entheogenic-gnosis said:
Sherlockian_Holmes wrote:
It is also not true that there is no exit from suffering. The whole Noble Eightfold Path or the Eight Limbs of Yoga, or the many, many other spiritual paths work on exactly that problem. The Path to the cessation of suffering.
I have always thought it was strange that the first Nobel truth basically says "you can not avoid suffering" while the last Nobel truth states that "suffering can be avoided through the 8-fold path"
...and while this is accurate, these are true statements, I have always just thought it sounded strange on the surface. I mean when you dig into these concepts it all makes perfect sense, but on the surface it looks funny.
Four Noble Truths
1. Suffering exists
2. Suffering arises from attachment to desires
3. Suffering ceases when attachment to desire ceases
4. Freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the Eightfold Path
Remember that these are translations. I think sometimes dukkha is better translated as
unsatisfactoriness. This is perhaps a better explanation of the Four Noble Truths:
1. Dukkha, "incapable of satisfying," painful. Life in this "mundane world," with its craving and clinging to impermanent states and things, is dukkha, unsatisfactory and painful.
2. Samudaya, the origination or arising of dukkha. Dukkha, and repeated life in this world, arises with taṇhā, "thirst," craving for and clinging to these impermanent states and things. This craving and clinging produces karma which leads to renewed becoming, keeping us trapped in rebirth and renewed dissatisfaction.
3. Niroda, the cessation of dukkha. By stopping this craving and clinging nirvana is attained, no more karma is produced, and rebirth and dissatisfaction will no longer arise again.
4. Magga, the path to the cessation of, or liberation from dukkha. By following the Noble Eightfold Path, restraining oneself, cultivating discipline, and practicing mindfulness and meditation, craving and clinging will be stopped, and rebirth and dissatisfaction are ended.
There will always be suffering/stress/unsatisfactoriness in
impermanent things. Desires are part of the ego, and the ego is a raging fire that constantly wants wood to feed itself. There is no limit for how big the ego can become, so that's why your desires will never bring fulfillment. You can never put out a fire by feeding it wood.
Only by realizing the dharmakaya is the Deathless found.
In the Buddha's words, the Four Noble Truths stated thus:
Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering.
Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: it is this craving which leads to re-becoming, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there; that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for becoming, craving for disbecoming.
Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: it is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, non-reliance on it.
Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering: it is this noble eightfold path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.
