Test Your Knowledge of Buddhist Thought and the Four Noble Truths

Basic Framework of Buddhist Thought

• The Four Noble Truths are the fundamental teachings of Buddhism, representing the awakening and liberation of the Buddha and the potential for his followers to reach the same liberation.

• They are a conceptual framework for introducing and explaining Buddhist thought, which has to be personally understood or "experienced."

• The four truths describe how unguarded sensory contact gives rise to craving and clinging to impermanent states and things, which are unsatisfactory and painful, keeping us caught in the endless cycle of repeated rebirth and the continued unsatisfactoriness that comes with it.

• There is a way to end this cycle by attaining nirvana, cessation of craving, whereafter rebirth and the accompanying unsatisfactoriness 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 meditation.

• 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.

• The Mahayana tradition sees the higher aims of insight into sunyata, emptiness, and following the Bodhisattva path as central elements in their teachings and practice.

• The various terms all point to the same basic idea of Buddhism, as described in five skandhas and twelve nidanas.

• The Pali terms ariya sacca (Sanskrit: arya satya) are commonly translated as "noble truths."

• As a symbol, the four truths refer to the possibility of awakening, as represented by the Buddha, and are of utmost importance.

• As a proposition, they are part of the matrix or "network of teachings," in which they are "not particularly central," but have an equal place next to other teachings, describing how release from craving is to be reached.

• The truth of dukkha is the basic insight that samsara, life in this "mundane world," with its clinging and craving to impermanent states and things, is unsatisfactory and painful.

• The truth of samudaya is the truth that samsara, and its associated unsatisfactoriness, arises, or continues, with craving for and clinging to these impermanent states and things, while the truth of nirodha is the truth that unsatisfactoriness ceases when one renounces or confines craving and clinging, and nirvana is attained.The Four Noble Truths and the Path to Liberation in Buddhism

• The Four Noble Truths are a central teaching in Buddhism that describe the nature of suffering (dukkha) and the path to its cessation.

• The path to liberation from suffering involves following the Noble Eightfold Path, which includes mindfulness, meditation, discipline, and understanding impermanence and craving.

• The four truths are to be internalized and personally experienced to turn them into a lived reality.

• The goal of following the path to liberation is not only to attain peace of mind in this life but also to end rebirth and the cycle of suffering.

• Moksha, or liberation from rebirth, is a central concept in Indian religions and means freedom from samsara.

• Some contemporary Buddhist teachers interpret the four truths as a means to attain happiness in this life, while traditional Asian Buddhism emphasizes liberation from rebirth.

• Scholars have identified inconsistencies in the oldest Buddhist texts, indicating that the teachings evolved over time.

• The four truths may have already been formulated in earliest Buddhism but did not have the central place they acquired in later Buddhism.

• The four truths were first added to enlightenment stories and later to the biographical stories of the Buddha.

• The comprehension of the four truths destroys the corruptions and leads to the attainment of the dhamma-eye, which allows the past lives and the workings of rebirth to be seen.

• The four truths have been simplified and popularized in western writings, due to the colonial project of gaining control over Buddhism.

• The presentation of the four truths as one of the most important teachings of the Buddha has been done to reduce them to a teaching that is accessible and pliable for non-Buddhists.The Four Noble Truths are a central teaching in Buddhism, which function both as a symbol of all Dhammas and the Buddha's awakening, and as a set of propositions that function within a matrix of teachings. The Mahasaccaka Sutta gives one of several versions of the Buddha's way to liberation and attaining the three knowledges, namely knowledge of his former lives, knowledge of death and rebirth, and knowledge of the destruction of the taints, the Four Noble Truths. The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta provides details on three stages in the understanding of each truth, for a total of twelve insights. The four truths are less prominent in the Mahayana traditions, which emphasize insight into Śūnyatā and the Bodhisattva path as central elements in their teachings. According to the Theravada tradition, great emphasis is placed upon reading and contemplating The Discourse That Sets Turning the Wheel of Truth, and other suttas, as a means to study the four noble truths and put them into practice. For many western Buddhists, the rebirth doctrine in the Four Noble Truths teaching is a problematic notion. Some Western interpreters have proposed what is sometimes referred to as "naturalized Buddhism," which is devoid of rebirth, karma, nirvana, realms of existence, and other concepts of Buddhism. This approach undermines the Four Noble Truths, for it does not address the existential question for the Buddhist as to "why live? why not commit suicide, hasten the end of dukkha in current life by ending life".The Debate on Rebirth in Buddhism

• Rebirth is a central doctrine in Buddhism, as it is an integral part of the Four Noble Truths, which are the foundation of Buddhist teachings.

• Western interpreters of Buddhism, also known as naturalized Buddhists, reject the doctrine of rebirth and consider it unnecessary for the practice of Buddhism.

• Traditional Buddhist scholars, however, maintain that rebirth is a mandatory and essential aspect of Buddhist teachings, and that it cannot be removed without undermining the foundations of the religion.

• The Dalai Lama's belief in rebirth is more sophisticated than that of ordinary Buddhists, as it does not rely on the assumption of an "atman, self, soul", but rather on a "consciousness conceived along the anatman lines".

• Buddhist morality is based on the hope of well-being in this lifetime or in future rebirths, with enlightenment as a project for a future lifetime.

• A denial of karma and rebirth undermines the history, moral orientation, and religious foundations of Buddhism.

• Navayana Buddhism, a modernistic interpretation of Buddhism by the Indian leader and Buddhist scholar B.R. Ambedkar, rejected much of traditional Buddhism, including the Four Noble Truths, karma, and rebirth.

• According to Ambedkar, the Four Noble Truths were "the invention of wrong-headed monks".

• The rejection of rebirth is a radical revision to traditional Buddhist thought and practice, and it attacks the structure behind the hopes, needs, and rationalization of the realities of human life to traditional Buddhists in East, Southeast, and South Asia.

• Most Buddhists in Asia accept the traditional teachings of rebirth, karma, and realms of existence, and seek better rebirth.

• Rebirth is considered mandatory in Tibetan Buddhism and across many Buddhist sects.

• The path to cessation of dukkha isn't suicide, but the fourth reality of the Four Noble Truths.