Contemplative Meditation & Discussion On The Four Noble Truths (& The Eightfold Path)

Ajahn Chah once said, “There are two kinds of suffering. There is the suffering you run away from, which follows you everywhere. And there is the suffering you face directly, and in doing so become free.” Join us in an insightful discussion and contemplative meditation on the four noble truths: the symptoms and causes of suffering, the possibility of healing and the medicinal path to liberation.

Transcript

Good morning,

Welcome.

My name is Celie Roberts and today we're looking at the four truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.

We're going to look at a meditation on each of the truths and also express the Eightfold Path as well.

So sit nice and tall,

Keep the belly soft.

Allow your breath to become gentle and easy.

Let the breath almost drop down and reside in the belly so you're aware of the belly breath,

The peace and stability and calm tranquility the breath brings,

Or can bring,

When you place your attention within it.

And so firstly,

The first truth,

The first noble truth that the Buddha spoke of was the truth of suffering.

So the fact that suffering exists and it affects all of us through birth,

Death,

Life,

Old age and at certain times of our lives we will all suffer.

We will all suffer.

And so perhaps you are unaware that you might be in a state of suffering,

In fact you might be experiencing pity or joy as it's spoken in Pali,

But all our emotions pass and fluctuate.

And so we might experience joy in one moment and then sadness in the next.

I'm just reflecting on how our mind and our emotions fluctuate and how sometimes we can't really trust in them because they're not stable.

And if we were truly meditators and interested in this path,

We have to really come to face the inescapable truth that existence entails suffering.

We have to be afraid not to suffer.

And to quote Ajahn Chah,

One of the most famous Thai Buddhist monks in the Theravada tradition,

He said there are two kinds of suffering.

There's a suffering you run away from and it follows you everywhere.

And there is a suffering that you face directly and in doing so becoming free.

And the whole purpose of understanding suffering,

Its cause and its end,

Is central to the Buddha's teachings.

So see if you can just meditate on this truth.

And also understanding that the whole purpose of Buddhist psychology,

Its ethics,

Its philosophy,

Its practice,

The community life that surrounds it,

Is all about the discovery that freedom and joy are possible in the face of the sufferings that we all experience in human life.

And to quote Jack Kornfield,

The four noble truths are laid out like a psychological diagnosis.

The symptoms of suffering,

The causes of suffering,

The possibility of healing suffering and the medicinal path to do so.

Moving on with the breath and observing the transient nature of the breath.

Always changing,

Arising,

Passing.

Realizing that when we inhabit our human body fully,

Breath and body,

We experience a continuous ebb and flow.

And this ebb and flow is of pleasure,

Pain,

Gain and loss.

And to quote the Buddha's teachings,

In human society we experience the same praise,

Shame,

Blame,

Disrespect,

Success,

Failure,

Arising and passing endlessly.

And the other thing that we might contemplate as a meditation now,

Is that suffering is different from pain.

Suffering is a second arrow.

Suffering is actually our reaction to the inevitable pain of life.

So you might experience pain in your body but the story around the way you experience your like and dislikes for it,

Can be shitting yourself with a second arrow.

And it's not just physical pain,

It's anxiety,

Depression,

Fear,

Confusion,

Addiction,

Frustration,

Jealousy,

Grief,

Anger.

Some of these emotions can be our reaction to the inevitable pain,

So they are what happens when we shoot ourselves with a second arrow.

The non-acceptance of what is,

Or the attachment to the past projected into the future.

We can collectively suffer as a human race as well.

Warfare,

Racism,

Torture of others,

Prisoners,

The hunger and sickness that many people face,

The abandonment.

And so we have both individual and collective suffering when we explore and touch upon the first noble truth that suffering exists.

The second noble truth as outlined by the Buddha,

Which we'll move on to contemplate meditatively now,

Is that suffering has an origin,

So the noble truth,

The origin of suffering.

The origin or arising of dukkha,

And dukkha is suffering.

And so here we contemplate the causes of suffering.

Grasping.

Ignorance.

Craving.

And this grasping or craving tends to give rise to aversion and delusion or ignorance.

So it's our wanting that gives rise to aversion and delusion.

