How many truths in Buddhism. Nirvana and the path to her - the purpose of the existence of truths of Buddhism
(Sansk. Chatwari Ariasatyani) - four main positions (axioms, truths) expressed by the Buddha after reaching enlightenment. Truth data are the foundation of all Buddhist schools, regardless of the region and name.
Four noble truths
Seeing Siddharthu under the tree, they wanted to tell him something offensive, as they believed that he had betrayed their teachings. However, approaching him closer, they could not say anything but: "How did you do it? Why are you so shine?"
And Buddha gave his first teachings, which were called four noble truths:
First truth
Descriptions and explanations in books
Book joyful wisdom
Having finished his observation, he realized that true freedom was not to care from life, but in a deeper and conscious participation in all its processes. His first thought was: "No one will believe it." Whether the legend says, the calls of the gods, or the all-consuming compassion for people, he finally left Bodhong and went to the West, in ancient city Varanasi, where on open areawho gained fame as deer park, he met with his former satellites-askets. Although at first they almost rejected him with contempt, as he betrayed the path of harsh asksua, yet they could not help but notice that he radiated confidence and satisfaction, superior to all that they reached. They sat down to listen to what he was going to say. His words were very convincing and are so logical that these listeners became its first followers and students.
Principles that Buddha outlined in a deer park is usually called four noble truths. They enter into a simple, direct analysis of the difficulties and opportunities of the position of a person. This analysis is the first of the so-called "three turns of the Dharma Wheel" - consecutive cycles of exercises penetrating into the nature of the experience, which Buddha preached at different times for forty-five years spent in the wanders in ancient India. Each of the turns, relying on the principles expressed in the prior turn, offers a deeper and more permeantive understanding of the nature of the experience. Four noble truths Form the core of all Buddhist paths and traditions. Indeed, Buddha considered them as important that he exposed them many times before the most diverse audiences. Together with his later teachings, they were transmitted from generation to generation and to our time in the collection of texts called Sutras. It is believed that sutras are records of conversations that really had a place between Buddha and his students.
Book Overcoming spiritual materialism
These are these four noble truths: the truth about suffering, the truth about the origin of suffering, the truth about the goal and the truth about the path. We will start with the truth about suffering, and this means that we have to start with the misfortunes, with her madness.
We need to first see the reality of Dukha; This Sanskrit word means "suffering", "dissatisfaction", "pain." Dissatisfaction arises due to the special rotation of the mind: in its movement, it seems to be neither the beginning. Thinking processes continue continuously; There are thoughts about the past, thoughts about the future, thoughts about the present moment. This circumstance is irritated. Thoughts are generated by dissatisfaction and identified to her. This is a dukh, constantly repeating the feeling that we are not enough for something that in our life there is some kind of incomplete that something is not completely correct, not quite satisfactory. Therefore, we always try to replenish the gap, somehow correct the situation, find an extra part of pleasure or safety. The ultimate effect of struggle and concern is very annoying and painful; In the end, the fact that "we are we are annoying.
So, to understand the truth of Dukha - in reality means understanding the neurosis of the mind. We are with a huge energy entailing it into one, then in the other direction. We eat or sleep, work or play - in everything that we do, life contains oakha, dissatisfaction and pain. If we are experiencing some pleasure, we are afraid to lose it; We achieve more and more pleasure or try to keep what we have. If we suffer from pain, we want to get rid of it. All the time we are disappointing. All our activities concludes dissatisfaction.
Somehow comes out that we arrange our life in a special way, which never allows us to have enough time to truly feel her taste. We are constantly busy, constantly waiting for the next moment; Life itself seems to have the quality of permanent desire. This is Oakha, the first noble truth. Understanding suffering and opposition He is the first step.
Acidly realizing your dissatisfaction, we begin to look for her reason, its source. When checking his thoughts and actions, we discover that they are constantly fighting to keep and maintain themselves. It becomes clear to us that the struggle is the root of suffering. Therefore, we try to understand the process of struggle, i.e. Understand the development and activities of "I". This is the second noble truth, the truth about the origin of suffering. As we installed in chapters on spiritual materialism, many people make a mistake, believing that since the root of suffering is in our ego, the goal of spirituality should be to win and destroy this "I". They are fighting to remove the heavy hand of the ego, but as we have previously discovered, such a struggle is nothing but another expression of the ego. We are moving in a circle, striving with the help of improving yourself, until we understand that this desire to improve itself is a problem. The outbreaks of insight come to us only when we stop the struggle when there is a clearance in our struggle when we stop the effort to get rid of thoughts when you stop becoming part of pious, good thoughts against bad and unclean, only when we allow ourselves just look at the nature of these thoughts.
