The Four Noble Truths

MC Brigitte Schrottenbacher shares her insights about the four noble truths 'Dukkha', 'Samudaya', 'Nirodha,' and the eight-fold path 'Magga'. She also stresses the importance of remembering these teachings in everyday life and regularly contemplating them.

Transcript

Oh,

Very nice to have you here for our Sunday reflection.

We are going to reflect on the Four Noble Truths today.

Yeah.

As you might know,

Because you've got probably my newsletter,

On Wednesday is a Vesak Day,

One of the most important holidays,

Buddhist holidays.

It's a day when Buddha was born.

He was enlightened and he also passed away.

So this was not born on the same day,

But it was the full moon day in May or beginning of June that this is wearing.

And on that day,

He reached enlightenment in Bodh Gaya under that Bodhi tree.

And after he reached enlightenment,

The first thing the Buddha said,

I won't be able to pass that knowledge on.

No one will understand that.

And then it's said that the king of the devas or the angels or however you may call it,

Indra came and also Brahma,

The king of the Brahmas.

And they both asked the Buddha,

They begged him,

Please give your teaching because there are some beings who are not that deluded.

They will understand that.

And so Buddha decided,

Okay,

He's going to give the teaching.

And he reflected how can I do it or whom should I give this teaching first?

Because it's also important that those people get the climes of it or get to understand it.

And then the Buddha thought of the five ascetics that were practicing with him,

Like in the time when he was practicing severe ascetic.

So he was almost starving to death and whatever,

Did all kind of austere or asceticism,

Sorry,

My English.

And they left him because they said,

Okay,

The Buddha had given up.

He was starting to eat again.

And so the Buddha thought,

Okay,

These guys might understand.

So he went to look for them and they were in Voranasi on the Ganges river.

And so he walked there.

It was a few months after his enlightenment,

He reached that place and then he gave the first sermon.

And this sermon was about the Four Noble Truths.

He was explaining the Four Noble Truths,

The most important,

Or let's say the hard teaching of Buddhism.

All the other teachings,

They are just like surrounding these teachings or leading the mind to that teaching.

So this is really the heart of Buddha's teaching.

Yeah,

He said,

Okay,

Once asked what he's teaching by another ascetic,

He said,

I only teach suffering.

I teach the cause of suffering,

The cessation of suffering and the path that leads to the cessation of suffering.

And this Four Noble Truths here,

The first one,

Dukkha,

The suffering.

Some people don't like this word.

They say,

Okay,

Suffering,

I'm actually not suffering.

Many people have a very good life.

They don't have much suffering.

So they might say,

No,

I'm not suffering.

I have that often when students come to practice here at the temple and then they say,

Oh,

I'm not suffering.

So we could also call it not being well,

Like you're not well.

Things are not the way you would like them to be.

And there is a cause for that,

Cause for not being well.

And then there is the truth of the cessation of suffering in the erodha.

That's the end or the cessation of feeling unwell.

And the path,

The Eightfold Path,

The middle way that leads to this cessation of not being well.

The Buddha was in a way like a doctor.

Sometimes people say,

Why are these Four Noble Truths in this way?

Why do you explain them in this way?

First,

The suffering,

Then the cause of suffering,

Then the cessation of suffering.

This should be actually the last one,

The cessation of suffering.

But no,

It's the third one.

And the last one is the path to the cessation.

And that is because you could see it in a way that Buddha was compared to a physician.

A physician that sees the patient,

The patient is sick.

You see they're suffering,

They're sick.

And then the doctor analyzes,

Okay,

There is a cause.

What is the cause?

He has to see what's the cause for the suffering.

It's very important.

We have to see that.

And then the knowledge that suffering,

The suffering,

The sickness can be healed.

There's a way to heal the sickness.

And the fourth noble truth is then the recipe or the prescription that the doctor gives to the patient.

With this prescription,

With this therapy,

The sick person,

The patient can be healed.

Suffering can be overcome.

So that's why it's said in this way.

So now what is suffering?

The obvious kind of suffering that we all know is birth.

Birth is not a very comfortable thing.

It's suffering.

Then sickness,

Of course,

When we're sick,

We know there's suffering.

Whenever we are sick,

We know there's nothing we really like.

And old age is suffering for those who are getting older,

Like me,

And you know,

Old age is suffering.

And death is suffering,

Of course.

Death is not my thing.

It's also suffering.