Continue to place your attention into the abdomen and be very aware of these three states that we all experience aversion,

Delusion,

Usually rooted in grasping,

Clinging,

Craving.

It was said that these three roots arise from other unhealthy states such as anger,

Anxiety,

Jealousy,

Hatred,

Addiction,

Shamelessness,

And possessiveness.

And perhaps just for a time see if you can come into your own skin,

Your own body and breath,

And be emotionally mindful of times where you've felt this even if you're experiencing it now.

Jealousy,

Anxiety,

Hatred,

Addiction,

Possessiveness,

And shamelessness.

These being the causes of individual and global suffering.

And beautifully the third number of truth offers the way to freedom,

The path to freedom,

The end of suffering.

And it reminds us that unlike pain suffering is not inevitable and freedom from suffering is possible when we let go of our reactions,

Our fear,

Our grasping,

Our craving for something other than what we are.

And this freedom is called nirvana or nibbana in Pali.

This is the third noble truth being the extinction of suffering.

And so now just in your body and your breath notice how this might be possible for you even in this very moment as you stay present letting go of reactions,

Fear,

Or grasping for a moment that is different from what it is.

Now the fourth noble truth is the path to end suffering.

And this path is called the middle way.

The middle way is a path,

An eightfold path in Buddhism that invites us to find peace where we are in this moment here and now.

And when we neither grasp or resist life as it presents to us,

We can find wakefulness and freedom amongst our sorrows and our joys.

And by following the middle path,

We establish a sense of integrity.

We learn to quiet the mind and see with wisdom.

Neither grasping or resisting the moment.

Letting go of craving and ignorance,

Delusion.

Letting go of craving,

We find contentment.

Neither grasping or resisting life.

We find insight,

Wakefulness,

And freedom amidst our sorrows and our joys.

So let's meditate now along the middle path,

The middle way.

And this would be the fourth noble truth,

Which is the noble eightfold path.

And so just exploring the idea of right view,

Following the eightfold path,

We establish integrity.

We learn to quiet the mind and see the world with wisdom.

And so the first noble truth on the eightfold path is that we see with right view,

To see and understand things as they really are,

Not as you wish them to be.

And then with right intention.

And this is the commitment to ethical behaviour.

For the good of the whole.

And it's also important to question our intentions and make sure they're coming from a very pure place where possible.

To question our motivations and to see through ourselves occasionally,

To make sure our intention comes from a place that won't harm others and will not harm ourselves.

And then we look at right speech number three.

And the Buddha explains right speech as follows,

To abstain from false speech,

To not deliberately tell lies,

Untruths,

And to not speak deceitfully.

To abstain from slander,

And to not speak maliciously against others.

Three,

Abstain from words that offend or hurt others.

Four,

To abstain from idle chatter that has no purpose or depth.

And so just contemplating right speech and how this can be related to right intention,

And set the intention that your speech for the day is true,

Comes from the heart,

Is not slanderous or deceitful.

And that it also comes from a place of right view,

That we understand things as they really are.

And we see things clearly,

Not as we wish them to be.

I think free speech or right speech can also lead to being free of opinions.

So a Thai Buddhist Nastya says that what really blocks many,

Many meditators is the very,

Very strong opinions and views that they have to their practice,

Their teachings,

The world,

These strong opinions and views,

Which we tend to really press forward in with our speech,

Push upon others.

Okay,

Again,

Coming to the body we're looking at right action now.

And actions come from the physical form.

So a Buddhist lay teacher who was very high up in her meditation practice,

Her achievements and had reached a certain level of enlightenment,

Dipamala,

She says that our karma is stored in our hands.

And so our right actions are important.

So we abstain from harming sentient beings.

We try and abstain from taking life,

Both our own life and others life and creating any harm that is intentional or unconscious.

And this includes eating the flesh of other beings.

So the request is that we are following a vegetarian diet where possible.

And the right action is also about abstaining from taking what is not given to us.

And this also includes stealing,

Fraud,

Deceitfulness and dishonesty.

Lastly,

To abstain from sexual misconduct.

And so you can see that Buddha laid out this intention with some insight into the karma that these things can cause for us and others.

And so I like to follow them not as rules for life,

Rather with a deeper purpose,

An insight.

