Four Noble Truths Talks
In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths (Sanskrit: चत्वारिआर्यसत्यानि, romanized: Chatwariāryasatyāni; Pali: caturāriyasaccāni; "The Four Arya Satya") are "the truths of the Noble Ones", the truths or realities for the "spiritually worthy ones". The truths are:
dukkha ("not being at ease", "suffering", from dush-stha, "standing unstable,") is an innate characteristic of the perpetual cycle (samsara, lit. 'wandering') of grasping at things, ideas and habits; samudaya (origin, arising, combination; "cause"): there is dukkha (unease, disbalance) when there is, or it arises simultaneously with, taṇhā ("craving," "desire" or "attachment," lit. 'thirst'). nirodha (cessation, ending, confinement): dukkha can be ended or contained by the confinement or letting go of this taṇhā; marga (path, Noble Eightfold Path) is the path leading to the confinement of tanha and dukkha.The four truths appear in many grammatical forms in the ancient Buddhist texts, and are traditionally identified as the first teaching given by the Buddha. While often called one of the most important teachings in Buddhism, they have both a symbolic and a propositional function. Symbolically, they represent the awakening and liberation of the Buddha, and of the potential for his followers to reach the same liberation and freedom as him. As propositions, the Four Truths are a conceptual framework that appear in the Pali canon and early Hybrid Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures, as a part of the broader "network of teachings" (the "dhamma matrix"), which have to be taken together. They provide a conceptual framework for introducing and explaining Buddhist thought, which has to be personally understood or "experienced".
As a proposition, the four truths defy an exact definition, but refer to and express the basic orientation of Buddhism: unguarded sensory contact gives rise to craving and clinging to impermanent states and things, which are dukkha, "unsatisfactory," "incapable of satisfying" and painful. This craving keeps us caught in saṃsāra, "wandering", usually interpreted as the endless cycle of repeated rebirth, and the continued dukkha that comes with it, but also referring to the endless cycle of attraction and rejection that perpetuates the ego-mind. There is a way to end this cycle, namely by attaining nirvana, cessation of craving, whereafter rebirth and the accompanying dukkha will no longer arise again. This can be accomplished by following the eightfold path, confining our automatic responses to sensory contact by restraining oneself, cultivating discipline and wholesome states, and practicing mindfulness and dhyana (meditation).
The function of the four truths, and their importance, developed over time and the Buddhist tradition slowly recognized them as the Buddha's first teaching. This tradition was established when prajna, or "liberating insight", came to be regarded as liberating in itself, instead of or in addition to the practice of dhyana. This "liberating insight" gained a prominent place in the sutras, and the four truths came to represent this liberating insight, as a part of the enlightenment story of the Buddha.
The four truths grew to be of central importance in the Theravada tradition of Buddhism by about the 5th-century CE, which holds that the insight into the four truths is liberating in itself. They are less prominent in the Mahayana tradition, which sees the higher aims of insight into sunyata, emptiness, and following the Bodhisattva path as central elements in their teachings and practice. The Mahayana tradition reinterpreted the four truths to explain how a liberated being can still be "pervasively operative in this world". Beginning with the exploration of Buddhism by western colonialists in the 19th century and the development of Buddhist modernism, they came to be often presented in the west as the central teaching of Buddhism, sometimes with novel modernistic reinterpretations very different from the historic Buddhist traditions in Asia.
