The Four Noble Truths (Buddhism) - End Of Suffering

In this class, I share the story of the Buddha and his teaching after enlightenment, the 4 Noble Truths. These noble truths are the reality of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path to end suffering.

We can follow this path to awakening and peace of mind by learning from the Buddha's wisdom.

Transcript

I thought for tonight that I would tell the story of the Buddha.

Even though I know most of you are not Buddhists,

It is not required to be a Buddhist to benefit from the Buddha's teachings.

The Buddha himself was not a Buddhist.

And we can,

I think,

Learn something from the story of the Buddha and also to understand the first teaching that he gave after his enlightenment on the Four Noble Truths,

Which are the foundation of every Buddhist tradition of Zen Buddhism,

Tibetan Buddhism,

Theravadan Buddhism.

It's the foundation of what we're teaching here,

What we're studying each week,

And that when we realize the Four Noble Truths,

That we are awakened,

We are liberated.

So the Buddha,

Of course,

Was not the Buddha when he was born nearly 2,

600 years ago.

He was born Prince Siddhartha Gautama.

And at the time of his birth,

There was a prophecy given to his father,

The king,

That Siddhartha would either turn out to be a great king,

A great ruler,

Or a great wise person,

A great sage.

The king,

Wanting Siddhartha to follow in the family business,

Did everything in his power to make sure that Siddhartha never experienced anything unpleasant,

Unseemly,

Lest that part of him awaken that wants to explore the sage part,

The wisdom path.

So he made sure that everyone in the palace was beautiful and young.

As soon as someone started to look a little bit old,

They were yanked out of the palace.

If someone got sick,

Immediately they were taken out of the palace.

If someone died,

Immediately they were gone,

Some other excuse given.

And so the king tried to shelter Siddhartha in a way that he never experienced any suffering,

And he also just experienced all of the pleasures of life,

The best food,

The best clothing,

The most interesting people,

The most interesting games.

And yet,

Siddhartha was kind of unsettled,

Still didn't feel like this was enough.

And so one day,

He asked his attendant,

He said,

Will you take me out into the village and don't tell my father,

Because I suspect there are things that are being hidden from me and I want to go in there without anyone kind of making things look different for me.

So they go into the village,

And the first thing they see on the side of the road is a really old man,

A decrepit old man.

He's thin and his skin's hanging off,

And he's hunched over and gray hair and straggly.

And Siddhartha looks at this man and he looks at his attendant and he's like,

What's going on with him?

Like,

I've never seen anything like that before.

And his attendant says,

Oh,

He's an old man.

He said,

All of us,

If we're lucky enough,

We'll become old one day.

Siddhartha's like,

Even me?

Like,

I'm going to become that?

He's like,

Yes,

Even you.

So they continue on a little bit further,

And then they see a sick person.

And this person is like doubled over in pain.

They've got pustules coming out of,

You know,

Pustules and wounds and stuff oozing out of their face.

And they just look in agony.

Siddhartha looks at this,

He's never seen a sick person before,

And he asks his attendant,

What's going on with this person?

It's a sick person.

Everyone is subject to this,

To get sick at some point in their life.

He's like,

Me too?

Yes,

Even you.

So they continue on,

And then there's a funeral happening and a dead body being carried through the town.

And Siddhartha looks at that and he says,

What's going on there?

And they said,

His attendant says,

Oh,

This person is dead.

They're no longer of this world.

They've passed on and the body is now going to be burned.

And this is the nature of everyone to die.

Even you.

Siddhartha is just like,

What?

Like I had no idea about any of this.

So he's like,

Let's go back to the palace.

I think I've seen enough for one day.

So they go back to the palace and on the way back,

They see one more thing.

On the side of the road,

They see this sadhu,

This wise person sitting there in meditation,

Looking perfectly peaceful and serene.

And Siddhartha has never seen this.

So he asks his attendant,

What's going on with this person?

And his attendant says,

Oh,

This is a sadhu.

This is someone who has given up all his worldly possessions,

All of his material goods to find internal peace and freedom.

And Siddhartha looks at this and he's thinking,

Man,

Like I have so much and I don't think I've ever looked quite as peaceful as this guy looks.

So they go back to the palace and that night he's got a lot to think about.

His worldview is pretty shattered at this point.

So he decides,

If I stay here in the palace,

I'm doing nothing to prevent all this suffering that's going to befall me in the future.

I'm not helping anyone else.

And so he leaves in the middle of the night,

Gives up all of his material possessions and he becomes a sage,

A sadhu,

A wandering ascetic to become enlightened.

And he has a couple of different teachers along the way,

A couple of Hindu teachers.

Siddhartha was a Hindu.

It was the predominant religion at the time.

And he got as far as each teacher,

Like it's kind of as high as level they were.

But he always kept saying to himself,

Well,

I think there's something more.

