THE 4 NOBLE TRUTHS ―Just as the footprints of all animals are encompassed by the footprint of the elephant, and the elephant's footprint is reckoned the foremost among them in terms of size; in the same way, all skillful qualities are gathered under the four noble truths.‖ -MN 28 The 4 noble truths are part of the 4th foundation of mindfulness and constitute the heart of the Buddhist teaching. The Buddha said that it was his discovery of the 4 truths that led to his awakening. The truths are not meant as a Buddhist dictum but are a fundamental insight into the way things actually are. Rather than focusing on metaphysical questions, the Buddha addresses the very practical issue of “what is the basic problem with life and how can it be rectified?” He does this in the traditional Indian medical format of making a diagnosis (1st truth), describing the cause (2nd truth), giving the prognosis (3 rd truth), and prescribing the treatment (4 th truth). Taken as a whole, the 4 noble truths give a complete picture of practice and encompass the whole dharma. Each truth is not just to be understood, but has a task that must be undertaken in order to penetrate the truth fully. The 1st Noble Truth is the truth of dukkha. This truth states that inherent to life is dukkha. This Pali word is usually defined in English as “suffering.” However, many people enjoy lives of privilege and do not believe they suffer. What dukkha points to in our lives is a baseline unsatisfactoriness that arises in
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