Four Noble Truths Totally Explained

Everything about Four Noble Truths totally explained

The Four Noble Truths (; ) are one of the most fundamental Buddhist teachings. In broad terms, these truths relate to suffering's nature, origin, cessation and the path leading to the cessation. They are among the truths Gautama Buddha is said to have realized during his experience of enlightenment.
The Four Noble Truths appear many times throughout the most ancient Buddhist texts, the Pali Canon. Mahayana Buddhism regards these as a preliminary teaching for people not ready for its own teachings.
Strictly speaking, "truths" is a mistranslation; "realities" would be better: these are "things", not statements, in the original grammar.

Background

Why the Buddha is said to have taught in this way is illuminated by the social context of the time in which he lived. The Buddha was a [[shramana|]], a wandering ascetic whose "aim was to discover the truth and attain happiness." He is said to have achieved this aim while under a bodhi tree near the River Neranjana; the Four Noble Truths are a formulation of his understanding of the nature of "suffering", the fundamental cause of all suffering, the escape from suffering, and what effort a person can go to so that they themselves can "attain happiness."}}
The Buddha says that he taught them...

This teaching was the basis of the Buddha's first discourse after his enlightenment.

Suffering's Origin (Samudaya):
"Now this ... is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: it's this craving which leads to renewed existence, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there, that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, craving for extermination."

Mahayana understanding of the Four Noble Truths

Certain major Mahayana sutras, including the Mahaparinirvana Sutra and the Angulimaliya Sutra, present variant versions of the Four Noble Truths of the Buddha:

the Truth of Suffering relates to the failure to recognize the eternity of the Buddha;

the Truth of the Cause of Suffering concerns the perversion and distortion of the True Dharma (for example wrongly insisting that the Buddha and Dharma are impermanent);

the Truth of the Cessation of Suffering relates to the correct meditative cultivation of the tathagatagarbha (indwelling Buddha Nature in all beings) and not erroneously viewing it as non-Self and empty; cessation of suffering also arises with the elimination of inner defilements, when one can then enter into the Buddhic Essence within oneself: "When the afflictions have been eradicated, then one will perceive entry into the tathāgata-garbha";

the Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering entails envisioning the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha as eternal, unshakable and indestructible. (Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, tr. by Kosho Yamamoto, ed. by Dr. Tony Page, Nirvana Publications, London, 1999-2000) The Angulimaliya Sutra similarly emphasises the seeing and knowing of the Buddha's eternality, immutability and peace as the key factors in liberation from suffering; failure to see this eternal nature of ultimate reality is said to constitute the primary cause of beings' continued entrapment in the sufferings of samsara.
It should be noted that this view is specific to certain Mahayana schools, most notably the Tathagatagarbha and Jonangpa traditions. The ideas that the Buddha and his Dharma are eternal and that one's inner Buddhanature isn't empty would be denied in other Buddhist traditions such as Madhyamaka and Zen.

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