Four Noble Truths

The Four Noble Truths ( Pali Cattari ariyasaccāni, skt. चत्वारि आर्यसत्यानि, IAST transliteration catvāri āryasatyāni, Tib འཕགས་པའི་བདེན་པ་བཞི་, Wylie transliteration ' phags bden pa'i pa bzhi ) form the basis of the Buddhist teaching. They are the subject of Buddha Siddhartha Gautama's first sermon at Sarnath, the " speech from the starting of the wheel of doctrine " ( dharmacakrapravartana sūtra ) is preserved in the Samyutta Nikaya (S 56.11 ) of the Pali canon as. The Four Noble Truths are still called in many other places of the Buddhist canonical scriptures.

The Four Noble Truths are differently translated from Pali into the German language. In the formulation of the DBU they are:

The main currents of contemporary Buddhism assess the Four Noble Truths different. In Theravada, which refers to the early Buddhism, they are considered the essential summary of the Buddha's teaching. In Mahayana, the "Second rotation of the wheel of doctrine ", enter other aspects to the fore, such as emptiness ( Skt. Śūnyatā ), Buddha - nature and bodhicitta. In Vajrayana, the "third turning of the wheel of doctrine ", the focus shifts to " mind-only " - ( Skt. Cittamatra ) and expanded consciousness teachings ( Skt. Vijñanavada ).

First Noble Truth (dukkha )

Main article: Dukkha

Source code in the Pali Canon: " The ( unenlightened ) life in cyclic existence is full of suffering: birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering; Sorrow, lamentation, pain, and despair are suffering. Society with the unloved is suffering, what you get is not suffering. In short, the five appropriations ( skandha, khandhah ) are suffering. "

Dukkha is usually translated as "suffering". Since the term 'dukkha', however, is wider than that of the German term " suffering (s) ", such as " unsatisfactory ", " imperfect " and "unsatisfactory" used in German literature additional descriptions. Religious scholar Michael von Brück compares in detail Buddhist and Christian beliefs. Contrary to the Christian misunderstanding was "not the existence as such, but the misguided attitude of the people toward existence dukkha ". So Dukkha is not simply "suffering ", but " the frustration because the own conceptual projections do not agree. "

As original reason suffering much of Buddhist schools leads the ignorance ( Skt. avidyā, p. Avijja ) to, which is also part of the twelve-membered chain of dependent origination. Not knowing the interconnectedness of all things lead to misperceptions and wrong doing, leading by the causal laws of karma to painful experiences. One of these misperceptions is the identification of an ego selves or with objects of the material world.

Second Noble Truth ( samudaya )

Source code in the Pali Canon: " The causes of suffering are desire, aversion (negative desires ) and ignorance ( about the nature of suffering ): The desire / thirst ( Pali: tanha ) - accompanied by passion and delight, enjoyed just here and just because -. namely the craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non- becoming "

The most famous and allgemeinverständlichste definition as found in many Sanskrit texts, reads as follows: " It is this " thirst " ( tanha ), which is new life and rebirth created and connected with passionate greed, here and there takes delight in the form of:

This "thirst", this desire, addiction, this greed manifests itself in many different ways and are the sole reason for the origin of dukkha and for the continuance of the essence. Tanha is not the first or only cause of the emergence of dukkha. However, it is the most immediate. The "thirst" is caused by the false notion of the self that arises from universes.

So the thirst includes not only the desire for and clinging to pleasure as well as a wealth and power, in addition it includes hanging on ideas and ideals, views, opinions, teachings, concepts, and beliefs ( dhamma- tanha ). According to Buddha all turmoil and strife in this world through personal little squabbles in families to great wars between peoples and countries end and only because of this selfish " thirst ".

Third Noble Truth ( nirodha )

Source code in the Pali Canon: "Through the extinction ( nirodha ) of the causes of the suffering disappears. The rest loosely offense or ends, sweeping, retiring, giving up and letting go exactly this desire ( tanha ) "

Fourth Noble Truth ( magga )

Main article: Noble Eightfold Path

Source code in the Pali Canon: " extinction of desire (and therefore of suffering ) is possible. For this awakening leads the " Noble Eightfold Path ": right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood / acquisition, right effort, right attention / mindfulness, right concentration. "