We begin to understand that there is some kind of sound awakening inside us. In fact, this property is manifested only in the absence of struggle. So we open the third noble truth, the truth about the goal, about the termination of the struggle. We only need to discard efforts and strengthen ourselves - and the state of awakening is obvious. But we will soon understand that just "leave everything as it is" is possible only for short periods. We need a special discipline that will lead us to what we call calm when we are able to "leave everything as it is." We must go through the spiritual path. Walking out of suffering to liberation, the ego is caught like the old shoe. So consider this now spiritual path. The fourth noble truth. The practice of meditation is not an attempt to enter into a special state of mind like a trance; She is not attempting to take themselves with some special object.
sìshèngdì, Shen-di
sitai
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Four noble truths (chatwari Ariasatiani), four truths of the Holy - One of the basic teachings of Buddhism, which all his schools adhere to. Four noble truths Formulated the Buddha of Shakyamuni himself and briefly, they can be stated like this: there is suffering; There is a cause of suffering - desire; There is a termination of suffering - Nirvana; There is a path leading to the cessation of suffering - the octal path.
They are given in the very first preaching of the Buddha "Sutra of the Launch of the Dharma Wheel".
The first noble truth about suffering
| And so, about the brothers, the noble truth about the beginning of suffering. True! - The descendant of suffering is in the thirst, which circumscribed on the revival, in this insatiable thirst, which leads the person to that, to another, is related to human dellands, in the lust of passions, in the lust of the future life, in the extension of the present. Such is the brothers, the noble truth about the beginning of suffering. |
Thus, the cause of dissatisfaction is in the thirst ( tangha), which leads to a continuous stay in Sansara. The satisfaction of desires is very violently and through a short time leads to the emergence of new desires. This turns out a closed cycle to meet desires. The more desires cannot be satisfied, the more suffering is growing.
The source of bad karma often lies in attachment and hatred. Their consequences lead to dissatisfaction. The root of attachment and hatred - in the ignorance, ignorance of the true nature of all creatures and inanimate objects. This is not just a consequence of insufficient knowledge, but a false worldview, fabrication of the full opposite of truth, an erroneous understanding of reality.
Third noble truth about termination
Truth of termination of Dukkha (dukkha Nirodha (SanskR. निरोध, niroga. IAST. ), Dukkhanirodho fell (Nirodho - "termination", "attenuation", "suppression")). Noble truth about cessation of restless dissatisfaction: "This is a complete calmness [of unrest] and termination, refusal, disposable, this is exemption from the distance from that thirst (exemption-distance)".
A condition in which there is no Dukkha is achievable. The elimination of the contamination of the mind (unnecessary attachments, hatred, envy and intolerance) is the truth about the state outside of "suffering." But little just to read about it. To understand this truth, you need to use meditation in practice to clean the mind. About how to implement it in everyday life, Says the fourth truth.
Some monks who wandered with the Buddha understood the third truth incorrectly, as a complete refusal of all wishes at all, self-keeping and a complete restriction of all needs, so the Buddha in his speech warns from such an interpretation (see the quote below). After all, even the Buddha himself had a desire to eat, drink, dress, comprehend the truth, etc. That is, it is important to separate the right desires from the wrong, and follow the "median way" without going into extremes.
Fourth noble truth about the path
Truth about the path leading to the cessation of Dukkha (dukkha Nirochha Gami Patipad Marga (SanskR. मार्ग, mārga. IAST. , literally "path"); Pali Dukkhanirodhagāminī PaṭiPadā (Gāminī - "Leading to", PaṭiPadā - "Path", "Practice")).
| And so, about the brothers, the noble truth about the path leading to the thoughts of all sorrow. True! - then the noble octal path is true view, true intention, true speech, true actions, true lifestyle, true diligence, true reflection, true concentration. Such is the monks, the noble truth about the path leading to the thoughts of all sorrow. |
Follow the "median path" means to keep the golden middleness between the physical and spiritual world, between asceticism and enjoyment; So do not fall in extremes.
| And here all the bad things turned to the five monks around him and said:
Two are extremes, about the brothers who should not follow the one who renounced the world. On the one hand, - the attraction to things, the whole charm of which depends on the passions and from all over, from sensuality: this is a low path of lust, unworthy, unfortunate for the one who moved away from worldly seases. On the other hand, the path of self-rejuvenations, unworthy, painful, blissful. There is a middle way: about brothers, far from those two extremes, led by the perfect - the path that culbs the eyes, the enlightening mind and leads the path to the spiritual world, to the sublime wisdom, to the perfection of awakening, to Nirvana! What is the middle way, about the monks, is the path of far from both extremes, led by perfect, which leads to excellence, to the sublime wisdom, to the spiritual world, to perfect awakening, to Nirvana? True! Then the octal noble path: true view, true intention, true speech, true actions, true lifestyle, true diligence, true reflection, true concentration |
Denial of four noble truths
The sutra of the heart, which a number of Mahayan schools hold, denies four noble truths ("There is no suffering nor the causes of suffering, no termination of suffering, nor way"), that, as E. A. Torchinov indicates, it sounded blasphemy or even shocking for the followers of Fryana who lived during the emergence and development of Mahayana
Buddhism is one of the world religious teachings, every year becoming increasingly popular and conquering new hearts. In the consciousness, a radical change occurs in this religious and philosophical direction, as Buddhism is different looking for life and its manifestations. Christianity, Judaism and Islam provide unquestioned leadership of the Divine Essence of Human Will. God has absolute power and obey him - the sacred duty of every believer. In these religions, human thoughts and aspirations are directed at all, from themselves to the ideal God, who needs to be subordinate, prayers, endorsements, righteous life built by the canons dictated by the Church. Buddhism provides spiritual quests directed into their own consciousness in search of truth and unity with the spiritual start, common to all of the existing.
