Monday, December 13, 2010

The Four Facts


Based on the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion.



Fact of stress: birth is stressful, aging is stressful, sickness is stressful, death is stressful.
Fact of the origin of stress...
Fact of the cessation of stress...
Fact of the Path leading to the cessation of stress...

I prefer "fact" to "truth" because it's a fact that the word "truth" ruffles feathers.

That Path entails putting a stop to the causes of stress. It is doable. It's not a faraway myth. If you want stress in your life to stop you have to stop planting the causes of stress through delusional and harmful actions of body, speech and mind. There are myriad beautiful choices for right action.

For the vastly important sutta (traditionally the Buddha's first discourse after reaching enlightenment) relating to these four facts, popularly referred to as the Four Noble Truths, see http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ which includes Venerable Thanissaro Bhikkhu's translation (he uses "stress" instead of "suffering"). http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.than.html