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Methods of practice

Ajahn Sumedho:

Living the Four Noble Truths as a daily practice and understanding them as a profound reflection provides a context for your entire life. --- Ajahn Sumedho, form introduction to Phillip Moffitt. Dancing with Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering (Kindle Location 58). Kindle Edition.

Phillip Moffit:

Referencing the long discourses in a collection of the Buddha's teachings called the Samyutta Nikaya, [Ajahn Sumedho] began describing the Four Noble Truths as consisting of a set of Twelve Insights, three for each Noble Truth, that are to be realized through practice.---- Phillip Moffitt. Dancing with Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering (Kindle Locations 169-171). Kindle Edition.

Phillip Moffit:

And yet these insights are revolutionary because they transform the Truths from a philosophical statement about suffering into a method for directly coping with suffering in your life. They elucidate not only the Truths themselves but also the way you can experience the Truths on an emotional as well as an intellectual level, and then integrate these experiences into your life. In other words, the Four Noble Truths is not just a summary guideline, a creed, or a statement of philosophy, but an actual practice of insight and realization in and of itself. It is a teaching in how to live wisely. ---- Phillip Moffitt. Dancing with Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering (Kindle Locations 172-175). Kindle Edition.

Theravada - three insights for each truth

The Thervada tradition identifies three insights or aspects of knowledge for each of the four noble truths:

1. Acknowledgement; view; reflecting; the knowledge that it is the truth (sacca-ñāṇa)
2. Practice; motivation; directly experiencing; the knowledge that a certain function or action with regard to this truth should be performed (kicca-ñāṇa)
3. Result; full understanding; knowing; the knowledge that that function or action with regard to this Truth has been performed (kata-ñāṇa)

Three insights for the first noble truth

The three insights for the first noble truth are:

1. There is suffering. - Ajahn Sumedho explains: "We don’t need to make it into anything grand; it is just the recognition: ‘There is suffering’. That is a basic insight. The ignorant person says, ‘I’m suffering. I don’t want to suffer. I meditate and I go on retreats to get out of suffering, but I’m still suffering and I don’t want to suffer.... How can I get out of suffering? What can I do to get rid of it?’ But that is not the First Noble Truth; it is not: ‘I am suffering and I want to end it.’ The insight is, ‘There is suffering’."
2. Suffering should be understood. - Ajahn Sumedho explains: The second insight or aspect of each of the Noble Truths has the word ‘should’ in it: ‘It should be understood.’ The second insight then, is that dukkha is something to understand. One should understand dukkha, not just try to get rid of it. [...] in Pali, ‘understanding’ means to really accept the suffering, stand under or embrace it rather than just react to it. With any form of suffering - physical or mental - we usually just react, but with understanding we can really look at suffering; really accept it, really hold it and embrace it. So that is the second aspect, ‘We should understand suffering’."
3. Suffering has been understood. - Ajahn Sumedho explains: "When you have actually practised with suffering - looking at it, accepting it, knowing it and letting it be the way it is - then there is the third aspect, ‘Suffering has been understood’, or ‘Dukkha has been understood.’ "

Three insights for the second noble truth

The three insights for the second noble truth are:

1. Desire (tanha) should be understood
2. Desire should be let go of
3. Desire has been let go of

This is also expressed as:

1. there is an origin to dukkha;
2. the origin can be penetrated by abandonment;
3. it has been penetrated by abandonment.

Three insights for the third noble truth

1. There is cessation of suffering
2. Cessation should be known
3. Cessation should be realized

Three insights for the fourth noble truth

1. There is a path to the cessation of suffering
2. This path should be actualized
3. This path is realized

Theravada - three aspects for each truth

Ajahn Sucitto

Three stages:

• Acknowledgement (or view)
• Motivation (or practice)
• Result (or full understanding)

In each case, the first stage is a fuller reflection on the importance of bearing the meaning of the specific truth in mind; the second stage demonstrates the way of practicing with that truth; the third fully penetrates the significance of that truth. --- Sucitto, Ajahn (2010-09-14). Turning the Wheel of Truth: Commentary on the Buddha's First Teaching (pp. 99-100). Shambhala Publications. Kindle Edition.

Walpola Rahula

[...]with regard to each of the Four Noble Truths there are three aspects of knowledge: 1. The knowledge that it is the Truth (sacca-ñāṇa) 2. The knowledge that a certain function or action with regard to this Truth should be performed (kicca-ñāṇa), and 3. The knowledge that that function or action with regard to this Truth has been performed (kata-ñāṇa). - Rahula, Walpola; Demieville, Paul (2007-12-01). What the Buddha Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and Dhammapada (Kindle Locations 3935-3939). Grove Press. Kindle Edition.

Ajahn Sumedho

Now the Four Noble Truths are: there is suffering; there is a cause or origin of suffering; there is a end of suffering; and there is path out of suffering which is the Eightfold Path. Each of these Truths has three aspects so all together there are twelve insights. In the Theravada school, an arahant, a perfected one, is one who has seen clearly the Four Noble Truths with their three aspects and twelve insights. --- Ajahn Sumedho 2002, p. 9.

• First Noble Truth

For the First Noble Truth, ‘There is suffering’ is the first insight. What is that insight? We don’t need to make it into anything grand; it is just the recognition: ‘There is suffering’. That is a basic insight. The ignorant person says, ‘I’m suffering. I don’t want to suffer. I meditate and I go on retreats to get out of suffering, but I’m still suffering and I don’t want to suffer.... How can I get out of suffering? What can I do to get rid of it?’ But that is not the First Noble Truth; it is not: ‘I am suffering and I want to end it.’ The insight is, ‘There is suffering’. --- Ajahn Sumedho 2002, p. 9.

