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CHAPTER 3
THE CENTRAL CONCEPTION OF BUDDHISM
(The Four Noble Truths)
THE FIRST NOBLE TRUTH
Dukkha: Suffering
The Four Noble Truths realized by the Buddha while seated in contemplation under the Bodhi tree at Gaya were made known by him to his erstwhile companions, the five ascetics, when he gave his first sermon at the deer park at Isipatana (modern Sarnath) near Benares. These Four Noble Truths form the central conception of Buddhism.
They are:
1. Dukkha, suffering,
2. Samudaya, the arising of suffering,
3. Nirodha, the cessation of suffering,
4. Magga, the path leading to the cessation of suffering.
The word dukkha (or Sanskrit duhkha) is one of those Pali 1 terms that cannot be translated adequately into English, by one word, for no English word covers the same ground as dukkha in Pali. Suffering, ill, anguish, unsatisfactoriness are some favourite render-ings; the words pain, misery, sorrow, conflict, and so forth, are also used. The word dukkha, however, includes all that, and more than that. Though one likes to leave the term untranslated, for conveni-ence sake both the words suffering and dukkha will be used wherever possible. After a perusal of this chapter the reader may be able to understand what dukkha means in the Buddha's teaching.
In Buddhism awakening from ignorance to full knowledge always implies the comprehension of the Four Noble Truths. The En-lightened One is called the Buddha simply because he understood the Truths in all their fullness. The whole of his first sermon is devoted to the formulation of these Truths; for they are the essence of the Buddha's teaching. ‘As the footprint of every creature that walks the earth can be contained in an elephant's footprint, which is pre-eminent for size, so does the doctrine of the four. Noble Truths embrace all skilful Dhamma (the entire teaching of the Buddha).' 2
In the original Pali texts, specifically in the discourses (suttas), these Four Truths are made clear in detail and in diverse ways. Without a clear idea of the Truths, one cannot know what the Buddha taught for forty-five years. To the Buddha the entire teaching is just the understanding of dukkha, the unsatisfactory nature of all phenomenal existence, and the understanding of the way out of this unsatisfactoriness.
Even when the recluses and brahmins of his time misrepresented him by saying:
'The recluse Gotama is a nihilist (venayiko) who makes known the destruction and disappearance of being', the Buddha, without any feeling of indignation, or dissatisfaction, emphatically said:
'For-merly (as early as the first proclamation of the Dhamma to the five ascetics) as well as now, monks, I make known only suffering and the cessation of suffering (dukkhamceva pannapemi dukkhassa ca nirodham)'. 3
To understand this unequivocal saying is to understand Buddhism; for the entire teaching of the Buddha is nothing else than the application of this one principle. It seems to me that what can be called the discovery of a Buddha, is just these Four Truths, and the rest are logical developments and more detailed explanations of the Four Noble Truths. This is the typical teaching of the Buddhas of all ages, peculiar to them and none else (Buddhanam samuk-kamsika dhammadesana). 4 The supremacy of the Four Truths in the teaching of the Buddha is abundantly clear from the message of the simsapa grove as from the message of the deer park:
Once the Buddha was living at Kosambi (near Allahabad) in the simsapa grove. Then gathering a few leaves in his hand, the Buddha addressed the monks:
- What do you think, monks, which is greater in quantity, the handful of simsapa leaves gathered by me, or what is in the forest overhead?
- Not many, trifling, Venerable Sir, are the leaves in the handful gathered by the Blessed One, many are the leaves in the forest overhead.
- Even so, monks, many are the things I have fully realized, but not declared unto you; few are the things I have declared unto you. And why, monks, have I not declared them? They, monks, are, indeed, not useful, are not essential to the life of purity, they do not lead to disgust, to dispassion, to cessation, to tranquillity, to full understanding, to enlightenment, to Nibbana. That is why, monks, they are not declared by me.
And what is it, monks, that I have declared?
This is suffering--this have I declared.
This is the arising of suffering--this have I declared.
This is the cessation of suffering--this have I declared.
This is the path leading to the cessation of suffering--this have I declared.
And why, monks, have I declared these truths? They are, indeed useful, are essential to the life of purity, they lead to disgust, to dispassion, to cessation, to tranquillity, to full understanding, to enlightenment, to Nibbana. That is why, monks, they are declared by me.’ 5 Thus spoke the Buddha.
The Buddha is known as the peerless physician (bhisakko), the supreme surgeon (sallakatto anuttaro). He indeed is an unrivalled healer. The Buddha's method of exposition of the Four Truths is comparable to that of a physician. As a physician, he first diagnosed the illness, next he discovered the cause or the arising of the illness, then considered its removal and lastly applied the remedy.