What is four basic noble truths of Buddhism
Buddhist teachings (Dharma) are based on four major postulates, or truths. Here they are listed briefly:
- Dukkha, or suffering.
- Samudyia, or the cause of Dukkha.
- Niroch, or the cessation of Dukkha.
- Magga, or the road to the cessation of Dukkhi.
All truths are four stages passing on the way to Nirvana.
Dukkha
Immediately it is necessary to make a reservation that "suffering" in Buddhist interpretation is devoid of the meaning that he attached to Christianity. For us, suffering is pain, loss, misfortune, death. In Buddhism, this concept is significantly wider and includes all areas of life, without directly related to its physical manifestations. Yes, Dukkha is suffering, but not necessarily physical, and spiritual, associated with the imperfection of human being. People always have a disharmony between the desired and valid. Roughly speaking, life always has some disadvantage: if you live richly, then you lose your loved ones, native alive, but someone is sick, health does not mean financial well-being and so on to infinity. From the point of view of Buddhism, suffering is dissatisfaction with what you have, the inability to achieve the ideal. In this regard, suffering fills life, that is, "everything is Dukkha." A person is unable to change the laws of nature, but it can reach agreement with himself. The next stage in the comprehension of four truths is the awareness of the causes of their problems.
Samudyia
The cause of suffering consists in dissatisfaction, that is, the inability to get the desired. We are craving for wealth, we get it, but we understand that having achieved their goal, we begin to pass one who else. Obtaining the desired does not exclude suffering, but only increases it. The more you want, the more disappointed or be sure to achieved. Even the condition of happiness is inseparable from dissatisfaction. Covering into this world of the child, the woman is absolutely happy, while experiencing physical and spiritual flour from fear for the future of their baby.
There is not only stability in life, there is no constancy in the global understanding of this term. Everything is in continuous movement, constantly changing, transforming and turning. Even human desires change over time and rethink. The fact that we passionately wanted and what they strive for all souls from the last strength is unnecessary and uninteresting in the next life stage. As a result, we experience disappointment - one of the species of suffering from the point of view of Buddhism. In this sense, the cause of suffering - we ourselves, more precisely, what lies in the depths of us, our passions, desires, aspirations and dreams.
Niroch
This very word in translation means control. The only way to change its condition and get rid of torment is to stop suffering. To do this, it is necessary to get rid of the cause generating these feelings. These are our desires, passions, affection, dreams. Property also gives rise to dissatisfaction, since it is associated with fears of losing it, hopes to increase and the need to maintain it in a decent state. Dreams give rise to problems and when come true, and when they rushes. To stop feeling flour, you need to get rid of fruitless dreams and enjoy what you have - the very fact of being. Passion needs to be monitored, for the fire of desire is the cause of the greatest disorders and dissatisfaction in this life. How often we strive to take possession of your loved one and how quickly sometimes enthusiastic love and affection turns into its full opposite - denial and hatred. There is a way not to suffer from passions - to subordinate them to your control.
The cessation of suffering by controlling his passions, desires and affections frees the follower of Buddhism from PUT and immerses it into a special state, which is called "Nirvana". This is a higher bliss, free from Dukkha, merging with the Divine Spirit and the World I ". A person ceases to feel like a particular person and becomes part of the spiritual and material universe, a part of the total deity.
Magga
Trying to get rid of Dukkha, one person rushes into the puchin of passions, seeking to stroke the pain of losses and disappointments with new connections, things and dreams. The other, staying in the constant fear of Dukkha, refuses at all from everything and becomes ascetic, exhausting and tested its flesh in vain attempts to get away from a series of losses and pain, gain happiness. Both of these paths are extremes that do not carry anything but self-destruction and only multiplying sadness and sorrow. The true Buddhists elect the so-called median path running between two extremes. It is not aimed at external manifestations, but to the concentration of own internal forces. It is also called otherwise, as it consists of eight states, passing which you can achieve the state of Nirvana. All these states can be divided into three stages, which need to be gradually and systematically: sewn (morality), samadhi (discipline) and panya (wisdom).
Noble octal path
Many obstacles are scattered on the way to Nirvana, overcome which is not so simple. They are connected with the earthly, the carnal essence of a person and prevent his spiritual liberation and liberation. You can briefly formulate them as:
- Illusory personality
- Doubt
- Superstition
- Plot passions
- Hatred
- Attachment to earthly being
- Thirst for pleasure
- Pride
- Complacency
- Ignorance
Only overcoming these obstacles, you can consider the octal path passed. The indicators of this are three aspects of Buddhism:
Panya - Wisdom
1. Correct appearance.
2. Proper thinking.
Shila - morality
3. Proper speech.
4. Proper behavior.
5. Proper lifestyle.
Samadhi - discipline
6. Proper zeal.
7. Proper self-discipline.
8. Proper concentration.
Passing all these stages, a person acquires well-being, happiness and solves its vital problems, and then enters Nirvana, getting rid of all kinds of suffering.
