Three Insights Into The Buddha's Four Noble Truths

This is a 20-minute talk followed by a 5-minute meditation offered at a live Insight Timer session on September 21, 2025. The theme of the talk is the three insights or understandings that apply to each of the Buddha's four noble truths. The first insight is a cognitive or conceptual kind of understanding that is important and necessary but not sufficient to free us from suffering. The second insight is into what needs to be done, what we need to do to free ourselves. With this insight, we engage with suffering and are clear about what our task is in letting go. The third insight is accomplishing what needs to be done. With this insigh,t we've let go completely. The talk and meditation include a poem from William Blake and a quote from James Baldwin. (Please note: This track was recorded live and may contain background sounds.)

Transcript

So welcome everyone.

I want to share a few thoughts,

And this is continuing from the last couple of sessions that we've had.

Last week,

The theme was turning our attention inward as a path to freedom.

I was speaking about how by this simple practice of turning,

As we did in the meditation,

Turning our attention to our experience,

Feelings,

Sensations,

Thoughts,

Emotions,

Whatever's coming,

Sounds around us,

What we're hearing,

Seeing,

Tasting,

Etc.

Doing that is a pathway to freedom,

And the way it's a pathway to freedom is that we can see where we are holding on,

Where we're somehow in resistance to our experience,

Where,

You know,

In the words of the Buddha,

We're craving or we're clinging,

We're trying to hold on to essentially what can't be held on to,

Because the truth of things is that we can't hold on to anything,

Can we?

Everything is impermanent,

Everything is constantly changing.

So it's like trying to hold,

You know,

Putting your hand in the river and somehow,

You know,

Stopping the flow of the river,

You know,

And the water just flows through your hands.

In the same way,

When we try and hold on to anything in life,

You know,

In a way,

In an unskillful way,

It doesn't mean we don't enjoy what we experience,

But the clinging is the problem.

It's when we try and kind of make permanent what is impermanent.

You know,

There's a lovely poem by William Blake that,

You know,

Eternity,

He who clings to himself a joy,

Or I just got the first word wrong,

He who binds to himself a joy does the winged life destroy,

But he who kisses the joy as it flies lives in eternity's sunrise.

So if there was ever a Dharma poem,

I mean,

I think that one is it.

You know,

William Blake,

Obviously a mystic,

It's the same truth.

You know,

He's saying basically what the Buddha taught and what other wise people down the ages have taught,

That we can't cling to anything,

That the path to great happiness is to be able to open to life as it is flowing,

You know,

As kissing the joy as it flies lives in eternity's sunrise.

I won't address your question now,

Farnaz,

About not liking your white hair.

You could,

There are maybe things you could do about it,

You could color it,

And,

But ultimately,

If that's what it is,

You can not like it and resist it,

You know,

And,

You know,

Say,

You know,

I don't like how it is,

I don't want it to be like this.

And if you cling to that,

Then you'll suffer.

If you can accept that this is the way life is,

Maybe some things we don't like,

You know,

If there's a dog constantly barking outside the window,

You know,

That may be,

You know,

May interfere with us in some way,

But can we make peace with it?

It doesn't mean we can't talk to our neighbor and say,

Excuse me,

Could you keep your dog in?

You know,

We all have those kinds of experiences,

And there's nothing wrong with kind of saying,

Okay,

It'll be kind of,

I'd like to,

I'd like to,

You know,

It would be perhaps easier on me,

And I'd be able to get more sleep if the dog wasn't barking.

And to do something about it.

But sometimes we can't do something about,

You know,

We can't do something about everything.

You know,

There are things that we will,

You know,

Many things in our life that we won't be able to do anything about.

But what one thing we can always do is accept the truth of the experience.

We can surrender to the truth of the experience.

That's what we,

That's the freedom,

That is the true freedom that we have.

We can accept this is how life is in this moment.

So the pathway,

I said I wasn't going to get into the white hair,

But I did a little bit there.

So the turning inward helps us to see where we're holding on and how we can let go when we bring awareness to our experience.

You know,

If we're not aware of our experience,

We just keep repeating things habitually.

You know,

We just repeat,

Wash,

Rinse,

Repeat,

As it were.