Suffering (dukkha) is the illness; craving (tanha) is the arising or the root cause of the illness (samudaya); through the removal of craving the illness is removed and that is the cure (nirodha = nibbana).
A sick man should become aware of his ailment, he should take notice of it lest it becomes acute, he should then think of a way of removing its cause; with this end in view he goes to a physician who diagnoses and prescribes a remedy. Through the efficacy of the remedy the patient gets rid of the ailment and that is the cure.
Thus suffering is not to be ignored, but to be known (abhinneyya), for it is the dire disease. Craving, the cause, is to be removed, to be abandoned (pahatabba) ; the Eightfold Path is to be practised, to be cultivated (bhavetabba) ; for it is the remedy. With the knowledge of suffering, with the removal of craving through the practice of the path, Nibbana's realization (saccikatabba) is ensured. It is the cure, the complete detachment, the release from craving.
The Buddha's reply to Sela, the brahmin, who doubted the Master's enlightenment is interesting:
`I know what should be known, what should
Be cultivated I have cultivated,
What should be abandoned that have I let go,
Hence, O brahmin, I am Buddha--the Awakened One.' 6
The reply clearly indicates that it was for no other reason than a perfect comprehension of the Four Truths that the Master is called a Buddha. The Buddha himself says: `Monks, by the fact of under-standing, as they really are, these Four Noble Truths, a Tathagata is called an Arahat, a Fully Enlightened One.' 7
The First Noble Truth: Dukkha: Suffering.
In the early Buddhist scriptures the word dukkha is used in more than one sense. It is used in the psychological, physical and philo-sophical sense according to the context.
To those who try to see things as they really are, the concept of dukkha (suffering) is no insignificant thing. It is the key-stone in Buddhist thought. To ignore this essential concept implies ignoring the remaining three truths. The importance of knowing suffering is seen in these words of the Buddha:
`He who sees suffering, sees also the arising of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path leading to the cessation of suffering .’ 8
As these truths are interconnected and interdependent, seeing one or more of the four truths implies seeing the others as well. 9 To one who denies suffering, a path, treading along which one gains deliverance from suffering, is meaningless. In brief, denying one single truth amounts to denying the other three as well, and that is to deny the entire teaching of the Buddha.
To the staunch materialist who says: `I do not want to swallow all this nonsense,' this teaching may appear rather jejune, puzzling and out of place, but to those who strive to cultivate a realistic view of life, this is no myth, no imaginary tale told to fools.
To those who view the sentient world from the correct angle, that is with dispassionate discernment, one thing becomes abun-dantly clear; there is only one problem in the world, that of suffer-ing (dukkha). All other problems known and unknown are included in this one which is universal. As the Buddha says: The world is established on suffering, is founded on suffering (dukkhe loko patitthito). 10 If anything becomes a problem there is bound to be suffering, unsatisfactoriness, or if we like, conflict--conflict between our desires and the facts of life. And naturally, man's every endeavour is to solve the problem, in other words, to remove unsatisfactoriness, to control conflict, which is pain, a wretched state of mind.
To this single problem we give different names: economic, social, political, psychological and even religious problems. Do not they all emanate from that one single problem, dukkha, namely, unsatisfactoriness? If there is not unsatisfactoriness, why need we strive to solve them? Does not solving a problem imply reducing the unsatisfactoriness? All problems bring about unsatisfactoriness, and the endeavour is to put an end to them, but they beget each other. The cause is often not external, but in the problem itself, it is sub-jective. We often think that we have solved problems to the satis-faction of all concerned, but they often crop up in other forms, in diverse ways. It seems as if we are constantly confronted with fresh ones, and we put forth fresh efforts to solve them, thus they and the solving of them go on incessantly. Such is the nature of suffering, the universal characteristic of sentient existence. Sufferings appear and pass away only to reappear in other forms. They are both physical and psychological, and some people are capable of endur-ing the one more than the other and vice versa.
