Gaining in well being and joy through the four Noble Truths of Buddhism

The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism are one of the foundation stones of its philosophy.

They state that:

1) There is suffering in this world.

2) This suffering has a cause.

3) The suffering can be removed by dealing with the cause.

4) The way out is the Noble Eight Fold path.

This article is about the third of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism – cessation of suffering.

According to the Zen Buddhist Master – Thich Nhat Hanh – cessation of suffering can also be looked upon as well being. We normally have many reasons to feel good about ourselves at any given time. The problem is that we do not recognize and value and treasure these reasons and our well being.

When you have a bad toothache you suffer from excruciating pain. In such a situation we visit the dentist and if he is competent he is able to take the pain away. We then enjoy the sensation of not having a toothache for all of five minutes before finding fresh reasons to make ourselves miserable.

Yet when we are healthy and free from aches and pains we have so many reasons to celebrate. If you do not think so then remember the last time you had an excruciating toothache. Isn't the fact that you are free of such pain reason enough to celebrate?

This - in a way - is the teaching of the four Noble Truths of Buddhism.

We could – if we put our minds to it – make a list of many pages containing all the reasons we have to feel happy about ourselves. Yet most of the time we forget all these reasons and become miserable because something has gone wrong somewhere.

The psychology and meditation techniques of Buddhism can help us out.

I will not tell you not to think the thoughts that make you miserable. Thoughts come and go of their own sweet will and there is nothing anyone can do to control or prevent this. Anyone who has meditated even for ten minutes will tell you that there is no way to control or prevent the arising of thoughts in the mind. They come of their own sweet will as I said earlier. Any meditation exercise - whether of Buddhism or of any other tradition - will convince you that trying to control the thoughts is fruitless and frustrating.

What is possible for us to do however is that we can get into the habit of simply witnessing the thoughts that arise without identifying with them. Simply observe without reacting. The thought is a guest that has come to the house of your conscious attention. Be polite to it. Do not try to get rid of it however unpleasant it may be. Simply observe without reacting. If you react then observe the reaction without reacting. And that is all there is to it. I have learned this concept through doing a course in Vipassana meditation. This meditation practice is of the Buddhist tradition.

This – you will find - is quite a difficult habit to form. We compulsively react to what is going on inside our heads and seem unable to just observe mindfully.

I have a theory of why we think so compulsively, why we are so identified with our thoughts. I have explained this theory on this page on Witnessing.

Briefly my theory is as follows:

1) The human brain is as much an organ for finding food as a pig's snout.

2) We are all the while concerned about our survival. We wish to avoid death and live indefinitely. That is why we think so compulsively. This is as if the pig was forever hungry and had to use its snout all the time.

3) If though mindfulness or contemplation on death or impermanence we accept that we cannot avoid death and be at peace with the prospect of our passing we can grow out of this habit of compulsively identifying with our thoughts. We simply will not feel the need to think all the time or take seriously whatever thoughts that arise on their own. Mindfulness or contemplation on Death is a very important and powerful practice recommended by Buddhism.

I have been doing Vipassana meditation these past few months and can confirm from my experience that this theory works. Vipassana – as taught by S.N Goenka – stresses impermanence. Further details are on this page on Vipassana Meditation
The difference between us ordinary folk learning about Buddhism and enlightened beings like the Buddha is not that the Buddha never feels pain and suffering. It is that the Buddha knows how to live with the pain and even to transform the pain and turn it into joy. Any organic farmer will tell you that garbage can be used to make compost. This compost can be used as organic fertilizer to grow vegetables and flowers. Similarly the Buddha knows how to transform his suffering into joy. He does not fear pain and suffering and therefore his joy and sense of well being has a strong foundation. This is not the case with us. In our case our sense of well being is very fragile and our moods can change at any instant. This is what the philosophy and meditation exercises of Buddhism can help us to change.

Well we were talking about the third of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism that form the foundation of Buddhism. The Fourth Noble Truth is that we can remove the suffering and its cause by following the Noble Eight Fold Path.

Thich Nhat Hanh says that in order to make changes in our life and move to the end of suffering it is not enough that we just read and gather information. We must also reflect and after reflecting we must practice the teachings that we have learned and absorbed.

For more details please refer The Heart of Buddha's Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh available at Amazon.

Thich Nhat Hanh is a poet, thinker and a Zen Buddhist monk. His books have a compassionate clarity and a simplicity about them that is very appealing. If you have never read him then you are in for a treat.

The teaching of the 4 Noble Truths is distinctive in the stress it lays on suffering. The 4 Noble Truths use the fact of suffering to motivate us to walk the path to enlightenment.

This contrasts with Hinduism that emphsizes the bliss thatwe attain when we experience the Ultimate. The difference is that of emphasis as Hinduism also acknowledges the inevitability of suffering. But it does not stress on it.

Please visit this link for a comparison between Hinduism and Buddhism

For a complete list of articles visit this page on Buddhism

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