The Four Noble Truths - Buddhism

[Celtaur]

At first glance, the four noble truths seem depressing, but I'll explain my perception of them in a moment.

Here is a list of the 4 Noble Truths in Buddhism.

1. Life means suffering
2. The origin of suffering is attachment
3. The cessation of suffering is attainable
4. The path to the cessation of suffering

As I wrote this list my mind was brought back to a time I saw an interview on tv with a young boy who had a terminal disease. I think Diane Sawyer was conducting the interview but I can't be sure, and I don't remember what the boy had, but I do remember what his response to her question was...

She asked " Are you scared of dying?"
He responded "No. Being scared to die is like being scared to live."

And that struck me, and stayed with me. It made me think about the process of being born and how it is a sufferable experience in ways, but an amazing pleasure as well. How amazing to be given the gift of living and to bring life into the world? Was is scary for you to be born? It wasn't for me, I honestly don't remember it.

But Life does mean suffering of course, we do all suffer in many ways, emotionally and physically. But life also means joy, new experiences. and this is what the 4 noble truths is really about. It's about seeing that among the suffering you can experience joy, it has much to do with choices.

The choice of suffering stems from attachment. Attachment to feeling need, to wanting, to feeling that there is always something missing, that you need more, attached to an idea of what you wish to have or be, something you wish to obtain. But that is precisely the point of letting go, to not feel attached. This is what the four noble truths teaches.

It teaches to live in the moment, that you do have the power to feel and experience joy in your life, but life is a balance. By getting attached to things you suffer. For instance, if you get attached to only wanting to experience joy in life, than anything that doesn't fit into your definition of joy will be considered by you to be suffering. This is the illusion we create for ourselves, that our expectations can leave us feeling a sense of not having, or lack if we don't obtain that exact image in our minds (which is an illusion we create).

Therefore, the key is to allow yourself to not get attached, to not configure all the outcomes in advance, and to actually see the events and experiences in life as gifts that offer new, spontaneous adventures that you may have never had the pleasure of experiencing because you blocked yourself from feeling the joy in it. Instead you chose to feel disappointment, suffering.

Buddhism teaches that you are the watcher, that regardless of the things that go on around you, you are simply the energy that watches. When one gets too attached to things, or get caught up in the hurricane of life's events, we forget to be the watcher, the experiencer, instead we become caught in the hurricane instead of calm like the eye of the hurricane.

[CAPERELLA]

It's funny ya know how you read stuff that coinsides with what one might be going through... I have been learning that observation is the way to go. To define is to judge and box and therefore be in "control". We all know what an illusion that is. I have been finding it is like martial arts, the ability to stay calm and calculated even in the "hurricane" if you will. To observe is to be able to see claerly what is not what I make. Thanks for the reminder Celtaur.

[FairyHealer]

Lovely message you are conveying here. But to me life is individual experience and I believe that it isn’t so much as a gift we’ve been given but an opportunity we have decided to explore. Sylvia Browne talks about birth in the many hypnosis she has done, she says that birth is the hardest thing we have to endure, not living, and not dying. She doesn’t even do birth hypnosis anymore because of how traumatic it is.

With that aside, I’d like to comment on attachment. We are emotional creatures as well as spiritual and we do attach to each other, places, things, ideas, dreams etc. This attachment teaches us important lessons about life, about ourselves and about each other. The need to control the above is when issues arise, I suppose there is a positive way and a negative way to experience attachment. When we have experienced both we know the difference between the two.

When someone we love dies, we mourn them because of our attachment to them…even though we know they have gone "Home" even though we know we will see them again, or that they will still be with us in spirit form…we miss them just the same ~ we’re attached.

I am not content to simply be the watcher…although it is a favorite pastime of mine. But every experience I touch, my energy is mingled with that situation. With every person place or thing I interact with and it with me ~ there is an exchange of energies.
I am a doer, I am a believer, I am a mover, I am poet and a creator, I am a mother, I am an advisor, I am a friend, I am an eternal creature, I am love, I am truth, I am integrity and honesty, I am human, I am spirit, I am body, I am energy and I am now.

Just my take on the situation…smiles

Peace & Life…..the FairyHealer…+*+*+*+

[Haruth]

...But every experience I touch, my energy is mingled with that situation. With every person place or thing I interact with and it with me ~ there is an exchange of energies.

I would go further and suggest that the exchange of energies binds one to the other in an attachment that is potentially eternal.

I once read somewhere (and if anyone can point me in the right direction to rediscover the author I'd be much obliged) that one has to take great care in who one allows to become a student. The act of imparting knowledge (in the broadest sense of the word) binds the souls of teacher and pupil. The act of publishing binds the writer to every soul touched by their words. It was implied that this connection reaches beyond death, and that one needs to be sure that one is willing to accept the responsibility that such a level of attachment imparts.

