Four Noble Truths Talks
In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths (Sanskrit: चतुरार्यसत्यानि, romanized: caturāryasatyāni; 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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Buddhism & EnjoymentSerial: BZ-00315B Sesshin Day 5 Seven Factors of Enlightenment, Big Mind, Samadhi, Vows, Four Noble Truths, Peace,... |
Jun 22 1997 Berkeley Zen Center |
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1997.04.26-serial.00058 Four Noble Truths, Heart Sutra, Posture, Don't Know Mind, Bodhidharma, Daily... |
Apr 26 1997 |
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1997.04.26-serial.00059 Four Noble Truths, Subject-and-Object, Ego, Non-duality, Duality, Zazen, Religion,... |
Apr 26 1997 |
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1997.04.22-serial.00055 Four Noble Truths, Daily Life, Greed, Anger, Precepts, Meditation, Ego, Beginners,... |
Apr 22 1997 |
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April 19th, 1997, Serial No. 00362, Side A Concentration, Hindrances, Practice Period, Doubt, Greed, Commitment, Samadhi, Lay... |
Apr 19 1997 |
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April 17th, 1997, Serial No. 00845 Karma, Nirvana, Four Noble Truths, Evil, Soto Zen, Precepts, Instruction, Don't... |
Apr 17 1997 |
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April 10th, 1997, Serial No. 00846 Evil, Four Noble Truths, Sangha, Lay, Darkness and Light, Non-violence, Religion,... |
Apr 10 1997 |
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April 3rd, 1997, Serial No. 00847 Four Noble Truths, Evil, Four Foundations, Dependent Origination, Mindfulness,... |
Apr 03 1997 |
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March 20th, 1997, Serial No. 00849 Four Noble Truths, Renunciation, Vows, Lay, Lay Ordination, Concentration,... |
Mar 20 1997 |
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February 29th, 1997, Serial No. 00358, Side B Nirvana, Precepts, Family Practice, Greed, Buddha's Birthday, Four Noble Truths... |
Mar 01 1997 |
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February 8th, 1997, Serial No. 00359, Side A Big Mind, Continuous, Four Noble Truths, Gaining Mind, Non-duality, Duality, Don... |
Feb 08 1997 |
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Song of Jewel Mirror SamadhiSerial: SF-00072 5:00 class Buddha Ancestors, Four Noble Truths, Absolute-and-Relative, Emptiness, Samadhi,... |
Feb 04 1997 |
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Dukkha & The SelfSerial: BZ-00780B One-Day Sitting Dukkha, Birth-and-Death, Nirvana, Four Noble Truths, Greed, Samsara, Daily Life,... |
Jan 12 1997 Berkeley Zen Center |
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January 11th, 1997, Serial No. 00780, Side A Four Noble Truths, Monastic Practice, training, Precepts, Bodhisattva Vow, Complete... |
Jan 11 1997 |
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Mindfulness SutraSerial: SF-00069 January PP Class; introduction of Mindfulness Sutra; quotes from Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman; Walden and Leaves of Grass. Mindfulness, Four Foundations, Four Noble Truths, Forgiveness, Concentration, Letting... |
Jan 08 1997 Green Gulch Farm |
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Bodhisattva CeremonySerial: BZ-00799B Saturday Lecture Bodhisattva Ceremony, Karma, Four Noble Truths, Teacher-and-Student, Buddha Nature,... |
Jul 06 1996 Berkeley Zen Center |
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Bodhisattva CeremonySerial: BZ-00813B Saturday Lecture Bodhisattva Ceremony, Karma, Precepts, Evil, Bodhisattva Vow, Vows, Gratitude, Four... |
Jan 13 1996 Berkeley Zen Center |
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October 14th, 1995, Serial No. 00820, Side A confusion, Four Noble Truths, Buddha Nature, Religion, Happiness, Describe, Duality,... |