So these are very obvious.

We see death.

Then the Buddha himself,

He saw it when he was still a bodhisattva.

He was a prince.

And he left the palace the first time.

Then he saw this tree,

We call it in Buddhism the divine signs,

The tevatut.

He saw a sick man,

An old man,

And a corpse,

A death person.

So this is also seeing suffering.

He saw that and he was very shocked because he was always kept away from his father,

The king,

From seeing things like that.

He was always surrounded by healthy,

Young,

Beautiful people.

He had three palaces for every season of the year in India at that time.

Then he had all kind of pleasures he could imagine.

And that was because his father knew from a Brahmin who said when he was born that he will be either an emperor or he will be a Buddha.

And the king,

Of course,

Didn't want him to be a Buddha.

He wanted him to be a king.

And so he tried everything to avoid so that the Buddha wouldn't see any suffering.

But then one day he like kind of sneaked out of the palace with his attendant.

And then he saw these signs.

And then he got really,

He was very,

A very deep cut in his heart.

Like he was really very distraught by these signs and seeing that there is old age sickness and death.

And that was the reason why he decided then to do something to overcome all suffering.

Yeah,

So this is the obvious part of suffering.

But we see suffering every day.

All the little things that are kind of not satisfying for us,

They are disappointing.

We don't get the things we would like to get or we would want to have.

We get things we don't want.

We are separated from those we love,

Especially now in the COVID time.

You can't see friends or maybe family.

So that's all not so nice.

Then we are connected to those we don't like.

You have colleagues or neighbors who are not so easy for you.

Then this is also suffering.

Then every kind of sadness,

Of depression,

Of course physical pain.

There are so many things that are not really making us happy.

Things we want to get,

If we get them,

Then we are happy for a moment,

But then we get bored.

It's not that you can hold on to that happiness and have it forever.

It's passing.

It's impermanent.

So this is suffering.

We can't control it.

There's suffering.

So this is all falling under that suffering.

And then we have the cause.

Why?

So why is there suffering?

Cause is always the same.

It's attachments,

Tanha,

What we say in Bali,

Craving,

Clinging,

Attachment.

And so we hold on to things.

Those things we want,

We hold on.

We develop desire,

Greed,

Want more of this,

More and more happiness.

And we have the attachment of disliking,

Of anger,

Of hatred,

The things we don't want.

We have hatred.

We have anger.

We have disappointment if we are in connection with these things.

So that's the cause of suffering.

And the deeper cause for all suffering is our ignorance or our not knowing,

Not being clear about the true nature of things,

Not being clear about the dharma.

So if we have this ignorance,

Ignorance is there,

Then this self is coming up.

It is I.

I want this or I don't want that.

And so the attachment arises.

So ignorance is the first cause of all.

Without ignorance,

There wouldn't be anger or desire arising.

So these three,

Telesa of defilements,

They are the cause for all suffering.

There's the third noble truth,

The truth of the cessation.

Suffering can cease.

This sickness can be overcome.

It can be healed.

And the fourth truth is that of the path.

So there is a path.

There is a way how we can overcome suffering.

It's called the eightfold path.

It's this wheel,

This dhamma wheel with eight spokes.

That's the symbol for the eightfold path.

And it's also called the middle path,

The middle way,

Which means avoiding extreme central indulgence and avoiding extreme austerity.

Because the Buddha did that before he reached enlightenment.

He tried every way to reach enlightenment,

To understand how to get out of suffering.

And he did that for six years with extreme ascetism.

He stopped eating.

He did all kinds of things to overcome suffering.

He was almost dead.

And then he realized that's not it.

Say there was a situation.

He was sitting there under a tree near a river.

And there was music teacher with his pupils passing by on a boat.

And he taught that young student how to play a Sita,

Indian Sita.

And the Buddha heard it.

The teacher said to the student,

If your,

The strings of the Sita are too loose,

There is no good tone coming from it.

If the strings are too tight,

They will rip off.

They will break.

So then the Buddha understood,

Okay,

That's it.

That's what is going on with me.

If there is too much ascetism,

Then the body will die.

It will break.

But if I'm too loose and I overindulge in central pleasures,

That's what I did as a prince,

Then there is no result coming as well.

So he understood this middle way.

And so now this Eightfold Path,

Eight spokes in the wheel,

They usually always start with the wisdom path,

Which is right view and right thought.

