THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

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THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

• Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha

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The Four Stages

• blissful stage of meditation
• beyond reasoning
• attentive conscious, with equal mind to joy or
  aversion
• beyond pain pleasure, with equal mind to joy
  and aversion

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THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

• The Noble Truth of Pain
• Birth, age, sickness, death, sorrow despair are
  painful.
• The Noble Truth of the Cause of Pain
• It is craving, which leads to rebirth, pleasure
  passion, existence non-existence.

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THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

• The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Pain
• It is the cessation of craving without remainder,
  forsaking detachment and release from it.
• The Noble Truth that of the Way that leads to the
  Cessation of Pain
• It is the Noble Eightfold Path

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The Noble Eightfold Path

• Right Views
• Give the knowledge of Pain, its Cause, Cessation
  the Path
• Right Motive
• Gives aspiration to renunciation benevolence
• Right Speech
• Abstains from lies and slander
• Right Action
• Abstains from stealing, killing self-indulgence.

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The Noble Eightfold Path

• 5. Right Livelihood
• Follows right pursuits
• 6. Right Effort
• Turns against evil states and towards good
• 7. Right Mindfulness
• Looks on mind body with self-control
• 8. Right Contemplation
• Rises above evil and abides in equanimity bliss

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I have found the deathless and teach the truth

• Why is the body not the soul?
• Because it is subject to sickness
• It is the same with the feelings, perception,
  elements consciousness.
• Because they are impermanent painful

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The Buddha does not a teach a dogma to follow

• The religious life does not depend on dogmas
  concerning whether the world is or is not
  eternal. Or finite or infinite. Why not?
• Because birth, old age, death, sorrow,
  lamentation, misery and despair still exist.
• These are what the Buddha is addressing.
• Bear in mind what I have not explained and what
  I have explained.
• The questions you ask lead away from the path.

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Buddhist Ethics
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Buddhist Ethics

• Essentially, according to Buddhist teachings, the
  ethical and moral principles are governed by
  examining whether a certain action, whether
  connected to body or speech is likely to be
  harmful to one's self or to others and thereby
  avoiding any actions which are likely to be
  harmful.
• In Buddhism, there is much talk of a skilled
  mind. A mind that is skilful avoids actions that
  are likely to cause suffering or remorse.

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Buddhist Ethics

• Moral conduct for Buddhists differs according to
  whether it applies to the laity or to the Sangha
  or clergy.
• A lay Buddhist should cultivate good conduct by
  training in what are known as the "Five
  Precepts".
• These are not like, say, the ten commandments,
  which, if broken, entail punishment by God.
• The five precepts are training rules, which, if
  one were to break any of them, one should be
  aware of the breech and examine how such a breech
  may be avoided in the future.

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Buddhist Ethics

• The resultant of an action (often referred to as
  Karma) depends on the intention more than the
  action itself.
• It entails less feelings of guilt than its
  Judeo-Christian counterpart.
• Buddhism places a great emphasis on 'mind' and it
  is mental anguish such as remorse, anxiety, guilt
  etc. which is to be avoided in order to cultivate
  a calm and peaceful mind.
• The five precepts are

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The five precepts are 1 2

• 1) To undertake the training to avoid taking the
  life of beings. This precept applies to all
  living beings not just humans. All beings have a
  right to their lives and that right should be
  respected.
• 2) To undertake the training to avoid taking
  things not given. This precept goes further than
  mere stealing. One should avoid taking anything
  unless one can be sure that is intended that it
  is for you.

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The five precepts are 3 4

• 3) To undertake the training to avoid sensual
  misconduct. This precept is often mistranslated
  or misinterpreted as relating only to sexual
  misconduct but it covers any overindulgence in
  any sensual pleasure such as gluttony as well as
  misconduct of a sexual nature.
• 4) To undertake the training to refrain from
  false speech. As well as avoiding lying and
  deceiving, this precept covers slander as well as
  speech which is not beneficial to the welfare of
  others.

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The five precepts are 5

• 5) To undertake the training to abstain from
  substances which cause intoxication and
  heedlessness.
• This precept is in a special category as it does
  not infer any intrinsic evil in, say, alcohol
  itself but indulgence in such a substance could
  be the cause of breaking the other four precepts.