Lesson Six: The Timeless Truths
(Four Noble Truth)
Walk down any street. Knock on any door, look
inside and see for yourself. There you will meet
suffering face to face. You see a beggar sitting
at the five-foot way, displaying two stumps that
were once his feet. You see a father beating up
his children because he had lost his money in a
gambling bout. You see a girl, in full bloom of
youth, lying on the bed and wasting away from
leukemia.
In the bedroom sits a boy who is surrounded
with toys trains, guns, rackets, bat and ball,
football, carroms, chess sets and yet, there he
sits feeling absolutely bored. A teenage girl is
sulking in the armchair, enduring another
'lecture' session from her father for doing badly
in her term tests.
You may not see all of them at the same time
but you need not go far to find examples of
suffering and grief. Misery is all around us if we
but open our eyes.
Not many people want to see misery, especially
when someone else is the victim. If they happen
to see it, they dismiss the experience as being
unfortunate and tum their minds quickly on
something pleasant and less 'morbid'.
1. The Direct Approach
Towards these issues of suffering and misery
facing us as living, thinking beings, Buddhism
approaches these issues directly. This approach
has placed Buddhism in a separate category
from many other religions. It goes straight to
the heart of man's universal experience, to
what is common to all forms of life and deals
with what it finds there.
It applies to all mankind, irrespective of racial
differences, historical background and social
development. It applies to you and me by
urging us to examine our experiences
realistically and by offering us a way out of
sorrow. This approach makes Buddhism
universal and timeless.
The heart of the Buddha's teaching lies in the
Four Noble Truths which he expounded in his
first sermon to the five ascetics, at Isipatana
near Benares*. This doctrine is a profound and
subtle truth, though fundamentally simple. A
boy can learn the Four Noble Truths in a few
minutes, yet it takes spiritual maturity before
there is real understanding.
Stressing the importance of its understanding,
the Master said:"As a result of not understanding; not
penetrating four things, that I, as well as you,
have wandered so long through the long rounds
of rebirths."What are the four things? They are:- the Noble Truth of Dukkha
- the Noble Truth of the Arising of
Dukkha - the Noble Truth of the End of Dukhha
- the Noble Truth of the Path Leading to
the End of Dukkha
*Setting in Motion the Wheel of Righteousness
(Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta)
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