Right view is,

We call it also Samatthiti,

Samatthiti,

Sorry.

Right view is always having an understanding of what you call yourself,

This problem maker,

The self.

What is it really?

And therefore we have this teaching about the five aggregates of existence.

These five are our body,

Our feelings,

Our consciousness,

Six kinds of consciousness,

Our perception,

Our memories and concepts,

And mental formations,

Everything the mind builds up.

These five are what we call me,

Mine,

I,

A self.

So right view can see that there are five aggregates,

Nothing else.

And seeing the four noble truths,

As I said before,

Seeing that there is suffering,

There's a cause for it,

There's the cessation of suffering and a path leading to that.

So this is the first part of the Eightfold Path,

The wisdom path.

The second part of wisdom is right thought,

Thinking in a correct way.

Thinking in a correct way means that we see the Trilakana,

The three characteristics of everything in life,

This body,

This mind,

These five aggregates.

There are three characteristics you can apply all the time.

And that is,

They are impermanent,

They change all the time.

They are suffering,

They are not really satisfying.

And they are not really under my control,

They are non-self.

So these three characteristics,

Anicca,

Tukka,

And anapa,

They have to be contemplated on again and again.

We really apply that when we practice meditation,

Like we come to the meditation path later on,

Then this is a very important path.

Often people say,

Okay,

Why is wisdom first?

But actually,

Normally in Buddhism,

We always teach that sila or etic principles are the base of everything.

So these etic principles are the right deed,

Right action.

So that means not killing,

You avoid killing,

You avoid harming,

You're like ahimsa,

You try to avoid any kind of harm for other sentient beings and yourself.

Mainly you say not killing,

Then not stealing,

Not taking things without asking.

Then the third is not having sexual misconduct.

That means any kind of sexual activity that leads to suffering again,

Like which causes suffering for others or yourself.

If the partner is already married or already in a relationship or if the partner is too young,

That causes like all kind of situations which will create suffering.

We should try to avoid that.

So this is right action.

Then right speech.

Right speech,

We have four kinds,

Like speech,

Like lying of course,

Then separating speech,

Like you speak in a way to separate people.

It's also not good to do.

Then having harsh speech and kind of senseless speech just for talking.

So these four kinds of speech we should also try to avoid.

The second part of SELA or the etic principles in the April Path.

Then the third part is right livelihood,

Like having an occupation or earning your daily living not in a way that you create suffering again.

So not to kill animals,

Not like selling weapons,

Drugs,

Or human trafficking or things like that.

This would be wrong.

Livelihood,

So we should try to avoid that.

So these are the parts of morality.

And the third part of that Eightfold Path is then the Samadhi Path or the meditation or concentration path.

And that is first the right effort.

We should make the right effort.

We have three kinds.

We have three kinds.

The right effort to let wholesome things arise in your body and mind,

Like wholesome things.

Allow them to arise.

Speech,

Things you do,

Things you think.

Try to have it in a wholesome way.

Then feed it,

Nourish it.

That means if wholesome things have arisen,

Wholesome thoughts,

Then feed that.

Try to do that often.

Enjoy it.

Enjoy doing wholesome or saying wholesome things or thinking in a wholesome way.

Try to do more of that.

Then the second part is trying to avoid unwholesome things from arising,

Unwholesome thinking,

Speaking,

And doing things.

Try to avoid that.

And if it has already arisen,

Then try to reduce it.

Try to let go of it.

And yeah,

That's then the third part of that right effort.

That's the highest part,

And that is purifying your mind.

And purifying your mind means you stand above both.

Sure,

In one way.

It's important to create wholesome.

It will always support you on your way.

The wholesome things they support you will make it easier for you to practice.

Avoiding the unwholesome,

Clear because it doesn't support you.

It will drag you down.

It will,

You feel low,

You have bad thoughts and whatever,

And that doesn't support you in your way.

But the highest level is standing above good and bad.

And that is done like with a really deep level of equanimity.

So this is right effort.

Then the second part of the meditation is the right mindfulness.

Samma Sati.

Right mindfulness is always that we apply our mindfulness to the presently arising object.

Whatever arises there in the present moment,

You know it.

You're aware of it.

You try to observe.

But also,

It also means you use Samma Sankapa,

The right thinking,

What I said before.

Apply this right thought to the object that your mindfulness knows in the present moment.

That means you know the object is changing.

It's impermanent.

The object is not really satisfying because it changes.