Life according to Buddhism is suffering; suffering dominates all life. It is the fundamental problem of life. The world is suffering and afflicted, no being is free from this bond of misery and this is a universal truth that no sensible man who sees things in their proper perspective can deny. The recognition of this universal fact, how-ever, is not a total denial of pleasure or happiness. The Buddha, the Lord over suffering, never denied happiness in life when he spoke of the universality of suffering. In the Anguttara Nikaya, one of the five original Collections of Pali, there is a long enumeration of the happinesses that beings are capable of enjoying. 11
In answering a question of Mahali Licchavi, the Buddha says:
`Mahali, if visible forms, sound, smell, taste and tactile objects (these, as you know, are sense objects which man experiences through his sense faculties), are entirely subject to suffering, beset with suffering, and entirely bereft of pleasure and happiness, beings will not take delight in these sense objects; but, Mahali, because there is pleasure and happiness in these sense objects, beings take delight in them and cling to them; because of this clinging they defile themselves . 12
Through sense faculties man is attracted to sense objects, delights in them and derives enjoyment (assada). It is a fact that cannot be denied, for you experience it. Neither the delightful objects nor the enjoyments, however, are lasting. They suffer change. Now when a man cannot retain or is deprived of the pleasures that delight him, he often becomes sad and cheerless. He dislikes monotony, for lack of variety makes him unhappy, and looks for fresh delights, like cattle that seek fresh pasture, but these fresh delights, too, are fleeting and a passing show. Thus all pleasures, whether we like it or not, are preludes to pain and disgust. All mundane pleasures are fleeting, like sugar-coated pills of poison they deceive and harm us.
A disagreeable dish, an unpleasant drink, an unlovely demeanour, and a hundred other trifles, bring pain and dissatisfaction to us---Buddhist or non-Buddhist, rich or poor, high or low, literate or illiterate. Shakespeare merely gives voice to the words of the Buddha when he writes in Hamlet: `When sorrows come they come not single spies, but in battalions.'
Now when man fails to see this aspect of life, this unsteadiness of pleasures, he becomes disappointed and frustrated, may even behave foolishly, without sense or judgement and even lose balance of mind. This is the danger, the evil consequence (adinava). Man-kind is frequently confronted with these two pictures of life (assada and adinava). Yet the man who endeavours to get rid of his deep fondness for things, animate and inanimate, and views life with a detached outlook, who sees things in their proper perspective, whose cultural training urges him to be calm under all life's vicissitudes, who can smile when things go wrong, and maintain balance of mind putting away all likes and dislikes--he is never worried but liberated (nissarana). These three, assada, adivana and nissarana, or enjoyment, its evil consequences and liberation are facts of experience--a true picture of what we call life.
In answering the question of Mahali the Buddha continues: `Mahali, if visible forms, sound, smell, taste and tactile objects are entirely subject to pleasure, beset with pleasures and not bereft of pain, beings will not be disgusted with sense objects, but, Mahali, because there is pain and no lasting pleasure in these sense objects, they feel disgusted, being disgusted they do not delight in and cling to them; not clinging, they purify themselves.' 13
Now there are these three aspects of suffering: (1) suffering in its most obvious ordinary form (dukkha-dukkhata); (2) suffering or the unsatisfactoriness of conditioned states (samkhara-dukkhata) ; (3) suffering caused by change (viparinama dukkhata). 14
All mental and bodily sufferings such as birth, ageing, disease, death, association with the unloved, dissociation from the loved, not getting what one wants 15 are the ordinary sufferings of daily life and are called dukkha-dukkhata. Not much science is needed to understand this fact of life.
Samkhara-dukkhata, unsatisfactoriness of conditioned states, is of philosophical significance. Though the word samkhara implies all things subject to cause and effect, here in the context of dukkha the five groups or aggregates (pancakkhandha) are meant. They are the aggregates of matter (in this case the visible, tangible body of form), of sensations, of perceptions, of mental formations and of consciousness. 16 They are known briefly as nama-rupa, the psycho-physical entity. Rupa includes the physical aggregate and nama the remaining four aggregates. The combination of the five constitutes a sentient being.
A being and the empirical world are both constantly changing. They come into being and pass away. All is in a whirl, nothing escapes this inexorable, unceasing change, and because of this tran-sitory nature nothing is really pleasant. There is happiness, but very momentary, it vanishes like a flake of snow, and brings about un-satisfactoriness. This is why the Buddha in his formulation of the Noble Truth of dukkha concluded with the words: 'In brief the five aggregates of grasping are dukkha (suffering or unsatisfactory). This is what is called the unsatisfactoriness of conditioned states (samkhara dukkha).