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September 4th, 1999, Serial No. 00193, Side B Dependent Origination, Attachment, Mindfulness, Heart Sutra, Liberation, Four Noble... |
Sep 04 1999 |
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2000.01.02-serial.00033Serial: SF-00033 Sunday dharma talk. Dragons, Faith, New Year, Doubt, Mahayana, practicing generosity, Karma, Four Noble... |
Jan 02 2000 |
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January Practice Period Class Emptiness, Four Noble Truths, Dependent Origination, Blue Cliff Record, Posture, Two... |
Jan 15 2000 Green Gulch |
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January Practice Period Class Heart Sutra, Duality, Non-duality, Four Noble Truths, Six Realms, Liberation, Two... |
Jan 19 2000 Green Gulch |
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2000.02.02-serial.00122 Heart Sutra, Four Noble Truths, Buddha Nature, Buddha Mind, Freedom, lecture,... |
Feb 02 2000 |
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February 5th, 2000, Serial No. 00203 Impermanence, Attachment, Four Noble Truths, Happiness, Practice Period, Tassajara,... |
Feb 05 2000 |
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March 1st, 2000, Serial No. 01110 Vows, Big Mind, Bodhisattva Vow, Bodhisattva Way, Bodhisattva Ceremony, Four Noble... |
Mar 01 2000 City Center |
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March 25th, 2000, Serial No. 00207, Side A Blue Cliff Record, Attachment, Four Noble Truths, soto, Soto Zen, Rinzai,... |
Mar 25 2000 |
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April 13th, 2000, Serial No. 00915 Four Noble Truths, Right Effort, Liberation, Separation, Impermanence, Peace, Right... |
Apr 13 2000 |
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April 20th, 2000, Serial No. 00858 Dependent Origination, Two Truths, Four Noble Truths, War, Sixth Patriarch,... |
Apr 20 2000 |
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April 27th, 2000, Serial No. 00857 Four Noble Truths, Dependent Origination, resistance, Attachment, Renunciation, War,... |
Apr 27 2000 |
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Wednesday Lecture Precepts, Bodhisattva Precepts, Ordination, Suzuki Roshi, Patience, Liberation, Zazen... |
May 03 2000 Green Gulch |
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May 4th, 2000, Serial No. 00856 Right Speech, Right Effort, Four Noble Truths, Renunciation, Non-violence,... |
May 04 2000 |
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May 11th, 2000, Serial No. 00855 Right Effort, Right Speech, Concentration, Silence, Four Noble Truths, Enemies,... |
May 11 2000 |
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July 22nd, 2000, Serial No. 00057, Side B Complete Perfect Enlightenment, Religion, Four Noble Truths, Concentration, Culture,... |
Jul 22 2000 |
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Women Ancestors Class Nirvana, Peace, Four Noble Truths, Ordination, Funeral, Demons, Lay, Happiness,... |
Aug 08 2000 Unknown |
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Surangama Sutra Class confusion, Four Noble Truths, Don't Know Mind, Delusion, Discrimination, Heart... |
Sep 11 2000 Unknown |
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Sunday Lecture Four Noble Truths, Right Effort, Greed, Attachment, Bodhidharma, Karma, Triple... |
Sep 17 2000 Green Gulch |
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September 23rd, 2000, Serial No. 02734 confusion, Four Noble Truths, Interdependence, Renunciation, Buddha Ancestors,... |
Sep 23 2000 Unknown |
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October 7th, 2000, Serial No. 00916 Anger, Karma, Attachment, Nirvana, Liberation, Obstacles, Four Noble Truths, Vows,... |
Oct 07 2000 |
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November 2nd, 2000, Serial No. 00489 Birth-and-Death, Vows, Attachment, Big Mind, Samsara, Bodhisattva Vow, Four Noble... |
Nov 02 2000 |
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November 25th, 2000, Serial No. 00124, Side A Practice Period, Giving-and-Taking, Four Noble Truths, Liberation, soto, Building,... |
Nov 25 2000 |
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January 8th, 2001, Serial No. 00067 Priest, training, Four Noble Truths, Fundraising, Renunciation, Dharma Transmission,... |
Jan 08 2001 |
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2001.02.04-serial.00049 Precepts, Heart Sutra, Four Noble Truths, confusion, Dependent Origination, Subject-... |
Feb 04 2001 |
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Discrimination, Non-discrimination, and Essence of MindSerial: BZ-00098A Saturday Lecture Discrimination, Discrimination, Dream World, Attachment, Posture, Platform Sutra,... |
Mar 17 2001 Berkeley Zen Center |
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May 12th, 2001, Serial No. 00101, Side B Four Noble Truths, Right Speech, Peace, Daily Life, American, Priest, Silence,... |
May 12 2001 |