I don't really understand the cause of suffering here,

The end of suffering.

So we'd go and find another teacher and the same thing happened.

He kind of got as high as that teacher was and he's like,

I still think there's something more I need to find out.

So then he ends up with this group of really,

Really austere ascetic monks.

And these monks,

These sadhus,

They believe that the way to liberation is to really deny the pain,

Not just pleasures,

But just sustenance.

So they would survive on a few grains of rice a day and they would meditate all day in the hot burning sun,

Like sitting on a rock,

No shelter.

And this went on day after day for a couple of years.

And if you see any images of the Buddha,

The statues where he's really gaunt and his eyes are gaunt,

His ribcage is showing,

This is the period of time they're depicting.

And after a while of this,

He is near death's door.

He basically collapses on the side of the road.

And this young girl from a village sees this and takes pity on him.

And she brings him a bowl of rice milk.

And just this offering of this bowl of rice milk to him,

The kindness of this girl bringing him a bowl of rice milk,

Remember from last week's talk,

Sparks enough wisdom in him that he realizes this isn't working either.

I'm about to die.

I'm not finding the end of suffering here.

I'm not finding the cause of suffering.

So he accepts the rice milk.

And he eats the rice milk,

He's nourished,

And then he goes and sits under the Bodhi tree,

Has the shade of the Bodhi tree,

And sits down to meditate and says,

I am not getting up until I understand the cause of suffering,

The end of suffering.

And he does.

And he figures this out.

And he becomes enlightened.

And the first talk that he gave after his enlightenment was the Four Noble Truths.

The truth of suffering,

The cause of suffering,

The cessation of suffering,

And the path to end suffering.

So the first Noble Truth,

The truth of suffering,

Is acknowledging that life has suffering built into it.

Not that all of life is suffering.

He never said that.

But that there is a certain amount of suffering in life.

That birth is suffering.

Suffering for the mother,

Suffering for the baby coming out,

Leaving the comfort and the safety and the quiet of the womb coming out into the world.

There's suffering.

Old age is suffering.

Sickness is suffering.

Death is suffering.

And then there's the suffering of change.

That everything that we love,

Everything that we want,

Everything that we get is changing and therefore ultimately dissatisfying.

So when we get what we want,

When we get the good meal,

Right?

The good meal ends.

That last bite finally has to happen.

Or we get the praise and it feels good in that moment,

But a few hours later,

It doesn't feel as good.

A few days later,

A few weeks later,

It doesn't have the same impact,

Right?

Whatever we get eventually doesn't feel as good anymore.

And even like the new job,

We're all excited for the new job.

After a few weeks,

It's just another job.

It's no longer exciting anymore.

So there's the suffering of getting what it is that we want.

There's the suffering of not getting what we want.

I mean,

The suffering of someone else getting what we want,

The anger,

The jealousy,

The resentment that comes out of that.

There's the suffering of getting what we don't want,

You know,

Getting the big bill,

Getting the criticism,

Getting the blame,

Getting the broken car,

The broken cell phone.

So the first noble truth is the truth of suffering.

Not that all of life is suffering,

But there is a certain amount of suffering that is built into it.

And the second noble truth is the cause of suffering.

And the cause is craving,

This mind movement of craving ourselves into existence.

And if we were having this talk in a traditional Buddhist,

Like a monastic type setting,

We would be focusing here on the cycle of rebirth,

That this is the cycle of rebirth,

Old age,

Sickness and death.

This is the cycle of suffering.

We don't even need to go there because we can see every day,

Every hour,

Moment by moment,

The craving mind,

Creating ourselves into existence in some future moment,

That we are continuously bringing ourselves into existence in our imagination in some future moment.

That if we're meditating,

Maybe we're doing our morning meditation and then the mind goes back and forth,

Right?

We have some thoughts,

We come back to the breath,

We're going back and forth.

And then maybe your coffee that you have set on a timer all of a sudden starts going and the smells wafting in.

And then your thoughts start going towards the coffee.

Oh,

It's going to be so good when I get my morning coffee.

And then I'm going to open my laptop and check my email and Facebook and the news and the craving mind of me in the future,

20 minutes from now with my coffee,

Looking at my laptop,

Being happy,

Being content.

And we think to ourselves in the meditation,

That's just not working.

Something's just off.

My mind's just a little bit busy.

Yeah,

Because I just,

That would be better than where I am right now.

Because we don't think it's the craving that's the problem.

We think it's the meditation.

It's just not working today.

And then the bell goes and we get to our coffee and we open our laptop and we're sitting there.

And in that moment of kind of sitting down and we've got everything,

It feels really good.

Not because your coffee is the best coffee in the world or because of Facebook or the news,

But because the craving for a few moments has subsided.

All of a sudden,

All that,

The craving of wanting to get to the next moment of a me in the next moment has now ceased.

