THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTH

Definition: These encapsulate the essential teaching of Buddhism:
1. The Noble Truth of Suffering
2. The Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering
3. The Noble Truth of the Extinction of Suffering
4. The Noble Truth that leads to the Extinction of Suffering.

**1. Suffering. The first noble truth. This is the starting point for the Buddhist analysis of the human condition. Suffering refers to mental, physical and emotional suffering in both their gross and subtle forms. Importantly, dukkha also refers to the essential unsatisfactoriness of life. There is happiness in the world but it is never permanent and all life is prone to old age, sickness and eventual death.

**2. the Origin of Suffering; Craving. This is the second noble truth. Craving causes suffering because we constantly desire what is ultimately passing and impermanent

**3. the Extinction of Suffering. To cease blowing. Nibbana is the ultimate goal of Buddhism, the third noble truth. In nibbana, the suffering and the desire that causes suffering have come to an end, as has the cycle of birth and death. Sometimes nibbana was referred to by the Buddha as 'unborn' and 'unconditioned', in contrast to the phenomenal world we experience in our unenlightened state.

**4. The path leads to the Extinction of Suffering.This is the pathway to enlightenment, combining wisdom, morality and meditation. The eight factors are: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.