Despite the heterogeneity and multiplicity of the flows inside Buddhism, which sometimes contradict one other, they are all based on four basic noble truths. It is believed that these principles were understood, identified and formulated by the Buddha. He tied up four truths with the relations of the doctor and the patient, in which he himself performed as a doctor, and all of humanity - in the role of the suffering from numerous diseases. The first truth in this light appears as a statement of the fact of the disease, the second is to establish a diagnosis, the third is an understanding of the possibility of cure, the fourth - the purpose of the course of drugs and therapeutic procedures. Continuing the chain of associations, it can be said that the Buddha and his teaching is an experienced doctor, four noble truths - a method and methodology of cure, and Nirvana is a complete health, physical and psychological.
The Buddha insisted that his doctrine is not a dogma, compulsory for unquestioned follow-ups and followers. He came to his conclusions on his own, analyzing himself and his life path and offered all his words questioned and check. It is a fundamentally opposite to the traditions of other religions and beliefs, where the word of God is unshakable and unshakable and requires unconditional adoption without the slightest oscillations. The remaining personal opinions and rethinking of Divine Scripture belong to the yellies and are subject to radical eradication. This is exactly what Buddhist teachings make such attractive in the eyes of its modern students and followers - freedom of choice and will.
Buddha himself formulated his religious program in the form of four main provisions ("Four noble truths").
1. Life is suffering.
2. There is a cause of suffering.
3. Suffering can be discontinued.
4. There is a way leading to the termination of suffering.
The reason for suffering is a terrible thirst, accompanied by sensual pleasures and seeking satisfaction here, then there; This is a desire to satisfy feelings, to well-being. The variability and impermanence of a person who is never satisfied with the performance of their desires, starting to wish more and more, is the true cause of suffering. According to Buddha, truth is eternal and unchanged, and any change (including rebirth human soul) - This is an evil, protruding the source of human suffering. Desires cause suffering, as a person wishes that it is not permanently, changeable, and therefore facial, because it is the death of the subject of desire to give a person the greatest suffering.
Since all the pleasures are transient, and false desire arises from ignorance, the end of suffering comes when knowledge is achieved, and the Nevihood and false desire different sides The same phenomenon. Ignorance is the theoretical side, it is embodied in practice in the form of false desires, which cannot be completely satisfied, and, accordingly, cannot deliver a true pleasure to a person. However, the Buddha does not seek to substantiate the need to obtain true knowledge in contrast to those illusions that the person usually takes itself. Ignorance is a necessary condition ordinary life: There is nothing in the world, it would be worth it to try to truly strive, so any desire for big account is false. In the world of Sansara, there is nothing permanent in the world of constant rebirth and variability, there is nothing permanent: neither things, nor "I" of a person, because body sensations, perception and awareness of the external in relation to a single person of the world - all this is only visibility, illusion. What we consider "me" is only a sequence of empty visibility that seems to us with individual things. Having rejected in the general stream of the universe, certain stages of the existence of this flow, considering the world as a set of objects, not processes, people create a global and comprehensive illusion, which is called the world.
The elimination of the causes of the suffering of Buddhism sees in the eradication of human desires and, accordingly, in the termination of rebirth and shift in the state of Nirvana. For a person, Nirvana is a liberation from Karma, when all the sadness ceases, and the personality, in habitual meaning of this word, disintegrates to dismiss the place of the realization of its in -ure-free involvement in the world. The word "Nirvana" in Sanskrit means "attenuation" and "cooling": the attenuation resembles complete destruction, and the cooling symbolizes the destruction of incomplete, accompanied by not physical death, but only the dying of passions and desires. By expression, which is attributed to the Buddha itself, "the liberated mind is similar to the fading flame", that is, Shakyamuni compares Nirvana with a fading flame that can no longer maintain straw or firewood.
According to Canonical Buddhism, Nirvana is not a state of bliss, since such a feeling would be only a continuation of the desire to live. Buddha refers to the attenuation of false desire, and not all existence; The destruction of the flame of lust and ignorance. Therefore, it distinguishes two types of nirvana: 1) uphadhishesh(fading human passion); 2) anupaadhishasha(fading along with passion and life). The first type of nirvana is perfectly the second, since only accompanied by the destruction of the desire, and not by the deprivation of a person of life. A person can reach Nirvana and continue to live on, and he can achieve enlightenment only at that very moment when his soul is separated from the body.
Solving the question of what path is it preferable, the Buddha came to the conclusion that the true path cannot be passed to those who have lost strength. There are two extremes that the one who decided to exemption from the firm bobs of Sansary should not follow: on the one hand, the usual commitment to passions and pleasures received from sensually comprehended things, and, on the other hand, the usual commitment to self-herding, which is painful, Ungrateful and useless. There is an average path, opening the eyes and gives a mind leading to peace and insight, higher wisdom and nirvana. This path in Buddhism is called noble octicbecause it includes mandatory eight steps of improvement.
