The four noble truthsThe four noble truths of Cattari ariya saccani as they are referred in pali are as follows.

1. Dukkha ariya sacca the noble truth of suffering.

2. Dukkha samudaya ariya sacca the noble truth of the arising of suffering.

3. Dukkha nirodha ariya sacca the noble truth of cessation of suffering and

4. Dukkha nirodha-gamini-patipada ariya sacca the noble truth of the practice the

path leading to the cessation of suffering.

The Buddha’s damma is aimed at explaining the prevalence of dukkha and its

causation. The four noble truths deal with these two main points namely, the problem of

dukkha and its cassation, it is clearly seen that the first two truths , dukkha sacca and

samudhaya ariya sacca deal with what dukkha is and how it is arises. The next two truths;

nirodha sacca and magga sacca pertain to nibbāna that is freedom from dukkha and the

method of realizing Nibbāna.

These are four fundamental statements of the facts regarding the problems all worldly

being had to face as well as about their the situations. Thence it is called the heart of

Buddhism. Buddhist texts say that ignorance means the lack of knowledge regarding

these truths and wisdom is knowledge about them.

In facts these are not four different truths but four different aspects of one

fundamental truth. This is the first noble namely dukkha ariya sacca. The

Dhammacakapavattana sutta, the first discourse preached by the Buddha contains these

four noble truths. According to this sutta the first truth is explained as follows.

Birth is Dukkha, decay is dukkha, disease is dukkha, death is dukkha to be joined

with what is unpleasant is dukkha, to be separated from what is pleasant is

dukkha .failure to get what are desired is dukkha, grief, sorrow, lamentation despair are

dukkha in brief, the five aggregates of grasping are dukkha.

The second truth deals with what the cause of dukkha and herein Tanha or craving is

given as its cause. The third truth deals with the possibility of cessation if dukkha or the

relation of Nibbāna. The fourth truth lays down the path that leads to it. This is the Noble

Eightfold path the ariya attagikamagga.

The basic truth is dukkha, the others three truths are different of it because they deal

with its arising and the path [magga] dealing to cessation. Thus is clear these four noble

truths contain the whole of the Buddha’s teaching as explain in the early Buddhism.

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