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The Four Noble Truths

Siddhartha, after meditating under the pipal tree, described enlightenment as having four noble truths: Dukkha, the noble truth of suffering; Samudaya, the noble truth of the origin of suffering; Nibbana, the noble truth of the cessation of suffering; and Marga, the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering. All, obviously, inextricably entwined, they show a path that leads to enlightenment, and to the true value of the human. Siddhartha, after reaching enlightenment determined that suffering was a psychological dissonance, meaning he believed it was just a mind confused as to what it actually wanted. Siddhartha, acknowledged as the first and highest Buddha, believed that the practice of the Eightfold path could lead to the end of suffering, a human condition. While his views are not widely understood or even considered feasible, Buddhism has withstood the test of time, and has shown that the four noble truths may contain the truth Buddhists believe they do.

Dukkha, the noble truth of suffering is the most obvious and understandable suffering humans encounter. While the translation of "Dukkha" literally means suffering, translating it at all makes it lose some its potency and it's best left as Dukkha which encompasses suffering of the body, the suffering of unfortunate change, and the suffering of the mind. Dukkha is the beginning, according to Buddhists, and is explained and understood with the other three noble truths.

Because Dukkha is simply the suffering, Buddhists believe that there needs to be an explanation for why there is that suffering. Thus Samudaya is the noble truth of the origin of suffering and as such it explains why and how we suffer. According to Buddhism, the reason for this is a cycle of causation: "The chain of interdependent events that binds men to the wheel of suffering..." (Saddhatissa; 510) Being such, Buddhists believe that everything is connected and life is constantly in flux. They believe so because Buddha asked himself "Where is the "I"? Is it the body? Is it feelings? Is it the will? Or the mind? Nowhere can be found a permanent identity. What then "passes over" after death?" (Saddhatissa; 510) Buddhists believe that the explanation behind suffering is that it is because of our interconnectedness to the wheel of suffering, and because we are connected we will constantly suffer.

"Buddha said, ‘I teach but two things- dukkha and the release from dukkha'" (Saddhatissa; 511) Buddha claims to teach two things, the existence of suffering, and how to end suffering. While suffering may be an ambiguous term, Nibbana is not, and Buddha taught how to release oneself from suffering, or cause the cessation of suffering. The central idea behind Nibbana is that is it the only true way to end suffering. While other religions and philosophies will treat suffering like a disease and treat it as it comes, analogous to a salve on a burn, Buddhism teaches that suffering is innate to humans and to remove it is little more than to remove what causes the suffering in the first place. Nibbana removes the suffering not by removing the individual from the wheel but by removing the extremes from the individual's life; rather than being totally altruistic or totally selfish, it is best to be in the "middle ground".

In Buddhism, enlightenment isn't just the understanding of the suffering of this world, but also how to cure it. Marga, the fourth and final noble truth is the way leading to the cessation of suffering. The paramount noble truth, and what Buddha believed to be the most important part of his teachings, knows what is and is not going to cause the suffering you wish to avoid. If one is constantly in want of material possessions, they are constantly agonizing and suffering due to their want of those material possessions, thus, the Marga for this person would be to go deep within themselves and end their desire for those material possessions. This is universal of all suffering described by "dukkha"; which means anything Buddhists would describe as suffering as caused by dukkha, becomes a personal matter, and, following the path of enlightenment via the four noble truths, it becomes possible to end the wheel of suffering and become content and without suffering.

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