Tag: four noble truths

Fourth Noble Truth

We have been discussing the four noble truths for the last couple of weeks. The four noble truths are:

  • You should know suffering
  • You should abandon origins
  • You should attain cessation
  • You should practice the path

The first noble truth—we should know suffering, we discussed where the suffering comes from and we realized that all of our suffering comes from within us. We let outside problem disturb out inner peace. In the second noble truth, we realized that all suffering origin from our delusions—our anger, attachment, hatred and so forth. And that root of all of our delusions is self grasping ignorance. This strong sense of “me”, this excessive self concern about our own well being. In the third noble truth, we talked about we should strive to attain cessation from our suffering. In the longer term it means cessation from this cycle of samsara—liberation. In our day to day life, it means cessation from cravings and practicing contentment.

Today, we will get into the last part of this—the fourth noble truth. It says we should practice the path. By practicing spirituality, living ethically, and developing wisdom, we can attain enlightenment. Buddha taught the eight fold path so that we can liberate ourselves from suffering and achieve enlightenment. The eight fold path contains:

  1. Right Understanding
  2. Right Intention
  3. Right Speech
  4. Right Action
  5. Right Livelihood
  6. Right Effort
  7. Right Mindfulness
  8. Right Concentration

Let’s get into it.

Right Understanding: This means that we understand the four noble truths. Understanding that as long as we are in Samsara, we are suffering. We may be temporarily detached from suffering every now and then but due to our karmic activity, eventually we end up suffering. And that all of our suffering originates due to our delusions. We all have seeds of delusions. And when they ripen, it leads to suffering. Root of all of our delusions is self grasping ignorance. And we must work towards eliminating our self grasping ignorance. We should understand that we need to strive to attain liberation that is the only way we can be permanently free from suffering. And lastly, that there is a way forward. If we follow the spiritual path, we will be able to attain liberation and even enlightenment.

Right Intention: Once we contemplate that we have this enormous opportunity with our human life and that death can be upon us at any time, and that nothing lasts forever, and that our suffering is a result of our own karma; we can make resolve to renounce harmful actions, to develop goodwill and compassion toward all beings, and to cultivate non-attachment or non-harming.

Right Speech: We discussed this during our karma class. Lying, Harmful speech, divisive speech, and idle chatter are the four types of speech negative karma. Lying includes omission of truth as well. You all know the famous story of Ashwathama the elephant vs the guru that we hear in the epic Mahabharat. Harmful speech is any speech action that hurts someone else. That is why before we say anything, we should ask, is it true, is it kind, is it necessary; and not speak if answer to any of these questions is no. Divisive speech is when our action create divisions and quarrels amongst a group of people. There is a lot of that going around in our society nowadays. Idle chatter is when we talk non sense all day instead of practicing spirituality.

Right Action: This is similar to the Right Speech but for our physical actions. Meaning we avoid the three bodily negative karma. Killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct. Most people think I have not killed a human being so I am fine but that is not exactly true. If we kill a mosquito with a vengeance that has as much or higher negative karma attached as killing a human being. So we should be mindful of our actions. Stealing means anything that is not freely given to us. So if we stole intellectual property from our workplace, that is stealing. Fudging our taxes is also stealing. Sexual misconduct is having a sexual relationship with anyone other than our partner if we are attached. If we are not attached, having a relationship with someone who is attached is sexual misconduct. In general, any sexual conduct without consent is also sexual misconduct.

Right Livelihood: If you are monk, the right livelihood means living from donations from others and never taking more than one needs. For the rest of us, it means to have ethical livelihood. According to Laxmi Tantra, we should avoid livelihood by the means of:

  • Living off other people (begging, for example)
  • Loan sharking
  • Bribery
  • Living by a profession or industry that directly or indirectly causes suffering to other beings, such as the meat and leather industries, munitions industries, or brewing and selling alcohol or drugs.
  • Superintending mines and factories is also forbidden because it can lead to corruption, harshness, and exploitation of the poor and vulnerable. It also leads to the depredation of the environment through deforestation and pollution, which the Shastras consider sinful activities.

Right Effort: Right Effort means we consistently try to develop good qualities, practice virtuous karma, avoid negative krama, maintain positive states of mind and avoid negative states of mind. Because all the suffering comes from our negative actions and all happiness comes from our positive karma. So it is very important to make an effort to practice virtuous karma.