• Second Noble Truth

The second insight of the First Noble Truth is:

‘Suffering should be understood.’ The second insight or aspect of each of the Noble Truths has the word ‘should’ in it: ‘It should be understood.’ The second insight then, is that dukkha is something to understand. One should understand dukkha, not just try to get rid of it.

We can look at the word ‘understanding’ as ‘standing under’. It is a common enough word but, in Pali, ‘understanding’ means to really accept the suffering, stand under or embrace it rather than just react to it. With any form of suffering - physical or mental - we usually just react, but with understanding we can really look at suffering; really accept it, really hold it and embrace it. So that is the second aspect, ‘We should understand suffering’.

• Third Noble Truth

The third aspect of the First Noble Truth is: ‘Suffering has been understood.’ When you have actually practised with suffering - looking at it, accepting it, knowing it and letting it be the way it is - then there is the third aspect, ‘Suffering has been understood’, or ‘Dukkha has been understood.’

So these are the three aspects of the First Noble Truth: ‘There is dukkha’; ‘It is to be understood’; and, ‘It has been understood.’

FNT Overview

The Four Noble Truths are central to the teachings of Buddhism.

Summaries

Traditional summaries

The four noble truths were summarized by the Buddha in the the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon. This summary is translated by Ajahn Sumedho and other Pali translators as follows:

The Noble Truth of Suffering,

The Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering,

The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering, and

The Noble Truth of the Way Leading to the Cessation of Suffering.

Contemporary translators have used a number of variations on this summary. For example:

• Joseph Goldstein informally summarizes the truths as: "The four noble truths are the truth of suffering, its cause, its end, and the path to that end."
• Ajahn Sumedho summarizes the truths as: "...there is suffering; there is a cause or origin of suffering; there is a end of suffering; and there is path out of suffering which is the Eightfold Path."

In the Mahayana tradition, a summary of the four truths is included within the first teaching of the Buddha. This summary is translated as follows:

• Thich Nhat Hanh translates: "Brothers, there are four truths: the existence of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path which leads to the cessation of suffering. I call these the Four Noble Truths."
• Ringu Tulku translates: "There is suffering in this world. There are causes of this suffering. There is cessation of suffering, and there are ways to reach this cessation of suffering."

Some translators, such as Walpola Rahula and Bikkhu Bodhi, suggest that the use of the English word suffering is a poor translation for the Pali term dukkha, which can lead to a misunderstanding of the first noble truth. These translators prefer to include the Pali term dukkha in their summaries of the noble truths, rather than try to translate it. For example, Walpola Rahula summarizes the four noble truths as follows:

1. Dukkha,
2. Samudaya, the arising or origin of dukkha,
3. Nirodha, the cessation of dukkha,
4. Magga, the way leading to the cessation of dukkha.

Contemporary summaries

Sylvia Boorstein summarizes the four truths as follows:

I. Life is challenging. For everyone. Our physical bodies, our relationships-all of our life circumstances-are fragile and subject to change. We are always accommodating.

II. The cause of suffering is the mind’s struggle in response to challenge.

III. The end of suffering-a non-struggling, peaceful mind-is a possibility.

IV. The program for ending suffering is the Eightfold Path. It is:

1. Wise Understanding: realizing the cause of suffering;

2. Wise Intention: motivation to end suffering;

3. Wise Speech: speaking in a way that cultivates clarity;

4. Wise Action: behaving in ways that maintain clarity;

5. Wise Livelihood: supporting oneself in a wholesome way;

6. Wise Effort: cultivating skillful (peaceful) mind habits;

7. Wise Concentration: cultivating a steady, focused, ease-filled mind;

8. Wise Mindfulness: cultivating alert, balanced attention.

Commentaries

The following commentaries have been written on the four noble truths:

In book form:

• Ajahn Sucitto (2010). Turning the Wheel of Truth: Commentary on the Buddha's First Teaching. Shambhala.
• Ajahn Sumedho (eBook). The Four Noble Truths. Amaravati Publications. (also available online)
• Bhikkhu Bodhi (2006)The Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of Suffering. Pariyatti Publishing.
• Chögyam Trungpa (2009). The Truth of Suffering and the Path of Liberation. Shambhala.
• Dalai Lama (1998). The Four Noble Truths. Thorsons.
• Ringu Tulku (2005). Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness: The Three Vehicles of Tibetan Buddhism. Snow Lion.
• Thich Nhat Hanh (1999). The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching. Three Rivers Press.

Online commentaries:

• http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma2/fourtruths.html - Ajahn Chah
• http://www.buddhanet.net/4noble.htm - Ajahn Sumedho
• http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/study/truths.html - Thanissaro Bhikkhu
• http://www.beyondthenet.net/dhamma/fourNoble.htm - Bhikkhu Bodhi
• http://www.shambhala.com/html/learn/features/buddhism/basics/four-truths.cfm - Traleg Kyabgon
• http://nyimc.org/index.php/site/article/the_four_noble_truths/ - Tamara Engel
• http://www.dharmanet.org/lc4nobletruths.htm - Dharmanet, links to several online commentaries

Eightfold path:

• http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/waytoend.html - Bhikkhu Bodhi
• http://dharmastudy.org/the-four-noble-truths/ - Bhikkhu Bodhi, Richard Blumberg

Thicht Nat Hahn version: http://samsaricwarrior.com/2009/11/

Sources

• Thich Nhat Hanh (1991). Old Path, White Clouds. Parallax Press.