I am a doer, I am a believer, I am a mover, I am poet and a creator, I am a mother, I am an advisor, I am a friend, I am an eternal creature, I am love, I am truth, I am integrity and honesty, I am human, I am spirit, I am body, I am energy and I am now.

Sheesh! Fairyhealer, I hope you find plenty of time for yourself amongst all that... Sounds like you are far too busy to me...

[notnant]

It teaches to live in the moment, that you do have the power to feel and experience joy in your life, but life is a balance. By getting attached to things you suffer. For instance, if you get attached to only wanting to experience joy in life, than anything that doesn't fit into your definition of joy will be considered by you to be suffering. This is the illusion we create for ourselves, that our expectations can leave us feeling a sense of not having, or lack if we don't obtain that exact image in our minds (which is an illusion we create).

Not sure if I did that quote right... but...

I ponder attachment a lot when it comes to personal relationships. I first have to wonder if having a romantic relationship encourages attachment. I think that it might, but having one is part of the path I have chosen thus far in my life. After I accept that (which is not without question sometimes), it really helps me to apply the concept of non-attachment to my relationships. If I am attached to any self-created (which is nearly every idea, if not all) concept of what a relationship is, who my partner is, or who my son is, it is likely to cause suffering for me. Of course, I am referring to relationships in which other obvious sufferings, such as abuse, are not present. On the other hand, if I let relationships be what they are, and the people in my life be who they are, without any pre-conceived ideas, I find much peace and joy. It relieves them (and me) of any expectations, and allows love and compassion to flow freely.

[Celtaur]

I have unconfirmed considerations when it comes to suffering. Much, if not all, suffering comes from desire. Everyday suffering generally occurs in the lives of many when one wants to have or be something one does not, is not, or perceives as not having, a cycle of feelings of lack develops along with the desire to eradicate those feelings of lack, of needing, of wanting. We can overcome these feelings by detaching from those desires and changing our perceptions.

In love I do not feel that suffering is fully undesirable. To love is to be attached surely, and to lose love or the one we love usually causes great suffering, but I personally accept the suffering as a consequence. I would consider feeling attached and love for another in a healthy way is more satisfying than feeling complete detachment. I think the suffering through love is best understood in losing someone you love through their suffering such as disease or that they suddenly lose their life when they had so many more hopes to live for. To see someone you love be in pain, brings out much sorrow, as one often wants to see others they love in peace, joy and happiness.

Love is giving and to know that another is not there to receive that love they deserve, it causes us to suffer because they are not experiencing the pleasure of receiving. Love is magic, it is the height of giving and receiving in an exemplary form.

[Celtaur]

Thank you for reminding me of detachment. When reading the Baghavad Gita today I came to a great remembering again of my personal attachments and the self induced suffering I cause. I often will work hard doing things in the physical world, at times with great intensity, but in that I lose a part of myself. This shows too much attachment to the material world. Often if I do not fulfill a task or reap the expected rewards I can have a background noise in my mind of worry, caused by the attachment.

Realizing the infinity of my spiritual self, I can release the attachment to, and the actions taken which firmly hold me to the outcomes and expectations in the physical world, and be more at peace in the realization that these things are not of my higher self. The last sentence that sums up a partial section of this: "One who knows this is actually learned, and for him there is no cause for lamentation, regardless of the condition of the material body." Material body here represents more than the physical body itself, but all the attachments we often have and create while associating with the material world.

[fulcanelli]

Paraphrase. Carl Jung said this when asked about death: Death is a serious blow to the ego, but for the unconscious something extraordinary.

Ego begets fear, and from fear we grow attached to the world. Buddhism seeks to rid the Self of fear, as does Taoism. There is a great taoist quote that I love: In the world of knowledge something is added everyday. In the world of Tao, everyday something is removed. So, logically if one destroys the ego, then one is totally free..
Just thought I would add this.

[MoonDaughter]

Thank you. This concept has been a theme that has been popping up in my life for the last couple of months. This is another piece of the puzzle that I can stare at, flip around and find the space it fits into. I am always grateful for markers along the path!

[BBDD]

Interesting…

Life is suffering. Na! Life is illusion and a delicious adventure. I am in that situation where one is confronted with death and in uncomfortable ways. Life means suffering in many of the parts of the world where Buddhism formed, true.

I face and relish coming death, terminally ill. The condition is accompanied with constantly new and unimagined levels of physical pain. Of some things, I have become certain through it all. Life, with its death component, is delicious and pain is illusionary. I have known imminent death and supposed suffering throughout this life. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.

To rightly understand this precept one must see that sensation, good or bad, is suffering and pain can be pleasure. It is all relative. And the issue of “attachment”? Sensation is suffering when we do not relish our lot.