Buddhist Belief — The First Noble Truth
“On hearing the Teachings, the wise become perfectly purified,
like a lake: deep, clear, and still.”
~~~ Buddha
I can tell you right from the get-go, that covering the topic of The First Noble Truth, of the Four Noble Truths, is going to take more than one of these posts. Oh, I guess I could summarize the heck out of it and come up with something short and sweet, but I would feel guilty if I did that. It needs to be given the time it’s worth, I feel.
We’re getting onto the fundamental teaching of Buddhism, from the ground up. We’re going to be spending the next several posts talking about the Enlightenment experience. My way of presenting this to you is to approach it from the point of view of someone who is in the process of discovery right along with you. For those of you who might be well-trained in the Buddhist Belief, this may all seem elementary to you, however, it’s anything but. These are the basics of Buddhist Belief.
The Four Noble Truths were taught by the Buddha some 2500 years ago. What are the Four Noble Truths? They are the basic facts of life, folks. They are the facts of life as seen from an enlightened person’s point of view, the point of view of the Buddha. He also taught the Eightfold Path, and we will be covering that here as well in the future.
So, let’s start at the beginning. Probably the most fundamental thing about Buddhist Belief, about Buddhism, is what is called the Enlightenment experience. Buddha taught that this experience is our birthright and it is a fact of our true nature. This Enlightenment experience isn’t just something that Buddha had, it is just as possible and accessible for every one of us. In fact, many people, in this current time and down through the ages, have realized this wonder.
This Enlightenment experience, (or you may want to call it, spiritual awakening — or self realization — or illumination — these all mean the same thing), is just learning to recognize who and what we truly are — understanding our true nature. It’s not a new thing we’re looking for here — it’s always been there. It’s the true essence of who we are. It’s something that is always right here — now — in this moment. Our problem is that we’re just about always somewhere else than right here and right now in this moment.
When we come to this place of Enlightenment we often begin to see the world in a different light. The events and things around us may seem to be different in some way. As we begin to realize that we have a new insight, it’s important that we use our new-found wisdom to it’s best advantage. We might wonder what we’re doing with our life. We might begin to discover that we’ve been heading off in a wrong direction for years and years. We begin to wonder why do we die? We begin to wonder why are we all suffering as much as we do? Why is it so hard to be satisfied with our lives?
Reminds me of that song that Dionne Warwick sang, “What’s it All About, Alfie?” (You younger readers may not remember that one!)
That’s what the Buddha was thinking when he reached his enlightenment or awakening. So, he decided to give his first lesson to his followers. Historians refer to this talk as the “Fire Teaching”, because when he was asked why he looked like he was glowing with some amazing inner peace, he responded, “Because I have realized a truth that is beyond suffering. All created, conditioned things are unreliable or dissatisfying ultimately; all are burning. I have realized something is beyond this conditioning, this unreliable, impermanent, dissatisfying world. It is right in the midst of it, but it is not the things.”
I know, the Buddha can be kind of hard to understand at times, but stay with me in this blog and I’ll try to clear it all up for you.
Anyway, the Buddha described this as the First Noble Truth — the basis of life — that all created or conditioned things are ultimately dissatisfying. If you study some of the texts about Buddhist Belief, they will call this the dukkha. Lots of translations call this suffering. It really just boils down to life can really be a bummer! It’s just darn dissatisfying most of the time.
Alright. On that positive note, we’ll call it a day for this post. What you’ve just read is the lead-in to the First Noble Truth. Next post I’ll dig into it a lot more for you. Do come back — this is interesting stuff!
Tags: Buddhism, Buddhist Belief, Meditation
June 1st, 2010 at 11:00 pm
I found your blog a couple days ago and now I’m immerse in it… reading it from the very first post and on. You’re writing keeps it interesting and easy to understand. Thanks a lot!