And while there might be a little bit of joy from the coffee or Facebook or something,

It's probably 5%.

95% is the cessation of the craving.

But we don't think that.

We think it's the objects that we were craving,

That where our happiness was coming from.

But then we know what happens just after a little bit longer,

Right?

We're kind of looking around.

We've gone through the news.

We've gone through Facebook.

We've checked our email.

We didn't win the lottery.

No one sent us a first class trip to Hawaii.

So we kind of get through all of that.

And then it's like,

Oh,

The mind starts thinking about the day.

Oh,

And what have I got to do?

And I've got to get over there and I've got to do this.

And we start running the simulation machine,

That craving ourselves into existence.

Oh,

If I get there,

I'll be happy.

And I get there.

And if I can get there five minutes earlier and I can cut time over here,

Right?

And it's this constant craving ourselves into existence.

And off we go.

Off we go.

Racing after happiness,

Feeling the pain of the craving.

It is like a birth.

It's your body clenching up.

This is the separate self that we spend so much time talking about,

The ego,

Right?

It's this craving ourselves into existence,

Some future moment.

And then we go all day long in this cycle,

Chasing a moment's relief when we get there,

When the craving ceases.

And then only for it to start back up again,

Right?

Maybe we're going about our errands and we run into someone that's a stranger or someone we're talking to and it's a boring conversation.

They're going on and on and on and on and on.

And in that conversation,

The craving arising,

I don't want this.

They're wasting valuable time.

My daily time,

I'm trying to crack a time code or a time,

I'm trying to break the limit here or something on how fast I can get these things done.

And in that just little bit of discomfort of being in a conversation with someone that's maybe going on a little bit too long,

We crave ourselves into existence.

And in our minds,

We create this image of ourselves that's in absolute agony,

Laying on the floor in so much pain,

That this time is being so wasted by this person and we're in so much agony.

And then once the conversation ends and the craving goes away and we feel that sense of relief,

But we think,

Ah,

All my suffering was because that person was so boring because they were wasting my time.

And it was the craving.

But in our minds,

We think,

Ah,

I've got to make sure I know,

I've got to think of a way to end these conversations quickly.

We keep looking for the solution in the wrong place.

And even when it's something good,

And I have a story,

This is a personal story.

When Libby,

You might remember this,

In the early mid 2000s,

I used to go back to Australia quite often every two years to visit family.

And my brother-in-law had millions of miles from all the traveling he used to do for work.

And I don't know how it kind of started where he started saying like,

I'll sell you some miles pretty cheap and you can upgrade to business class on the flight from LA to Sydney.

But the deal was,

You weren't guaranteed the upgrade.

And it was really cheap,

Like I'd pay him like 200 bucks or something for an upgrade both ways to Australia.

I'm like,

For sure,

I'll do that.

And I cannot tell you the amount of suffering that would take place weeks leading up to the flight,

Checking online,

How many seats are taken,

Is it looking full yet?

I would wait at the gate to be the very last person on like,

Are you sure?

Like,

Are you sure I'm not getting the upgrade?

And then even if I got the upgrade,

And of course I'd finally get on there and like,

Oh,

The relief of the craving gone,

I would get the upgrade.

But then as soon as I would arrive in Sydney,

The craving started again,

Because will I get the upgrade on the way back?

It was so great here.

Now I've got to get it on the way back.

And my mom and my sister as well,

Like we were all,

You know,

Using his miles.

We were all suffering.

We would spend so much time and it's not like the craving was adding in any way.

It's not like United Airlines was saying like,

Wow,

She is really craving.

She is suffering for this flight.

Like let's give her the upgrade.

It had no bearing whatsoever on it.

And yet,

I mean,

We were all just in this frenzy.

We would spend hours,

Days agonizing over whether we would get the upgrade or not.

And again,

No bearing on whether we would get it or not.

And so this is the problem in our craving too.

Mind you,

At this time,

I had been meditating and studying Buddhism for many years.

I was a slow learner apparently,

Still didn't see the suffering that I was causing myself.

I did not see the craving.

I did not see the cycle of the craving myself into existence in some future moment,

Getting what I want or not getting what I don't want,

Someone else getting what I want.

And that pain that it would cause me,

That only to maybe get the object or just enough time has passed,

I've forgotten about the object or something else has happened,

To have that moment's relief,

But only for it to just start right back up again.

It just doesn't end.

We have moments of relief.

That's it.

And there's a quote by,

Actually it's an anonymous quote,

And it goes,

At first I was dying to finish high school so I could get to college.

And then I was dying to finish college so I could get a job.

And then I was dying to get married so I could have kids.

And I was dying for my kids to grow up so I could get back to work.

And then I realized I was dying and I'd forgotten to live.

I mean,

This is the consequence of this.

We are so fixated on me in this next moment,

In some future existence,

Being happy,

That we're never present for our lives.