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2001.05.19-serial.00046 Posture, Daily Life, Don't Know Mind, Ego, Four Noble Truths, Silent... |
May 19 2001 |
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June 2nd, 2001, Serial No. 00102, Side B Right Effort, Four Noble Truths, Right Speech, Concentration, Mindfulness,... |
Jun 02 2001 |
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Dogen's ZazengiSerial: BZ-00086A Ego and Consciousness, Saturday Lecture Zazengi, Consciousness, Ego, Four Noble Truths, Discrimination, Ego, Concentration,... |
Aug 18 2001 Berkeley Zen Center |
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October 18th, 2001, Serial No. 00474, Side A Heart Sutra, Complete Perfect Enlightenment, Chanting, Hindrances, Aspects of... |
Oct 18 2001 |
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2001.10.21-serial.00087 Repentance, Four Noble Truths, Precepts, Beginners, Posture, Impermanence, Funeral,... |
Oct 21 2001 |
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October 25th, 2001, Serial No. 00475 Lineage, Transmission, Culture, Aspects of Practice, Eight Awarenesses, Birth-and-... |
Oct 25 2001 |
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November 10th, 2001, Serial No. 00094, Side B War, Four Noble Truths, Commitment, Enemies, Culture, Non-violence, American,... |
Nov 10 2001 |
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December 3rd, 2001, Serial No. 00097, Side B Right Speech, Renunciation, Four Noble Truths, Daily Life, Building, Impermanence,... |
Dec 03 2001 |
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Activity and StillnessSerial: BZ-00065B Saturday Lecture Posture, Stillness, Composure, Pure Existence, Four Noble Truths, Teacher-and-Student... |
Dec 15 2001 Berkeley Zen Center |
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Sunday Lecture Two Truths, Four Noble Truths, Humility, Buddha Ancestors, New Year, Liberation,... |
Dec 30 2001 Green Gulch |
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March 14th, 2002, Serial No. 00468 Four Noble Truths, Ego, Heart Sutra, Karmic Consequences, Nirvana, Karma, Attachment... |
Mar 14 2002 |
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March 28th, 2002, Serial No. 00443 Nirvana, Mahayana, Liberation, Heart Sutra, Four Noble Truths, Six Realms,... |
Mar 28 2002 |
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April 4th, 2002, Serial No. 00444 Right Speech, Right Effort, Happiness, Concentration, Four Noble Truths, Mindfulness... |
Apr 04 2002 |
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April 20th, 2002, Serial No. 03948 Four Noble Truths, Emotions, Letting Go, Right Effort, Right Speech, Separation, Ego... |
Apr 20 2002 City Center |
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May 4th, 2002, Serial No. 00146, Side B Four Noble Truths, Mahayana, Nirvana, Heart Sutra, Funeral, Samsara, Bodhisattva Vow... |
May 04 2002 |
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One-day Sitting LectureSerial: SF-01018 Lotus Sutra (Heart Sutra), seals our mind with Buddha's mind, basics of the middle way are covered (in the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings), power of joy and compassion, devotion... Lotus Sutra, First Principle, Complete Perfect Enlightenment, Nirvana, Four Noble... |
May 11 2002 Green Gulch |
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Transmission of the Light ClassSerial: SF-01088 What brings us to these stories(?)? What is the unrest? What is the transmission of, how does the unrest be calmed (?), impermanence is that essential problem. Stories are what... Transmission, Separation, Four Noble Truths, Emptiness, Five Ranks, Soto Zen, Dragons... |
May 21 2002 Green Gulch |
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September 12th, 2002, Serial No. 00454 Four Noble Truths, Right Speech, Right Effort, Concentration, Peace, Mahayana, Birth-... |
Sep 12 2002 |
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September 14th, 2002, Serial No. 00210, Side A Four Noble Truths, Instruction, Right Speech, Bodhisattva Ceremony, Bodhisattva Vow,... |
Sep 14 2002 |
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November 2nd, 2002, Serial No. 00170, Side B Four Noble Truths, Right Effort, Right Speech, Anger, Dragons, Samadhi, Liberation,... |
Nov 02 2002 |
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November 6th, 2002, Serial No. 01064 Obstacles, Four Noble Truths, Tassajara, Suzuki Roshi, Big Mind, Teacher-and-Student... |
Nov 06 2002 City Center |
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January 24th, 2003, Serial No. 03931 Separation, Daily Life, Four Noble Truths, Priest-and-Lay, Beginners, Ceremony, Peace... |
Jan 24 2003 City Center |
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February 2nd, 2003, Serial No. 00466 Four Noble Truths, Religion, Fasting, Renunciation, Demons, Interview, Chanting,... |
Feb 02 2003 |
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February 27th, 2003, Serial No. 00465 Four Noble Truths, Greed, Hate, Sangha, Six Realms, Religion, Doubt, Absolute-and-... |
Feb 27 2003 |