The Four Noble Truths Of Buddhism

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The Four Noble Truths Siddhartha Gautama is the founder of Buddhism and is known as the Buddha “awakened one”. Buddhist teachings were grouped into fours and eights, the four noble truths and the eight-fold path. The four noble truths are the most important teachings of the Buddha. The four noble truths show the truth of suffering, the truth behind the reason of suffering, the freedom from suffering, and the way of eliminating suffering. Sickness is suffering, loosing loved ones is suffering, not to get what one wants is suffering. According to the anthology book page 87, “the noble truth concerning the origin of suffering truly, it is thirst or craving.” These four noble truths the Buddha discovered while trying to achieve enlightenment and …show more content…
Suffering here includes both physical suffering like pain, sickness, death, weakness and psychological suffering like anxiety, disappointment, fear, losing friends and relatives, and boredom. However, the psychological suffering is more than the physical when it comes to desires. Chasing after the delights of the world is also suffering. Buddha believes if people want to end suffering they have to accept that suffering is a fact in every life such as sickness and death. The second noble truth is the source of all suffering is desire. Desires for pleasure are often frustrated and bring suffering. Desires lead to frustration whether they are satisfied or not. People suffer with their cravings and become unsatisfied and disappointed. The third noble truth is the way of cessation of suffering is through cessation of desire. This means that the absence of desires guarantees that no suffering will occur and if a person gets rid of his desires he will get rid of the suffering as well. If people were able to remove the causes of suffering and unhappiness they will be able to bring more joy and satisfaction to their lives. The fourth noble truth is that the cessation of desire and suffering can be achieved by following the eight-fold path. The eight-fold path shows the people the moral and mental requirements for achieving the Buddhist ideal. The eight-fold path contains several right ways of thinking and right ways of behaving according to the Buddha. The eight-fold path are right understanding understand the four noble truths, right motivation by uncovering our emotional roots, right speech by eliminating harsh words, gossip, and lies. Right action by following the five rules of moral conduct, right livelihood by making one’s living in an honest way. Right effort to achieve the Buddhist ideal, right mindfulness by controlling the mind, and right meditation by applying mental discipline and yoga to get rid