You know,

We think by doing the same thing over that things will change,

But they won't change.

What we need to do is we need to be aware,

Turn towards our experience and be aware of it and be aware of its impermanence.

Be aware that we can't hold on to anything and find peace in that.

And this is where turning inward,

Turning towards our experience,

Bringing awareness to our experience,

Leads to the potential for letting go and the freedom that comes with letting go.

I think I shared last time a quote from a great civil rights activist and playwright and poet,

James Baldwin,

Who said,

Not everything that you face can be changed,

But nothing can be changed unless it is faced.

Nothing can be changed unless it is faced.

We have to face the reality of our experience.

If we are going to be able to find peace in the midst of life circumstances,

So turning towards our experience,

The freedom that comes with that.

And so I spoke last time about that,

About how turning towards our experience allows us to see where we're holding on,

How we can let go and the specific practices,

The specific path that leads to letting go.

And all of that is the Four Noble Truths.

Four Noble Truths are to recognize suffering where it's present.

You know,

Just what Susan shared there,

Susan shared her suffering that this current situation,

At least at times,

Is very,

Very painful.

That's suffering.

So that's just recognizing it.

And that's the first Noble Truth.

The second Noble Truth is to see,

You know,

What is it that I'm doing or you're doing or any of us are doing that actually perpetuates that suffering?

Because the fact itself that certain things are happening in the world doesn't require a particular response or necessitate a particular response.

Yes,

Certainly,

If there's a big tragedy,

Then what I think will naturally arise is sadness,

Is grief,

Is compassion,

You know,

All of those things will arise.

But it doesn't have to express itself as suffering.

Suffering is like the resistance to,

You know,

What I've talked about in earlier sessions as the second arrow.

You know,

The compassion,

The sadness,

The grief,

That would be the first arrow.

That's like,

Oh,

This is sad,

This is,

You know,

But this is how this is right now.

The second arrow is when,

Oh,

You know,

I'm getting overwhelmed by it,

For example.

You know,

When compassion turns into,

You know,

Because of lack of awareness,

Turns into,

You know,

Being feeling like despair,

For example.

You know,

Despair has to be and is the second arrow.

You know,

It's like adding something.

It's not,

You know,

An inevitable outcome of any circumstance in the world.

So we can see where we're clinging.

This is the second noble truth.

When we see where we're clinging,

We have the possibility of letting go.

Oh,

I see I'm proliferating a lot of thoughts about how these people are terrible and how the world is going to hell in a handbasket or whatever.

And I think this and I keep thinking it and I'm suffering more and more.

If I can see that,

Then I can let go and experience a lot of peace.

You know,

I've spoken in other sessions,

Earlier sessions,

And I had some kind of in my local group and did some talks on this recently,

Where I included,

You know,

It was on this broadly the same theme that we're talking about today.

But,

You know,

I spoke about how much unnecessary suffering I added to my experience in relation to my dad,

You know,

Who died when I was,

You know,

Quite a young adult and how,

You know,

Certain things,

Certain actions he'd taken,

Certain things he'd done or not done.

I kind of added judgment towards him,

A lot of judgment and blame.

And this became kind of the filter through which I remembered him.

And it wasn't easy.

It was like,

Rather than feeling care or love or connection,

It was like I was looking through that lens of judgment and blame.

At a certain point,

I said,

You know,

This is just,

I'm just causing myself suffering.

And I was able to just by reflecting and meditating,

Practicing,

I was able to see that,

You know,

The holding on to those views and opinions,

The blame,

The judgment,

Etc.

Were not helpful,

And I could let them go.

That doesn't mean I didn't have a sense of,

You know,

Kind of trying to understand him and his life.

But I could bring much more compassion in and understanding of the,

You know,

The conditions that he was living under that made,

You know,

The underpinned choices he made,

Etc.

But I just used that as an example of how,

For me,

I was able to kind of change something which was a situation of suffering into a letting go.

And that's the fourth noble truth is the practices that we do that can help us let go,

That lead us to greater freedom.

And I just want to briefly touch on three kind of levels of understanding this teaching of the Four Noble Truths.

The Buddha talked about these Four Noble Truths about suffering,

The cause of suffering,

Clinging,

The end of suffering,

The freedom,

Nirvana,

The freedom that comes from complete letting go.

