The Four Noble Truths
One man's journey
"I teach suffering, its origin, cessation and path. That's all I teach", declared the Buddha 2500 years ago.
Buddhism is taking off in the West in dramatic fashion. The Dalai Lama can sell out the Wembley Conference Centre for three days, with queues waiting outside. Over 5 million Americans now call themselves Buddhist. Spiritual and lay communities are growing up all over Britain.
This series of audio features covers the central teachings of the historical Buddha in a contemporary style, aimed at explaining the Four Noble Truths to a Western mentality.
Four leading Western Buddhist teachers each explore the meaning of one of the Four Noble Truths for the contemporary audience.
The suffering of change (13:37 mins)Stephen Batchelor explains the idea behind the truth of suffering
The Four Noble Truths
Whilst seated beneath the Bodhi tree the Buddha experienced the four noble truths:
- Dukkha: All existence is unsatisfactory and filled with suffering.
- Trsna: The root of suffering can be defined as a craving or clinging to the wrong things; searching to find stability in a shifting world is the wrong way.
- Nirvana: It is possible to find an end to suffering.
- The Noble Eightfold Path is the way to finding the solution to suffering and bring it to an end.