Right Mindfulness: As you all know, mindfulness is the practice of being fully present in the moment. We observe our body, our feelings, our thoughts, our emotions, with non judgmental awareness. We abandon attachment and aversion. All it means is that we are aware of what we are doing. No auto pilot. No instinctive reaction. We respond instead of reacting. To practice this, we ask ourselves, may be every hour, what am I doing at this moment? What is the world around me look like at this moment?

Right Concentration: We try to develop this every week. We try and single pointedly focus on the object of our meditation. With enough practice we can develop a stable mind by avoiding harmful thoughts and actions. When our mind is focused, we can develop tranquil abiding that can lead to liberation.

Third Noble Truth

We have been discussing the four noble truths for the last couple of weeks. The four noble truths are:

  • You should know suffering
  • You should abandon origins
  • You should attain cessation
  • You should practice the path

So today, let’s get into the third noble truth; we should attain cessation. What does that mean? Well, last week, during our Q&A session, a question came up about the meaning of our life. And I mentioned that the meaning of the life is to attain liberation, be free from this endless cycle of birth, life, and death. When Buddha says we should attain cessation, that is exactly what he means. We should attain cessation from the cycle of samsara.

The only way to attain permanent cessation from suffering is to attain the cessation from samsara. The cessation also refers to elimination of emotions that lead to suffering. If you think about it, elimination of craving is what we need to eliminate our day to day suffering.

We see something and we find is attractive. A person or money or something. We start thinking about it. Start paying inappropriate attention towards it’s good or bad qualities. And boom, we have to have it. That’s the craving. We will do whatever it takes to get that object. We will make a plan. Buy her flowers, woo her, steal money, whatever. Let’s take an example. We are taking a stroll on a beautiful afternoon, and we see someone eating a donut. And we go, ahhh donut!! It appears very attractive. And that’s like an object of attachment. The jelly donut. And it’s a yeah, it seems desirable. But if we don’t pay any attention. Then it’s not an object of delusion. If, on the other hand, we hone in on it. And just fantasize about it. It quickly becomes an object of attachment such that I have to have that donut right now. Or I won’t be happy. I need it. So donuts. And every other object of attachment requires honing in on what seems to be good about it and agreeable on thinking just about them. So the delusion does not occur until we really develop this wish to have it. You know, like a need or a grasping like I got to have this in order to be happy. It’s because we’ve honed in on it with an appropriate attention. So we’ve got the seed of the delusion. The object is the nice looking donut. But the inappropriate attention is when we actually develop the delusion.

Antidote to craving is contentment. It comes down to How Much Is Enough doesn’t it? Most of us are doing better than we thought we would. And yet, we want a bit more. More money, more fame, more travel, more pizza, and whatnot. We must realize, it is a moving target. I have talked about this before, about my experience in grad school. I came from India for grad school and I was paying the tuition from my pocket (well, my Dad’s pocket)! As a foreign student, the fees are very high so every foreign grad student wants to get a research assistantship so that the University will waive your tuition and give you a small stipend. After a couple of months, I got the position. They waived my tuition and gave me a $900 per month stipend. I was on top of my world! I was driving a new car, living the life if you will—all in $900. Today, I cannot live in $900 a month. What happened? As my income grew, my needs kept growing with it. This is what we need to realize: there is never enough unless you are content with yourself. The way to get to this realization is to acknowledge, “I have everything that I need at this moment.”

Let me tell you another story. There was this wall street hot shot. He went on a vacation to a small Mexican fishing village. He notices that fishermen go out every morning and return with fish by early afternoon. They cook the fish and then have beer and dance the night away. This is their daily routine. The Wall Street executive sits down with the chief fisherman and says, “You know I can make you big.”

“How so?”

“We can get you a loan to get a couple of boats. Then you can catch more fish and sell it to the town next door.”

“What next?”

“Well then we buy some more boats and sell the fish to the city.”

“Then what?”

“Then we buy a fleet of 100+ boats and make you the biggest fishing operation in Mexico.”

“Then what?”

“Then we do an IPO and you cash out and retire. You will easily be a multi-millionaire.”

“What’s next?”

“Then you can retire in a small town and wake up when you want, go to sea, catch some fish, have a beer, and party the night away.”

“I am already doing it!”

You see, sometimes what we are chasing is right in front of us. With just a little bit of contentment for what we already have, we can get what we want without chasing it.