1. Right viewthey stand at the first stage, since what we do, reflects what we think. Incorrect actions occur from incorrect views, therefore, optimal method The prevention of unrighteous actions is the right knowledge and monitoring of its observation.
2. Right aspirationthere is a result of the right vision. This is a desire for renunciation, hope for life in love with all things and creatures that are in this world, the desire for genuine humanity.
3. Proper speech.Even the correct aspirations, especially so that they led to appropriate results, it is necessary to express, that is, they should be reflected in the right speech. It is necessary to refrain from lies, crouching, coarse expressions, frivolous conversation.
4. Correct actionsit is not in sacrifices or worship of the gods, but in refusal of violence, active self-sacrifice and willingness to give their lives for the good of other people. In Buddhism, there is a position that a person who provided immortality can help achieve an enlightenment by another person, having transferred him part of his merit.
5. Right life.Proper actions lead to moral life, free from deception, lies, fraud and intrigue. If there is still a question about the external behavior of a saving person, then attention appeals to internal cleansing. The purpose of all efforts is to eliminate the cause of the sorrow, for which subjective cleansing it is necessary.
6. Proper effortit is to carry out power over passions, which should prevent the implementation of evil qualities and promote strengthening good qualities With the help of the absence and concentration of the mind. For concentration, it is necessary to stop at any good thought, to evaluate the danger of turning the bad thought in reality, distract attention from the bad thought, destroy the reason for its occurrence, distract the mind from evil with bodily voltage.
7. Proper thinkingcannot be separated from the right effort. To avoid mental impermanence, we must subjugate our mind along with its throwers, distractions and scattered.
8. Proper calm -the last stage of the noble octal path, the result of which it becomes a refusal of emotions and the achievement of a contemplative state.
The ultimate goal of Buddhism is to get rid of suffering and reincarnation. Buddha said: "And in the past and in the present I speak only one thing: the suffering and destruction of suffering." Despite the negative initial position of this formula, the goal has also has a positive aspect, because it is possible to put an end to suffering, only by realizing our human potential of kindness and happiness. About who reaches the state of complete self-realization, they say that he reached Nirvana. Nirvana is the greatest good in Buddhism, the ultimate and higher good. It is also a concept and condition. As a concept, it reflects a certain vision of the implementation of human capabilities, outlines the contours and forms of the perfect life; As a condition, it is embodied in a person who seeks to her.
The desire for nirvana is understandable, but how to achieve it? The answer is partially contained in previous chapters. We know that the righteous life is highly valued in Buddhism; Live virtuously - a necessary condition. However, some scientists reject this idea. They argue that the accumulation of merit with the help of a good deed actually interferes with the achievement of Nirvana. Good deeds, in their opinion, create karma, and karma leads to a series of rebirths. Then, they argue, it follows from this that to achieve Nirvana, it is necessary to exceed karma and all other considerations of ethics. In connection with such an understanding of the issue there are two problems. First, why, if a virtuous act serves as an interference on the way to Nirvana, the sacred texts are constantly calling for good deeds? Secondly, why are those who achieved enlightenment, for example, the Buddha continue to live an highly moral life?
The solution of these problems is possible if the high-level life is only a part of the perfection achieved by the person necessary for immersion in Nirvana. Then, if virtue (power, SanskR. - Shila) is one of the main elements of this ideal, it cannot be self-sufficient and needs some addition. This one is different necessary element - Wisdom, ability to perceive (Panya, Sanskr. - Prauda). "Wisdom" in Buddhism means a deep philosophical understanding of the state of a person. It requires penetration into the nature of reality achieved with long and deep reflections. This is one of the types of gnosis, or directly comprehending the truth, which in time deepens and eventually reaches the vertices in the enlightenment experienced by the Buddha.
1. Truth of suffering (Dukkha).
But, the monks, what is the noble truth of suffering? Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, the disease is suffering, death is suffering. Pain, grief, sorrow, sadness, despair is suffering. Connection with Nemoch is suffering, separation with cute there is suffering. The unattainableness of the desired is suffering. Thus, five states (Skandhs) of the individual - suffering.
So, Nirvana is the unity of virtue and wisdom. The ratio between them in the language of philosophy can be expressed as follows: and virtue and wisdom are "necessary" conditions of Nirvana, the presence of only one of them is "not enough." Only together they make it possible to achieve Nirvana. In one of the earliest texts, they compare with two hands, detergent and cleansing each other, a person deprived of one of them is imperfect (D.I 124).
If wisdom is really an absolutely necessary satellite, what a person should know to achieve enlightenment? To know the truth, perceived by the Buddha on the night of enlightenment and subsequently stated in the first sermon, which he uttered in a deer park near Benares. This sermon is referred about four positions known as four noble truths. They argue that: 1) Life is suffering, 2) suffering is generated by the desire or thirst for pleasures, 3) suffering can be discontinued, 4) There is a way leading to getting rid of suffering. Sometimes, as an illustration of the relationship between them, a comparison with medicine is made, while Buddha compare with a healer who has found a cure for the alend of life. First, it makes a diagnosis of illness, secondly, explains its cause, thirdly, determines the means against it, fourth, proceeds to treatment.