Viparinama dukkha comes under the category of unsatisfactoriness due to impermanence. All the pleasant and happy feelings that man can experience fade away and disappear. As the Buddha says, even the feelings that a yogi or meditator experiences by attaining the four meditative absorptions (jhana), come under the category of viparinama dukkha, because they are transient (anicca), dukkha, and subject to change (viparinamadhamma). 17 But the dukkha mentioned here is certainly not the pain and suffering that people in general endure. What the Buddha points out is that all things impermanent are unsatisfactory. They suffer change every moment and this change brings about unsatisfactoriness; for whatever is impermanent is unsatisfactory (`yadaniccam tam dukkham') 18 That is, there is no lasting bliss.
In his formulation of the Noble Truth of Suffering, the Buddha says: In short, the five aggregates of clinging are suffering. 19 Accor-ding to this teaching suffering cannot be separated from the five aggregates. It cannot exist independently of them. The five aggre-gates of grasping and suffering are the, same and not two different things. `Monks, what is suffering? It should be said that it is the five aggregates of grasping.’ 20
The Buddha says elsewhere: `In this very body, a fathom long, with its consciousness and perception I declare are the world, its arising, its cessation and the path that leads to the cessation of the world.’ 21 Here the word `world' denotes suffering, dukkha.
From the above it becomes clear that to understand properly the first noble truth, as well as the other three, it is essential to have a clear idea of the five aggregates (pancakkhandha).
Let us therefore try to understand the significance of the aggre-gates. Buddhism speaks of two truths, the apparent or conventional truth (sammuti sacca) and the ultimate or highest truth (paramattha sacca). 22 In ordinary parlance we speak of a `being', but in the ultimate sense there is no such `being'; there is only a manifestation of ever-changing psycho-physical forces or energies. These forces or energies form the five aggregates, and what we call a `being' is nothing but a combination of these everchanging five aggregates.
Now what are the five Aggregates?
1. The first is the Aggregate of Matter (rupakkhandha). Matter contains and comprises the Four Great Primaries (cattari mahabhutani) which are traditionally known as, solidity, fluidity, heat or temperature, and motion or vibration (pathavi, apo, tejo, vayo). 23 In this context, they are not simply earth, water, fire and wind, though conventionally they may be so called. In Buddhist thought, especially in the Abhidhamma, the Higher Doctrine, they are more than that.
Pathavi or solidity is the element of expansion. It is due to this element of expansion that objects occupy space. When we see an object we only see something extended in space and we give a name to it. The element of expansion is present not only in solids, but in liquids, too; for when we see the sea stretched before us even then we see pathavi. The hardness of rock and the softness of paste, the quality of heaviness and lightness in things are also qualities of pathavi, or are particular states of it.
Apo or fluidity is the element of cohesion. It is this element that heaps particles of matter together without allowing them to scatter. The cohesive force in liquids is very strong, for unlike solids, they coalesce even after their separation. Once a solid is broken up or separated the particles do not recoalesce. In order to join them it becomes necessary to convert the solid into a liquid by raising the temperature, as in the welding of metals. When we see an object we only see an expansion with limits, this expansion or `shape' is possible because of the cohesive force.
Tejo is the element of heat or temperature. It is this element which matures, intensifies or imparts heat to the other three primaries. The vitality of all beings and plants is preserved by this element. From every expansion and shape we get a sensation of heat. This is relative; for when we say that an object is cold, we only mean that the heat of that particular object is less than our body heat, in other words, the temperature of the object is lower than the temperature of our body. Thus it is clear that the so-called `coldness', too, is an element of heat or temperature, of course in a lower degree.
Vayo is the element of motion. It is displacement. This, too, is relative. To know whether a thing is moving or not we need a point which we regard as being fixed, by which to measure that motion, but there is ho absolutely motionless object in the universe. So the so-called stability, too, is an element of motion. Motion depends oh heat. In the complete absence of heat atoms cease to vibrate. Complete absence of heat is only theoretical, we cannot feel it, because then we would not exist, as we, too, are made of atoms.
Every material object is made up of the Four Great Primaries though one or other seems to preponderate; if, for instance, the element of solidity (pathavi) preponderates, the material object is called solid, and so on.
From these Great Primaries which always co-exist are derived twenty-four other material phenomena and qualities; among these derivatives (upadayarupa) are included the five sense faculties, namely, the faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue and body, and their corresponding sense objects, namely, visible form, sound, smell, taste and tangible things. The aggregate of matter includes the whole realm of physical substance, both in one's body and in the external world.
