GOOD QUESTION
GOOD ANSWER
Ven. S.
Dhammika
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[02]
Basic Buddhist Concept
What are the main
teachings of the Buddha?
All of the many teachings
of the Buddha centre on the Four Noble Truths, just as the rim and spokes
of a wheel centres on the hub. They are called 'Four' because there are
four of them. They are called 'Noble' because they ennoble one who
understands them and they are called 'Truths' because, corresponding with
reality, they are true.
What is the First Noble
Truth?
The First Noble Truth is
that life is suffering. To live, you must suffer. It is impossible to live
without experiencing some kind of suffering. We have to endure physical
suffering like sickness, injury, tiredness, old age and eventually death
and we have to endure psychological suffering like loneliness,
frustrations, fear, embarrassment, disappointment, anger, etc.
Isn't this a bit
pessimistic?
The dictionary defines
pessimism as 'the habit of thinking that whatever will happen will be
bad,' 'or 'The belief that evil is more powerful than good.' Buddhism
teaches neither of these ideas. Nor does it deny that happiness exists. It
simply says that to live is to experience physical and psychological
suffering which is a statement that is so obvious that it cannot be
denied. The central concept of most religions is a myth, a legend or a
belief that is difficult or impossible to verify. Buddhism starts with an
experience, an irrefutable fact, a thing that all know, that all have
experienced and that all are striving to overcome. Thus Buddhism is truly
a universal religion because it goes right to the core of every individual
human being's concern with suffering and how to avoid it.
What is the Second Noble
Truth?
The Second Noble Truth is
that all suffering is caused by craving. When we look at psychological
suffering, it is easy to see how it is caused by craving. When we want
something but are unable to get it, we feel frustrated. When we expect
someone to live up to our expectation and they do not, we feel let down
and disappointed. When we want others to like us and they don't, we feel
hurt. Even when we want something and are able to get it, this does not
often lead to happiness either because it is not long before we feel bored
with that thing, lose interest in it and commence to want something else.
Put simply, the Second
Noble Truth says that getting what you want does not guarantee happiness.
Rather than constantly struggling to get what you want, try to modify your
wanting. Wanting deprives us of contentment and happiness.
But how does wanting and
craving lead to physical suffering?
A lifetime wanting and
craving for this and that and especially the craving to continue to exist
creates a powerful energy that causes the individual to be reborn. When we
are reborn, we have a body and, as we said before, the body is susceptible
to injury and disease; it can be exhausted by work; it ages and eventually
dies. Thus, craving leads to physical suffering because it causes us to be
reborn.
If we stop wanting
altogether, we would never achieve anything.
True. But what the Buddha
says is that when our desires, our craving, our constant discontent with
what we have and our continual longing for more and more does cause us
suffering,then we should stop doing it. He asks us to make a difference
between what we need and what we want and to strive for our needs and
modify our wants. He tells us that our needs can be fulfilled but that our
wants are endless - a bottomless pit. There are needs that are essential,
fundamental and can be obtained and this we should work towards. Desires
beyond this should be gradually lessened. After all, what is the purpose
of life? To get or be content and happy.
What is the Third Noble
Truth?
The Third Noble Truth is that suffering
can be overcome and happiness attained. This is perhaps the most important
of the Four Noble Truths because in it the Buddha reassures us that true
happiness and contentment are possible. When we give up useless craving
and learn to live each day at a time, enjoying without restlessly wanting
the experiences that life offers us, patiently enduring the problems that
life involves, without fear, hatred and anger, then we become happy and
free. Then, and then only, do we begin to live fully. Because we are no
longer obsessed with satisfying our own selfish wants, we find that we
have so much time to help others fulfil their needs. This state is called
Nirvana. We are free from psychological suffering as well. This is called
Final Nirvana.
What or where is Nirvana?
It is a dimension
transcending time and space and thus is difficult to talk about or even
think about. Words and thoughts being only suited to describe the
time-space dimension. But because Nirvana is beyond time, there is no
movement and so no aging or dying. Thus Nirvana is eternal because it is
beyond space, there is no causation, no boundary, no concept of self and
not-self and thus Nirvana is infinite. The Buddha also assures us that
Nirvana is an experience of great happiness. He says:
Nirvana is
the highest happiness.
Dhammapada
204
But is there proof that
such a dimension exist?
No, there is not. But its
existence can be inferred. If there is a dimension where time and space do
operate and there is such a dimension - the world we experience, then we
can infer that there is a dimension where time and space do not operate -
Nirvana. Again, even though we cannot prove Nirvana exists, we have the
Buddha's word that is does exist. He tells us:
"There
is an unborn, a not-become, a not- made, a not-compounded. If there were
not, this unborn, not-made, not-compounded, there could not be made any
escape from what is born, become, made, and compounded. Therefore is there
made known an escape from what is born, made, and compounded."
Ud 80
We will know it when we
attain it. Until that time, we can practise.
What is the Fourth Noble
Truth?
The Fourth Noble Truth is
the Path leading to the overcoming of suffering. This path is called the
Noble Eightfold Path and consists of Perfect Understanding, Perfect
Thought, Perfect Speech, Perfect Action, Perfect Livelihood, Perfect
Effort, Perfect Mindfulness, and Perfect Concentration. Buddhist practice
consist of practising these eight things until they become more complete.
You will notice that the steps on the Noble Eightfold Path cover every
aspect of life: the intellectual, the ethical and economic and the
psychological and therefore contains everything a person needs to lead a
good life and to develop spiritually.
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Content | 01 | 02
| 03 | 04 | 05
| 06 | 07 | 08
| 09 | 10 |
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| Vietnamese version |
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Update : 01-03-2002