Yes,

If I do this,

This causes harm to others and eventually causes more harm to me than anyone else.

I think that's important.

So just see if you can rest in your body and feeling the karma of your body.

And how our intentions,

Our views,

Our speech can lead to right action.

And the right action leads to right livelihood.

And here in right livelihood,

On the Eightfold Path,

Buddha teaches four specific activities that harm other beings.

And that we should avoid these activities for this reason.

One,

Dealing with weapons.

Two,

Dealing in living beings,

Including trade of slaves and prostitution,

As well as raising animals for slaughter.

Three,

Working with meat,

Its production and butchery.

And four,

Selling intoxicants and poisons,

Such as alcohol and drugs.

Buddha teaches these four specific activities that cause harm to other beings and that should be avoided for this reason.

And again,

Here,

If you settle back into it,

You can see how the karmic wheel spins.

This would affect others poorly.

Moving along the path of right effort.

The idea is here that we put the correct amount of effort into our way of being to prevent the arising of unwholesome states.

To abandon any unwholesome states that have already arisen in the past.

And to arouse wholesome states that have yet arisen.

And to maintain and perfect the wholesome states that have already arisen within us.

So finding the state of mindfulness and concentration.

With deep dedication to letting go of things that are no longer helpful.

To really deweed the mind.

To free the mind.

To free the body.

By letting go of anxiety where possible.

Grief and the second arrow.

Pain is inevitable.

Suffering is optional.

Pain is inevitable.

Suffering is optional.

And with right mindfulness,

Moving along the path,

We contemplate the body.

We contemplate our feelings.

Whether we're repulsed or repulsed,

Attracted to something or we remain neutral.

We contemplate the state of mind.

And we contemplate phenomena.

So we're mindful of body,

Breath,

All arising phenomena.

Mindful of all sensations.

Our state of mind.

Our feelings.

And all other things.

All phenomena.

Right mindfulness.

And finally,

Right concentration.

Right concentration is the practice of meditation.

Right concentration is also important.

We don't want to over concentrate.

It blocks insight.

And yet,

We must be diligently practicing with focused attention.

And the research really shows us that this is important.

And the reward is increased dopamine which will make us feel more at home and present and alive.

The prefrontal cortex will build up and your focused attention style meditation in every moment will improve.

But don't over concentrate and don't attach to wrong views and opinions because this over concentration and the attachment to views and opinions will hinder insight.

Just to review,

The Noble Eightfold Path is related to the Four Noble Truths.

And the first Noble Truth is that suffering exists.

Suffering exists.

The truth of suffering.

The second Noble Truth is that there is an origin of suffering.

The third Noble Truth is that there is the possibility of extinction of suffering.

And the fourth Noble Truth is the path that leads to the extinction of all suffering.

The middle way.

The path to both peace and enlightenment.

Which my Burmese teacher and many others say is possible in this very lifetime.

In the Theravada tradition.

And so if we follow the Noble Eightfold Path with right view,

Right intention,

Right speech,

Right action,

Right livelihood,

Right effort,

Right mindfulness and right concentration,

We can reach a state of deep unending peace.

Free of suffering.

Facing the inevitable pain of life with grace,

Happiness,

Compassion,

Insight,

Wisdom,

Understanding.

And with a full,

Full heart.

I wish you the deepest compassion for your journey,

For your life,

For your understanding of the Four Noble Truths on the path to insight,

To wisdom.

May all beings be happy.

May all beings be healthy.

May all beings be filled with deep compassion.

And may all be at peace.

May all beings be happy.

May all beings be healthy.

May all beings be free of fears,

Worries,

Dangers and anxieties.

May all beings be filled with deep compassion.

And may all beings be at peace.

I wish you well.

Reviews

Peaceful😌

Stunning

Beautifully done

Love this, thank you 🙏🙏

Excellent so gentle and opening to the practice of freedom from suffering

Besides presenting this incredibly deep teaching in an accessible way your voice and timing allowed time for absorption. Thank you for making my day!

I am doing an at home retreat today. I absorbed your teaching and meditation guidance like a sponge. I feel it. Thank you.

Thank You 🙏🏼
I will visit this meditation again, many times!

Thank you 🌼

Thank you.
Thank you also for the background birds.