2. The second is the Aggregate of Feeling or Sensation (vedanakkhandha). All our feelings are included in this group. Feelings are threefold: pleasant, unpleasant and neutral. They arise dependant on contact. Seeing a form, hearing a sound, smelling an odour, tasting a flavour, touching some tangible thing, cognizing a mental object, (an idea or thought) man experiences feeling. 24 When, for instance, eye, form and eye-consciousness (cakkhu-vinnana) come together, it is their coincidence that is called contact. Contact means the combination of the organ of sense, the object of sense, and sense consciousness. When these are all present together there is no power or force that can prevent the arising of feeling.
Such is the intrinsic nature of contact and feeling. It cannot, how-ever, be said that all beings experience the same feeling from the same object. One person may derive a pleasant feeling from a particular object while another has an unpleasant feeling and still another a neutral feeling from the same object. This depends on how the mind and its factors function. Further, a sense object which once evoked a pleasant feeling in a man, may produce an unpleasant or a neutral feeling in him under different circumstances, and so on. Again, what is pleasant to one sense faculty may be unpleasant to another faculty; for instance, a luscious fruit unpleasant to the sight may prove very pleasant to the tongue and so on. Thus we learn how feeling is conditioned by contact in diverse ways.
3. The third is the Aggregate of Perception (sannakkhandha). The function of perception is recognition (samjanana) of objects both physical and mental. Perception, like feeling, also is sixfold: perception of forms, sounds, smells, tastes, bodily contacts and mental objects. Perception in Buddhism is not used in the sense that some Western philosophers like Bacon, Descartes, Spinoza and Leibnitz used the term, but as a mere sense perception.
There is a certain affinity between awareness (vijanana, which is the function of consciousness) and recognition (samjanana, the function of perception). While consciousness becomes aware of an object, simultaneously the mental factor of perception takes the distinctive mark of the object and thus distinguishes it from other objects. This distinctive mark is instrumental in cognizing the object a second and a third time, and in fact, every time we be-come aware of the object. Thus, it is perception that brings about memory.
It is important to note that perceptions often deceive us. Then they become known as illusion or perversity of perceptions. (sanna-vipallasa, see chapter 7).
A simile will illustrate the point. A farmer after sowing a field, will set up a scare-crow to protect the seed and for a time the birds will mistake it for a man and will not settle. That is an illusion of perception. Similarly sense and mental objects deceive our mind by producing a false impression. The Buddha, therefore, compares perception to a mirage. 25
When a particular perception, perverted or hot, occurs frequently, it grows stronger and grips our mind. Then it becomes difficult to get rid of that perception, and the result is well explained in this verse of the Suttanipata 26.
'Who is free from sense perceptions
In him no more bonds exist;
Who by Insight freedom gains
All delusions cease in him;
But who clings to dense perceptions
And to view-points wrong and false
He lives wrangling in this world.'
4. The fourth is Aggregate of Mental (Volitional) Formations (samkharakkhandha). 27 In this group are included all mental factors except feeling (vedana) and perception (sanna) mentioned above. The Abhidhamma speaks of fifty-two mental concomitants or factors (cetasika). Feeling and perception are two of them, but they are not volitional activities. The remaining fifty are collectively known as samkhara, Mental or Volitional Formations. Volition (cetana) plays a very important role in the mental realm. In Buddhism no action is considered as karma (kamma) if that action is void of volition. And like feeling and perception, it is of six kinds: Volition directed to forms, sounds, smells, tastes, bodily contacts and mental objects.
5. The fifth is the Aggregate of Consciousness (vinnanakkhandha) 28 which is the most important of the aggregates; for it is the receptacle, so to speak, for all the fifty-two mental concomitants or factors, since without consciousness no mental factors are available. Consciousness and the factors are interrelated, inter-dependent and co-existent.
Now what is the function of' consciousness? Like feeling, percep-tion and volitional formations, consciousness also has six types and its function is varied. It has its basis and objects. As explained above all our feelings are experienced through the contact of sense faculties with the external world.
The faculty of mind (manindriya) which cognizes mental objects, we know, is not something tangible and perceptible like the other five faculties, which cognize the external world. The eye cognizes the world of colours (vanna) or visible objects, the ear audible sounds, and so forth. The mind, however, cognizes the world of ideas and thoughts. Indriya (faculty) literally means `chief' or `lord'. Forms can only be seen by the faculty of the eye and not by the ear, hearing by the faculty of the ear, and so on. When it comes to the world of thoughts and ideas the faculty of the mind is lord over the mental realm. The eye cannot think thoughts, and collect ideas, but it is instrumental in seeing visible forms, the world of colours.
It is very important here to understand the function of con-sciousness. Although there is this functional relationship between the faculties and their objects, for instance, eye with forms, ear with sounds and so on, |
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