SOC8 - Do Suffer No More - DEPP
The Four Noble Truths
1. (Dukkha) The truth of dukkha (suffering, anxiety, unsatisfactoriness) -
identifying the illness and the nature of the illness (the diagnosis)
Three obvious kinds of suffering correspond to the first three sights the Buddha saw on his first journey outside his palace: old age, sickness and death. Even when we are not suffering from outward causes like illness or bereavement, we are unfulfilled, unsatisfied.
2. (Samudāya) The truth of the origin of dukkha - identifying the causes of the illness (the etiology)
These are the three ultimate causes of suffering:
Greed and desire, represented in art by a rooster
Ignorance or delusion, represented by a pig
Hatred and destructive urges, represented by a snake
3. (Nirodha) The truth of the cessation of dukkha - identifying a cure of the illness (the prognosis)
The Buddha taught that the way to extinguish desire, which causes
suffering, is to liberate oneself from attachment. Nirvana means
extinguishing. Attaining nirvana - reaching enlightenment - means
extinguishing the three fires of greed, delusion and hatred.
4. (Magga) The truth of the path leading to the cessation of dukkha - recommending a treatment for the illness that can bring about a cure (the prescription)
The Eightfold Path is also called the Middle Way: it avoids both
indulgence and severe asceticism, neither of which the Buddha had found helpful in his search for enlightenment.
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