Four Ennobling Truths / Tasks

Reflective Meditation

Four ennobling truths / tasks from Linda Modaro and Nelly Kaufer

1. We are vulnerable.
2. The causes and conditions of vulnerability are dependently arisen, and interwoven with our need for others.
3. It is possible for us to live with vulnerability without causing harm, or with less harm.
4. A “tried and true” middle path becomes trustworthy for us.

*complementary offering, used to support other translations

Four Tasks from Stephen Batchelor

1. Embrace Life – Dukkha is to be comprehended – understand
2. Let go of what arises – Let go of reactivity – give up
3. See it’s ceasing – Behold the ceasing – realize
4. Act – Cultivate the path and build the city – develop

Four Noble Truths as translated from the Pali Canon by Bhikkhu Bodhi

1. Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering.
2. Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: it is this craving [taṇhā, “thirst”] which leads to re-becoming, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there; that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for becoming, craving for disbecoming.
3. Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: it is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, non-reliance on it.
4. Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering: it is this noble eightfold path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.

Four Noble Truths from Bhikkhu Analayo

1. diagnosis: the stressful repercussions of whatever difficulty one is facing,
2. etiology: how one is contributing to that distress through craving and attachment,
3. prognosis: the potential for reducing distress by cultivating a different attitude,
4. treatment plan: the path of practice to be undertaken to achieve a change of attitude and a reduction of distress.

Four Noble Truths from Gil Fronsdal

1-2) If you cling, you will suffer.
3-4) If you let go of that clinging, that suffering will end.

Four Truths from Kagyu Scholastic Tradition, offered to us by Karma Yeshe Chodron

1. Recognize suffering.
2. Eradicate its origin.
3. Actualize its cessation.
4. Rely on the path.

Four Noble Truths shared with us by Doyeon Park

1. The truth of dukkha (suffering, unsatisfactoriness, stress): it’s to be understood.
2. The origin of dukkha (clinging to desire): it’s to be abandoned.
3. The cessation of dukkha: it’s to be realized.
4. The path to the cessation of dukkha: it’s to be developed.

Four Noble Truths offered from Chris Seiho Priest

1. The First Truth is the truth of ‘dukkha’ – Life is duhkha.
2. The Second Truth is: where does this suffering come from?
3. The Third Noble Truth of the Buddha is that there is a way beyond this suffering.
4. The Fourth Noble Truth is the Way, which leads us to that experience.

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