And because I can't control it.

The object is not a self.

It doesn't belong to me.

It's not really under my control.

So we see the amitja,

The tukka and the anatta,

The three characteristics of everything that we experience in life.

And we have to apply that also in our mindfulness training.

Sometimes people mistake that.

They say,

Okay,

I just watched the rising and falling of the abdomen.

So I do the basana.

Actually,

This is still Samma Tait concentration.

We focus on an object.

We focus on this rising form,

Rising form.

Only if you focus on the rising,

Falling and you apply this knowledge and you see the true nature of your abdomen or the true nature of the breath,

Then it becomes your basana.

So it's always sati,

Mindfulness,

The concentration that brings your mind to the present object,

The mindfulness,

Knowing it.

And then also sampacchana,

What we call it in Pali,

This reflection,

This understanding of it.

Otherwise no wisdom can arise,

Only concentration.

So this would be sammasati,

The right mindfulness.

And the third part of concentration training is then right concentration.

Right concentration is always seeing,

Bringing enough focus into your mind so that you can practice right mindfulness.

So you need enough focus to be with the present object.

That's also important.

So also there are sometimes people say,

Oh no samatha,

Samatha or concentration meditation doesn't bring anything.

You don't need that.

You don't get any wisdom.

You need it too.

There is no way to practice vipassana without concentration.

So for those who practice these daily meditations with me,

You know already I have built it up in this way.

Like we have first concentration,

We practice for a few minutes,

We can focus on the breath,

Just be with the breath to calm the mind,

To make it a bit more calm,

To be able to let go of thoughts more or less.

And only then we open up and we practice more presentness,

More being in the present moment and knowing the present object.

If I would tell you straight away,

Just be with the present object,

It's not possible.

For most of you it's not possible,

Except maybe you have practiced this for a long time.

Because just being with the present object,

You get lost.

Maybe you are there for a few seconds and then you are gone,

You are involved in thoughts again.

So there is need for a certain amount of concentration to be able to do that.

So this is the eightfold path and that's the medicine the Buddha gives to overcome suffering.

Maybe one more thing I want to mention there too is it's a very,

Very logical thing that this Four Noble Troves.

I usually like to say it in a very easy and simple way.

I was used to similar,

Like there is suffering and I know the suffering comes from attachment,

From holding on.

Holding on creates suffering.

So I have suffering and the cause.

And there is cessation of suffering and that also has a cause.

So it's actually always cause and effect,

Like everything in the Buddhist teachings always cause and effect.

So suffering has a cause,

Holding on,

Attachment.

And cessation of suffering also has a cause,

Which is of course the opposite,

Letting go.

If you let go,

Suffering ceases.

So you can choose every moment in your life.

Do you want to walk the path of suffering?

Hold on as much as you can.

Very easy.

Attachment.

Get as attached as you can.

You will suffer a hundred percent.

And if you don't want that,

If you prefer the path to the cessation of suffering,

Freedom from suffering,

Then try to train the letting go.

The eightfold path is the way to do that.

Another thing,

How you can see that there's a path to cessation of suffering,

There's a path to suffering.

So if the eightfold path leads to the cessation of suffering,

If you practice it in the opposite way,

Like starting with wrong view,

You have a wrong view of things.

Not seeing the true nature of things,

Not seeing the five canvas,

That this self,

What I call self,

Is five canvas.

Not seeing the four noble trues.

Then this is leading to the suffering.

It's the path to suffering.

Wrong thoughts.

Right thought is seeing the three characteristics of suffering,

Of non-self,

Of impermanence.

If I don't see that,

I have wrong thoughts.

It leads to suffering.

You can see that every moment.

When you think in a wrong way,

Usually suffering arises.

You experience suffering.

So if you think and you suffer,

Then you can know,

Uh-uh,

Something wrong.

You can see that.

You can know,

Uh-uh,

Something wrong here.

I was caught up in wrong thoughts again.

So then try to use this knowledge,

Bring this wisdom or this knowledge that you have,

And apply it to the present situation.

What went wrong here?

Where is the wrong thinking?

And then you can reach the cessation of suffering.

So yeah,

You can go the eightfold path or you can go to the opposite and then you suffer.

So your choice.

Okay,

It was very nice to have you here.

I hope this reflection on the eightfold path was of use for you.

I will also put it later on on YouTube so in case you want to listen to it again.

So have a good time.

Stay healthy.