The Four Noble Truths: An Overview

18:49
Everyone experiences problems and unhappiness throughout their lives; and throughout history, different methods to combat suffering have been proposed. In today’s world, the Internet offers instant access to a multitude of philosophies and here we look at the unique approach taken by Buddha, more than 2,500 years ago, as to why we suffer and how we can find peace and happiness in our lives.

Introduction

When first looking at Buddhism, it’s good to look at the Four Noble Truths. It’s appropriate, too, because this is the way that Buddha began, when he started to teach. During Buddha’s time, there was already a multitude of religious and philosophical systems, and today, we are faced with an even wider range of spiritual teachings. So, when we come to Buddhism, it’s important to try and identify what it is that is unique about the Buddhist approach. Naturally, Buddhism shares many common teachings with other religious teachings: to be a kind, loving person, to try and not harm anyone, and so forth. We can see these aspects in almost every religion and philosophy, and there is no need to turn to Buddhism to learn about them, although Buddhism is quite rich in methods for developing kindness, love and compassion. We can benefit from these methods, whether or not we accept anything else in the Buddhist teachings.

However, if we ask, “what is specific to Buddhism?” then we need to look at the Four Noble Truths. Even within our discussion of these, we’ll find much shared in common with other systems.

We have this expression “Noble Truth,” but it’s rather a strange translation. The word “noble” might bring to mind medieval aristocracy, but it actually refers to those who are highly realized. The Four Noble Truths are thus four facts that are seen as true by those who have seen reality non-conceptually. Although these four facts are true, most people don’t understand them, and the majority are not even aware of them.

Original Audio from the Seminar

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