Incredible !ndia

Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths & the Eight-fold Path...

At the Indian consulate in SFO last week, I found Indian tourism board's Incredible !ndia posters proudly displaying its many beautiful facets. Among them, the majestic Himalayan peaks, the Golden temple in Amritsar, an aerial view of Jaipur, the Madurai Meenakshi temple, and in one corner a poster on Buddhism. The least magnificent of all in terms of its visual appeal, it was, I must say the most beautiful in what if fed the mind and spirit. In describing Sarnath (it was in the Deer Park at Sarnath that the Buddha gave his first significant sermons on the Middle Way, the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path to his five fellow seekers who became the first monks of the order), it went on to enumerate each of the Four Noble Truths and The Eight-Fold Path. N remarked that I had managed to remove myself from the incredibly Indian experience, that was, as always, rich in visual and aural stimuli, a little mela playing itself out in the CGI premises. Absolutely endearing to watch and a fabulous dose of being on Indian soil for a precious few minutes, it was this poster that grounded me. :) And so here it is, the essential truth about existence and our intended path to a higher one:

1. Dukkha- The Nature of Suffering

2. Samudaya- The Cause of Suffering

3. Nirodha- The Cessation of Suffering

4. Marga- The Path to Cessation of Suffering

Dukkha: The Noble Truth of the Nature of Suffering

Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair are 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 categories affected by 'clinging' are suffering. Fittingly, the Pali word 'Dukkha' means incapable of satisfying and unable to withstand. In one word, it summarizes impermanence of the sensory realm.

(The poster called impermanence and the dissatifaction arising from it as 'unsatisfactoriness'. I spent a few seconds trying that word on my tongue; a most intersting variation of what exists in the dictionary, but, importantly, it makes the point quite clearly.)

Samudaya- The Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering
The origin of suffering is attachment. Attachment is of three kinds, specifically, attachment to three kinds of desire: desire for sense pleasure (kama tanha), desire to become (bhava tanha) and desire to get rid of (vibhava tanha). In other words, attachment leads to constant craving in one form or another. The craving for sensory fulfilment is inherently incapable of being satisfied and lies at the root of suffering.

Nirodha- The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering

Yes, suffering can in fact cease to exist. What is that state of non-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.

Powerful words and they need unpacking. The cessation of suffering has to come mentally; it requires understanding that dukkha arises from a reliance or a belief that reliance on sensory objects of fulfilment could lead to satisfaction. Knowing that such sources of fulfilment are inherently impermanent, leads to a non-reliance on them, and hence to an end to craving for them. That is the cessation of suffering.

Marga- The Noble Truth of the Path to Cessation of Suffering

How can one attain a state of non-suffering?

Cessation of Suffering can be achieved by following the eight-fold path.

I shall end this post at this point and enumerate the eight-fold path in a separate one, so that, dear reader, you may meditate upon the four noble truths before taking up the prescribed path to exit the loop of desire- dissatisfaction and more desire.