The American psychiatrist M. Scott Pek begins his best-selling book "Increasing path" with the words: "Life is hard." Speaking about the first noble truth, he adds: "This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths." Famous in Buddhism as "Truth of suffering," she became the cornerstone of the teachings of the Buddha. According to this truth, suffering (Dukkha, Sanskr. - Dukhkha) is an integral part of life, and determines the state of a person as a state of "non-satisfaction". It applies to many types of suffering, starting with physical, such as birth, aging, illness and death. Most often they are associated with physical pain, and there is much more serious problem - the inevitability of repetition of this cycle in each subsequent life both for the person himself and for his loved ones. People are powerless in the face of these realities and, despite the newest discoveries in medicine, are still susceptible to disease and accidents due to their bodily nature In addition to physical pain, the truth of suffering indicates its emotional and psychological forms: "Mountain, sorrow, sadness and despair" . They can sometimes represent more painful problems than physical suffering: few people have any life without grief and grief, while there are many severe psychological states, such as chronic depression, to completely get rid of which is impossible.
In addition to these obvious examples, the truth of suffering mentions a more sophisticated form of suffering, which can be defined as "existential". This follows from the approval: "The unattainableness of the desired is suffering", i.e. the failure, disappointment, the collapse of illusions, experienced when the hopes and reality do not meet our desires. Buddha was not a pessimist and, of course, knew from his own experience when he was a young prince that there could be pleasant moments in life. The problem, however, is that good times Do not last forever, sooner or later they leave or a person bore what seemed new and promising. In this sense, the word Dukkha has a more abstract and in-depth meaning: it indicates that even life devoid may not bring satisfaction and self-realization. In this and in many other contexts, the word "dissatisfaction" more precisely expresses the meaning of "Dukhkhi" than "suffering."
The truth of suffering makes it possible to identify what is the main reason why human life Does not bring complete satisfaction. The statement that "Five Skands of Personality is suffering," concerns the teachings set out by the Buddha in the second sermon (WIN.I.1z). We list them: the body (Rupa), the feeling (vedana), images of perception (samjnnya), desire and deductions (Sanskara), consciousness (Widnjnana). There is no need to consider it in detail, since it is not important to us as much as it is included in this list, like what is not included. In particular, the doctrine does not mention the soul or "I", understood as an eternal and unchanged spiritual essence. This position of the Buddha departs from the orthodox Indian religious tradition of brahmanism, which argued that each person possesses an eternal soul (atman), which is either part of the metaphysical absolute - Brahman (impersonal deity), or is identical to him.
Buddha said that he did not find evidence of the existence of a human soul (Atman), nor its cosmic analogue (Brahman). On the contrary, his approach is practical and empirical - closer to psychology than theology. His explanation of human nature, formed from five states, is largely reminded by an explanation of the design of a car consisting of wheels, gearbox, engine, steering, body. Of course, in contrast to scientists, he believed that the moral essence of a person (which can be called "spiritual DNA") is experiencing death and is embodied again. Arriving that five states of personality are suffering, Buddha pointed out that human nature cannot become the basis of constant happiness. As human It consists of five constantly changing "attributes", sooner or later, suffering will inevitably arise, as well as the car is in the end wear and break. Suffering, thus woven into the very tissue of our being.
The content of the truth of suffering is partly explained by the fact that the Buddha saw the first three signs - the old man, lepers and the deceased - and realized that life was full of suffering and misfortunes. Many, referring to Buddhism, find that his assessment of the position of a person is pessimistic, but Buddhists believe that their religion is not pessimistic and is not optimistic, but realistic that the truth of suffering only objectively states the facts. If it seems pessimistic, then this is due to the long-standing of people to avoid unpleasant truths and "look for all the bright side." That is why Buddha noted that the truth of suffering is extremely difficult to understand. It looks like a realization by a person of the fact that he is seriously sick, which I do not want to admit anyone, and that it is impossible to recover.
If life is suffering, how does it occur? The second noble truth is the truth of the emergence (self-judgment) - explains that suffering arises from a passionate desire or "thirst for life" (Tanha). Passion flammives suffering as fire - firewood. In his sermon (C.IV.19), Buddha said that the whole human experience "buys" by desires. Fire is a successful metaphor for desire, since it absorbs what it nourishes without receiving satisfaction. It quickly spreads, goes back to new items and causes pain, like unfulfilled desires.
2. Truth of emergence (self-judgment).
Here, about the monks, the truth of the emergence of suffering. It is a thirst for life, attachment to illusory earthly values \u200b\u200b(Tanha), which leads to rebirth, is associated with a frantic delight in shape. 1) sensual pleasures, 2) thirst for "prosperity", being, 3) thirst for "destruction", non-existence.
