things not heard before. This Noble Truth has been
penertrated to by cultivating the Path leading to the Cessation of suffering:
such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in
me about things not heard before. (Samyutta Nikaya LV1,11)
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© 1997-2003 D.A. Bartash