Understanding Buddhism: The Four Noble Truths and the Concept of Duhkha, Slides of Philosophy

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Buddhism: The Four Noble Truths

Buddhism: the Buddha

• Where we left off: Arguably, the purpose of these stories is to ‘show’ that the Buddha tasted completely of both indulgence and asceticism before choosing a ‘middle way’ between these perceived extremes (Koller, Asian Philosophies , pp.153-55).
• What is the Middle Way of Siddhartha?
• Using meditation to quiet his mind, Siddhartha draws conclusions from his meditative experience about the nature of duhkha , its origins and its dissolution, and using this knowledge eliminates the origins of duhkha in his own life (Koller, Asian Philosophies , pp.153-54).
• The teaching that encapsulates this Middle Way is contained in the Four Noble Truths (Koller, Asian Philosophies , p.154).

The First Noble Truth: Duhkha

• Common translations of duhkha will give you some idea

of what it can mean.

• As I have already said, translators will use terms like ‘ill’,

‘suffering’ or ‘dissatisfaction’.

• The use of such terms as ‘ill’ or ‘suffering’ lend

themselves to the view that Buddhism is pessimistic.

• A better term is ‘dissatisfaction’. This term is better

primarily because it best fits all the contexts in which

the Buddha speaks of duhkha , but also because such an

interpretation of duhkha resonates with a common

view of life which you will find in the ‘West’ (Koller,

Asian Philosophies , pp.155-56).

The First Noble Truth: Duhkha

• The notion that life is unsatisfactory is often recounted

in the West as the ‘feeling’ that there has to be more to

life (than what we have already achieved or acquired,

or [given the present course of our life] can reasonably

hope to achieve or acquire).

• This largely arises from an experience of lack we have

from time to time even following moments of pleasure

or happiness.

• This is a nice, though limited, understanding of duhkha.
• Arguably such a feeling lies at the heart of all ‘spiritual’

pursuits.

The First Noble Truth: Duhkha

• Central to the First Noble Truth is the Buddhist

denial of ‘self’ (their doctrine of anatman ), here

understood as a denial of a permanent entity

underlying our empirical selves (i.e. a denial of

Atman or even of a soul) (Koller, Asian Philosophies ,

pp.157-58).

• Since, for the Hindu contemporaries of the Buddha,

Atman is Brahman , the Buddha is, ipso facto ,

denying the existence of Brahman.