It is the desire to live, to enjoy life is the reason for rebirth. If you continue the comparison of the five "attributes" of a person with a car, then the desire is a fuel that leads it in motion. Although it is usually considered that rebirth comes from life to life, it also happens from a moment to a moment: a person says that it is reborn in seconds if these five elements change and interact, movable with thirst for pleasant experiences. The continuity of the existence of a person from one life to another is simply the result of the accumulated power of desire.
The truth of the emergence argues that a passionate desire is manifested in three main forms, the first of which is the thirst for sensual pleasures. It takes the form of the desire to enjoy through the objects of perception, for example, a pleasant taste, sensations, smells, sounds. The second is the thirst for "prosperity." This concerns the deep, instinctive desire for the existence that pushes us to new lives and new experiences. The third type of manifestation of a passionate desire is the desire not to possession, but to "destruction." This is the revolving side of the thirst of life, embodied in the instinct of denial, rejection of what is unpleasant and undesirable. Thirst for destruction can also lead to selflessness and self-denial.
Low self-esteem and thoughts like "I can't do nothing" or "I am a loser" there are manifestations of such an installation aimed at yourself. In extreme forms, it can lead to physical self-destruction, for example suicide. The physical self-keeping, from which the Buddha eventually refused, can also be viewed as a manifestation of self-denial.
So does this mean that any desire is evil? We must very carefully approach similar conclusions. Although the word of Tanha is often translated as "desire" (desire), it has a narrower value - desire, in a sense of perverted by irreimity or a bad goal. It is usually directed to sensual excitement and pleasure. However, not all the desires are as follows, and in Buddhist sources often refers to positive desires (Candida). To strive for a positive goal for yourself and for others (for example, to achieving Nirvana), wishing happiness to others, want the world that will remain after you, it is better - here are examples of positive and beneficial desires that are not determined by Tanha's concept.
If bad desires restrain and throw a person, the good give him strength and freedom. To see the difference, take smoking for the example. The desire of the avid smokers to smoke another cigarette - Tanha, because it was not aimed at which otherwise, as a momentary pleasure, obsessive, limited, cyclical, and will not lead anything other than the next cigarette (and how side effect - To poor health). On the other hand, the desire of the avid smokers to quit smoking will be beneficial, because it will break a closed circle of an obsessive bad habit, serve as health and well-being.
In the truth of the occurrence of Tanha, the above-mentioned "three roots of evil" is a passion, hatred and error. In Buddhist art, they are depicted in the form of a rooster, pigs and snakes carrying in a circle in the center of the "Wheel of Life", which we spoke about in the third chapter, while they form a circle - the tail of one holds the other in the mouth. Since thirst for life creates only another desire, rebirth form a closed cycle, people are born again and again. As this happens, explains the theory of causality in detail, which is called Patikka-Samuptpad (SanskR. - Prattea-Samutpad - interdependent origin). This theory explains how desire and ignorance leads to a circuit of rebirths consisting of 12 stages. But for us now is more important not to consider these stages in detail, but to understand the main principle underlying them, which refers not only to human psychology, but also to reality in general.
3. Truth of termination (Nirochka).
Here, about the monks, the truth of the termination of suffering is a refusal of thirst for life (Tanha), care from her, renunciation from her, exemption from it, getting rid of affection for it.
In the most general features The essence of this theory is that each consequence has a reason, in other words, everything arises in interdependence. According to this, all phenomena are part of the causal series, nothing exists independently, in itself and in itself. Therefore, the Universe is not a totality of static subjects, but in constant movement, the plexus of causes and consequences. Moreover, just as a person's personality, it is possible to decompose on five "attributes" without a residue, and all phenomena can be reduced to the components of their components without finding any "essence" in them. All emerging has three signs of existence, namely: misunderstanding of the strugnure of earthly life (Dukkha), variability (anigga) and the lack of self-supporting (Anatta). "Causes and things" do not give satisfaction, because they are inconvenient (and, consequently, unstable and unreliable), because they do not have their own nature, independent of universal causal processes.
Obviously, the Buddhist Universe is primarily characterized by cyclical changes: at the psychological level - an infinite process of desire and satisfaction; on the personal - chain of deaths and rebirths; On the cosmic - the creation and destruction of galaxies. At the heart of all this is the principles of the theory of Patikka-Selfpad, the provisions of which were later thoroughly developed by Buddhism.
The third noble truth is the truth of termination (Niroch). She says that when delighted from thirst for life, suffering is stopped and nirvana comes. As we know from the history of the Buddha life, Nirvana has two forms: the first comes in life ("Nirvana with the residue"), and the second after death ("Nirvana without a residue). Buddha reached at the age of 35 Nirvana during life, sitting under the smack. When he was 80, he plunged into the last nirvana, from which there is no return through rebirth.