And the fourth is the path,

The path of training that leads to the end of suffering,

Which is known as the Eightfold Path.

It's training in wisdom,

Cultivating wisdom in meditation and in living wisely and ethically.

For each of these Four Noble Truths,

There's three levels of understanding.

And I find this teaching about the levels of understanding helpful,

And I'm just want to lay them out briefly here for the next few minutes,

And maybe I'll get into them more in the next session.

But the first level of understanding each of these Four Noble Truths is a kind of cognitive,

More conceptual knowing.

So,

The First Noble Truth is the truth of suffering.

And so,

If you were to listen to a talk or read a book about suffering and the end of suffering,

The Four Noble Truths,

Read a book,

And you kind of get this sense of,

Oh,

Yeah,

I get this.

I get that certain situations in life are suffering.

I understand that.

I can see that it makes sense to me.

But that understanding in itself doesn't lead to freedom.

You know what I mean?

It's necessary.

You have to understand before you can experience deeply.

But there's deeper levels that you need to go to.

So,

The first level is just this kind of more cognitive,

More,

Yeah,

I get it.

I get what this teaching is.

I get how when I cling,

For the Second Noble Truth,

When I cling to anything,

Then I feel this kind of sense of tension,

Tightness,

Unsatisfactoriness.

I'm not liking the way things are.

I'm wanting things to be different than they are.

That clinging leads to suffering.

But at the first level,

It's just that more cognitive understanding.

The second level is where we really engage with the suffering.

We really kind of look at it and say,

Okay,

In my own life,

Where am I experiencing it?

You know,

How am I experiencing it?

What's my relationship to this suffering right now?

You know,

I'm angry,

Let's say,

Hypothetically,

I'm angry about the situation in the country or in the world,

You know,

The injustice,

For example.

And I'm kind of like,

Every day,

I'm feeling,

Oh,

I'm so angry,

Those terrible people doing terrible things,

Etc.

If I see that,

When I see that that's causing suffering,

I can then engage with it and say,

Okay,

What's my own role?

Where am I creating a second arrow or a third arrow here?

What's my role in perpetuating the suffering or creating the suffering?

You know,

Am I creating the suffering,

Like in my example with my dad,

You know,

Am I creating suffering by this view I have,

You know,

Blaming or judging or,

You know,

Seeing kind of the wrong,

You know,

That,

You know,

He did things I didn't agree with or whatever,

You know,

Clinging to those views,

Is that what's causing me suffering?

You know,

Is getting angry with politicians,

For example,

Or people with different views and opinions,

Is that causing me suffering?

If I,

When I see that,

Then I can really engage with it and say,

Okay,

That's not serving me to keep,

You know,

Keep perpetuating that through my thinking,

Through my where I get more my information from,

Maybe I get information,

Which is all of one particular kind,

Maybe it's the kind that kind of gets you revved up,

You know,

Of like,

Oh,

They're doing these terrible things,

Etc.

And that's not on one just on one side,

By any means,

That's more generalized.

But so when we see that,

Then we can really engage in it.

So the second level of understanding is to see what needs to be done,

That suffering needs to be recognized,

That clinging needs to be let go of,

You know,

That freedom,

The freedom that comes has to be attained or realized.

And the path to the end of suffering,

The training has to be developed and followed.

So that is that the second,

The second deeper level is when we're really engaged ourselves with our suffering,

When we're really working with it with meditation,

Through investigation,

Through reflection,

You know,

Through conversations,

You know,

How am I working with this,

Then we can,

You know,

That can take us to a much deeper level,

Because that engagement is what's going to lead to the complete letting go.

So that's the second level is this,

The level where we understand what needs to be done,

We haven't done it fully yet.

But we understand what needs to be done.

And the third level is when we have really accomplished what needs to be done,

We've let go completely.

And this,

You know,

This is a typically a kind of a more,

You know,

Perhaps more prolonged process,

You know,

It's not just seeing something once,

You know,

Like seeing that we have a particular habit that's doing us harm,

You know,

Maybe we're eating,

You know,

A lot of sweets,

Or we're,

Let's say we're addicted to a substance,

That just seeing that,

Oh,

This is causing me harm.