So even when we get to the thing that is a good thing,

Getting married,

Having the kids,

Retiring,

Whatever it is,

Which is a good thing,

We don't enjoy it.

Because we get there and for just a few moments the craving's gone and then it starts right back up again.

What next?

And it's why we're just not able to be anymore,

To be still.

We love the idea of me in the future being still.

And then we get there,

It's like,

Oh,

I don't want to be still,

I didn't really mean it.

Like,

You know,

I want something else.

I like the idea of it.

I don't really like what it is.

And so I mean,

This is a cycle,

This is the cycle of suffering that the Buddha is talking about.

The second noble truth,

The cause of suffering is craving.

And then the third noble truth is the cessation of suffering.

Because if we know what the cause of suffering is,

Then we know what the cessation is.

The cessation of suffering is the cessation of craving.

We've got to see the suffering in the craving.

It's not adding to our lives,

It's taking away from our lives.

And this does not mean,

And I think where so many people get very nervous about this teaching because they think,

Well,

It means that the Buddha is saying we should never have any pleasures in life,

We should never want for anything.

And the Buddhist path and why I wanted to tell the story,

Because the Buddhist path is the middle path.

If you spend all your life just looking for pleasures,

Just looking for happiness in the external world,

Like it's ultimately going to be dissatisfying.

But if you deny any,

If you deny basic sustenance as well,

Like you're just going to die,

You're going to be miserable.

And so no one's saying,

Enjoy the latte,

Enjoy the nice meal,

Enjoy the massage.

If you want to save a little money to take a nice holiday or make a little more money to do some improvements on your house,

To buy a new car,

Like there's nothing wrong with any of those things.

But be mindful of the craving mind creating a me that's going to love,

Oh,

That's going to be in the new car,

That's going to be on the holiday.

Because if you do that,

When you get on the holiday,

That craving mind is going to keep just propelling in,

Okay,

We're in the hotel,

I got to get to the beach,

You're at the beach,

I got to get to the restaurant,

We're at the restaurant,

We got to get over here to the bar.

It's,

You'll never be able to enjoy what's happening in each moment.

So it's not saying also like not to have motivation to want to do things with our lives.

While craving does activate the motivation reward pathway in our brain,

It's also what makes it craving is it activates stress as well,

An inordinate amount of stress.

That's the,

I've got to get it or I'll die,

Right?

So it's okay to want things,

It's okay to,

And it's definitely okay to enjoy them when we have them,

Right,

And understand their impermanent nature.

But to be really mindful of that craving mind,

It's a cycle that just keeps getting repeated over and over and over and we're never,

As long as we do that and that relief that comes from getting the object,

Attributing it to the object,

We will stay on the cycle,

On the treadmill.

It's about seeing the suffering in the craving and understanding that it doesn't also mean,

The cessation of suffering does not also mean that we don't experience discomfort because of course we do.

Pain is inevitable,

Suffering is optional,

Right?

Suffering is the craving,

Is the story that shouldn't be happening.

I shouldn't have lost someone.

I shouldn't be sick.

I shouldn't have been,

I shouldn't have gotten this big bill.

I shouldn't have gotten the blame,

Right?

That's the suffering.

And like we talked about,

I think last week just about with,

Yeah,

When we have pain,

When we have,

When we've lost someone,

When something has happened,

Right,

To be with that pain,

To breathe into it,

To learn to be with it,

To learn to be with discomfort,

Right?

Not to push that away because that's also kind of a craving mind.

I shouldn't be experiencing this.

That's where the suffering comes in.

So the fourth noble truth is the eightfold path,

Which is the path that leads us out of this.

And it's a path that we have been following,

A path that I've been teaching us for years.

And that we are going to go through next week,

Given the time.

So we're going to go through the eight factors of the path next week.

But one of the factors is right mindfulness,

And it is important for us to be more mindful of the craving mind.

As I've said many times with mindfulness,

You don't notice the thoughts so much,

But you will notice that,

Like,

It's like this monster coming out,

You know,

This craving,

You feel it,

Right?

You know what this is.

And when that's happening,

Because it's something good in the future,

Be with it and recognize,

Oh my God,

I am causing myself suffering.

We're so fixated on the existence in the future.

We don't even recognize the pain and suffering that we are causing to ourselves right now.

And we'll still get to that moment.

We'll still enjoy that moment.

It's just that we'll eliminate all the suffering leading up to it.

That's the difference.

That the craving isn't adding to our lives.

It's taking away from our lives.

Reviews

I think I know about a subject until I hear you talk about it…then I Really know about it. Thank you

You have an excellent way of explaining and teaching!! I loved this lesson!! Thank you!! 🙏 💕

That is extremely insightful and so profound. Thank you for this wonderful teaching on the meaning of the 4 noble truths🙏💞

Another great talk …Thankyou Meredith 🙏💞