"Nirvana" literally means "extinction" or "stiffness", just as the flame of the candle goes out. But what exactly "fades"? Maybe this is the soul of a man, his "I", his personality? It may not be a soul, since Buddhism generally denies its existence. This is not "I" or self-awareness, although Nirvana is definitely implies a fundamental change in the state of consciousness released from attachment to "I" and "mine". In fact, the flame of the Triads - passion, hatred and error, which leads to reincarnation. Indeed, the simplest definition of "Nirvana with the residue" is "the end of passion, hatred and error" (p.38.1). This phenomenon is a psychological and moral, transformed state of the individual who inherent in peace, deep spiritual joy, compassion, sophisticated and penetrated perception. Negative mental states and emotions, such as, for example, doubt, anxiety, anxiety and fear, are absent in the enlightened mind. Some or all these qualities are inherent in the holy in many religions, to some extent, ordinary people can have some of them. However, enlightened, similar to the Buddha or arhat, is inherent in full.
What happens to man when he dies? There is no clear answer to this question in early sources. Difficulties in understanding this arise precisely in connection with the last Nirvana, when the flames of thirst for life goes out, the reincarnation and the person who achieved enlightenment is not born again. Buddha said that asking where the enlightened after death is, it's like asking where the flame is going when it is poisoned. The flame, of course, does not "leave anywhere", the process of burning simply stops. Getting rid of the thirst for life and ignorance is equivalent to the cessation of access of oxygen required for burning. However, it should not be assumed that the comparison with the flame means that Nirvana without a residue is destruction. In the sources, it is clearly indicated that such an understanding is erroneous, as well as the conclusion that Nirvana is the eternal existence of the soul.
Buddha was opposed various interpretations Nirvana, attaching important importance to achieving it. Those who asked Nirvana, he compared with a man wounded by a poisoned arrow, who instead of removing the arrow, persistently asks meaningless in this situation questions about who released it, as his name, from which he kind, how far he was standing etc. (MI426). In full compliance with the unwillingness of the Buddha to develop this topic, early sources determine Nirvana mainly through denial, that is, as "lack of desires", "Suppression of thirst", "quenching", "fading". Less can be found positive definitions, including such as "favorable", "good", "purity", "peace", "truth", "far coast". In some texts, it is indicated that Nirvana is transcendent, as "unborn, non-unauthorized, indifferent and incomparable" (successful, 80), but it is not known how it should be interpreted. As a result, the nature of "Nirvana without a residue" remains a mystery to everyone who has not experienced. However, what we can be confident is that it means the end of suffering and rebirth.
4. Truth path (Magga).
Here, about the monks, the truth of the path (Magga), which leads to the termination of suffering. This is a noble "octal path", which consists of 1) the right views, 2) of the right reflection, 3) of the right speech, 4) of the right behavior, 5) the correct way to maintain life, 6) of the right application forces, 7) of the right memory, 8) Proper concentration.
The fourth noble truth is the truth of the path (Magga, Sanskr. - Marga) - explains how the transition from Sansary to Nirvana should occur. In the bustle of everyday life, few people stop to think about the most full-fledged lifestyle. These questions were worried about Greek philosophers, and Buddha also contributed to their understanding. He believed that the Higher Form of Life was life leading to the improvement of virtue and knowledge, and the "octal path" defines a lifestyle with which it is possible to implement it in practice. It is also called the "middle way" because it passes between two extremes: life in frills and strict asceticism. It includes eight steps divided into three categories - morality, concentration (meditation) and wisdom. They define the parameters of the human good and indicate where the human prosperity sector is located. In the "Morality" category (sewn) are improved moral qualitiesIn the category "Wisdom" (Panya), intellectual qualities are developing. The role of meditation will be considered in detail in the next chapter.
Although the "path" consists of eight parts, one should not be submitted to themselves as the steps that a person passes, approaching Nirvana, leaving them behind. On the contrary, eight steps are ways to continuously improve "morality", "meditation" and "wisdom". "Right views" means the recognition of Buddhist teaching first, and then their empirical confirmation; "Proper thinking" is committed to the formation of faithful installations; "The right speech" is the saying of the truth, manifestation of thoughtfulness and interest in the conversation, and the "proper behavior" is to refrain from bad actions, such as murder, theft or poor behavior (sensual pleasures). " The right way Life maintenance "implies a refusal to harm others; "Proper application of forces" - gaining control of its thoughts and the development of positive mindset; "The right memory" is the development of a permanent understanding, "the right concentration" is to achieve the state of the deepest peace of mind, to which various methods of concentration and integration of personality are directed.
1. Right views wisdom
2. Proper reflection (Panya)
3. Proper Speech Morality
4. Proper behavior (sewed)
5. Right way to maintain life
6. Proper app Meditation forces
7. Right memory (samadhi)
8. Proper concentration
« Octal path"And the three components
In this regard, the practice of the "octal path" is a kind of modeling process: these eight principles show how the Buddha will live, and living like a Buddha, a person can gradually become. The "octal path", so it is the path of self-transformation, intellectual, emotional and moral perestroika, during which a person is reoriented with narrow, selfish goals for the development of self-realization opportunities. Through the desire for knowledge (panya) and the moral virtue (sewn), ignorance and selfish desires are overcome, the reasons that generate suffering are eliminated, and Nirvana comes.