Oct 14 1995 |
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Heart Sutra Pt.1Serial: BZ-00745A Lecture Heart Sutra, Birth-and-Death, Continuous, Four Noble Truths, Dependent Origination,... |
Jul 11 1995 |
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April 9th, 1995, Serial No. 00909, Side A Buddha's Birthday, Right Speech, Beginners, Four Noble Truths, Right Effort,... |
Apr 09 1995 |
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March 19th, 1995, Serial No. 00911, Side B resistance, Emotions, Four Noble Truths, Separation, Observe, Beginners, Offering,... |
Mar 19 1995 |
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February 11th, 1995, Serial No. 00914, Side B Nirvana, Birth-and-Death, Four Noble Truths, Nirvana Sutra, Darkness and Light, Light... |
Feb 11 1995 |
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January 15th, 1995, Serial No. 00947, Side B Four Noble Truths, Patience, Karma, Impermanence, Doubt, Sangha, Fundraising,... |
Jan 15 1995 |
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Heart SutraSerial: BZ-00950A Rohatsu Day 6 Heart Sutra, Four Noble Truths, Nirvana, causation, Subject-and-Object, Karma, Lotus... |
Dec 09 1994 Berkeley Zen Center |
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Heart Sutra: Setting the SceneSerial: BZ-00952B Skandas and Emptiness, Rohatsu Day 4 Heart Sutra, Skandas, Emptiness, Heart Sutra, Four Noble Truths, Non-duality, Samadhi... |
Dec 07 1994 Berkeley Zen Center |
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The Other Four ParamitasSerial: BZ-00936A Skillful Means, Spiritual Power, Aspiration, Knowledge, Sesshin Day 1 Paramitas, Skillful Means, Bodhisattva Vow, Karma, Four Noble Truths, Doubt, Vows,... |
Sep 03 1994 Berkeley Zen Center |
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March 31st, 1994, Serial No. 00552 Sixth Patriarch, Culture, Mahayana, Religion, Echo, Four Noble Truths, soto, Lay... |
Mar 31 1994 |
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March 26th, 1994, Serial No. 00963, Side B Four Noble Truths, Right Effort, Daily Life, Dependent Origination, resistance, Right... |
Mar 26 1994 |
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March 24th, 1994, Serial No. 00228 Perfect Wisdom, Heart Sutra, Four Noble Truths, Birth-and-Death, Lotus Sutra,... |
Mar 24 1994 |
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March 19th, 1994, Serial No. 00964, Side B Right Effort, Ego, New Year, Four Noble Truths, Bodhidharma, Cultivation,... |
Mar 19 1994 |
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February 24th, 1994, Serial No. 00547 Evil, Repentance, Vows, Intuition, Liberation, Four Noble Truths, Karma, Don't... |
Feb 24 1994 |
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February 23rd, 1994, Serial No. 00225 Religion, Four Noble Truths, Dharma Transmission, Transmission, Practice Period, War... |
Feb 23 1994 |
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January 20th, 1994, Serial No. 00222 Lotus Sutra, Mahayana, Complete Perfect Enlightenment, Instruction, Doubt,... |
Jan 20 1994 |
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Mountain Practice, City Practice; RenunciationSerial: BZ-00959B Leaving for Tassajara, Saturday Lecture Monastic Practice, Daily Life, Renunciation, Cultivation, Soto Zen, Aspects of... |
Jan 08 1994 Berkeley Zen Center |
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May 20th, 1993, Serial No. 00214 Attachment, Passions, Four Noble Truths, Offering, Buddha Nature, Lineage, Don't... |
May 20 1993 |
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Fire Sermon Passions, Four Noble Truths, Dependent Origination, Delusion, Greed, realization,... |
May 19 1993 City Center |
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Buddhism and American Culture Emptiness, Forgiveness, Letting Go, Samadhi, training, Emotions, Freedom, Four Noble... |
May 03 1993 City Center |