And maybe we stop for a while.

But maybe we do something else that,

You know,

Replaces that addiction,

But we're still kind of clinging to that,

You know,

We tend to,

You know,

It tends to be a process to really let go completely.

So,

So the second level of understanding is that engagement,

The third is letting go completely.

And this is the,

You know,

The freedom that comes through really seeing deeply the suffering that clinging causes,

And to be able to say,

I don't,

I don't want that,

I don't need that,

You know,

For the Buddha,

You know,

After his awakening,

His enlightenment,

You know,

He says,

Done is what needed to be done,

Done is what needed to be done,

That he'd done the work of letting go.

And he'd done it so fully,

That suffering didn't have any basis for arising again,

That's how deeply we have to let go.

So we're,

You know,

Most of us,

Probably almost all of us are in that place of still struggling to let go,

You know,

We're still clinging to something.

And this is the path,

You know,

And I find these three levels quite helpful,

Because they reinforce,

You know,

They reinforce the fact that we need to keep working on,

You know,

On where we're holding on,

We need to keep looking and keep seeing.

I share often that quote from Arjun Shah,

The great Thai teacher,

He says,

Let go a little,

And you'll experience a little peace,

Let go a lot,

And you'll experience a lot of peace,

Let go completely.

And you will experience complete peace,

Complete freedom,

Your struggle with the world will be at an end,

Where the end,

The path leads to the end of the path is ending our struggle with the world completely.

So that whatever life brings,

We can experience peace and well-being and happiness and joy within whatever the circumstances of life are.

And that's,

You know,

That takes effort.

And yet,

That peace,

What we also need to remember is that peace is available right here and right now.

That if we pause in this moment and ask ourselves,

You know,

What's in the way of being completely free in this moment?

And if we say,

Well,

Well,

There's all these things going on out there,

You say,

Well,

What about if you let go of the things going on out there?

What about my worries about money or about health?

Well,

If you let go of those worries and just be here,

Is there a problem right here,

Right now?

Maybe that's a good place to pause for today and move into a final,

Shorter meditation,

Where we just let the attention go inward.

So sit comfortably in a relaxed way,

Invite your shoulders to relax,

Let your attention come inward.

Let's take some nice,

Relaxing breaths.

And just ask yourself,

What's missing right now?

Is anything in the way right now of being at peace?

Can this moment be a moment of complete peace,

Complete well-being,

Happiness?

This moment,

Just as it is.

And if thoughts come up about anything that's in the way,

You say,

Oh,

Can I let go of that?

Maybe even there's a feeling right now,

Maybe some feeling of discomfort.

Can you be at peace in the midst of that feeling,

So that nothing in this moment needs to be in any way different than it is?

Not the future,

Not the past,

Not anything going on anywhere else.

Just the peace that's right here,

Right now.

I'm going to be finishing by just wishing yourself well.

May I be safe.

May I be happy.

May I be kind to myself.

May I accept myself just as I am.

I'm breathing out a wish to everyone here,

A wish of well-being and happiness.

May you be safe.

May you be happy.

May you be kind to yourself.

May you accept yourself just as you are.

And just letting those wishes go out into the world,

Into our suffering world,

Wishing everyone well,

Wishing them happiness and peace,

And an open heart.

May you be free of suffering.

May all beings everywhere be free of suffering.

May all awaken and be free.

Reviews

You help me. Thank you

Always great insight. Thanks.

I really liked the closing prayers.

I love this so much! Thank you!🗝🕯🗝

Perfect reflection about letting go 🙏🏼👏🏻👏🏻🫶🏼🦋✨

It’s so easy to tell others to let it go, and stop listening to the news.

As I watch myself for decades causing my own suffering due to clinging or blaming.

Love your delivery and I’m finally getting really good at watching what is triggering my suffering. I physically had to make a move far away into a simpler life in order to stay on my path.

You are on my path with me! Thanks for being there to help guide me.

Much Appreciation,
🙏kath

Thank you for this message. Your gentle kindness and instruction means so much always, especially now.

Wonderful 🙏🏼🙆‍♀️

🙏🏾 2025.

Thank you 🙏