Four Noble Truths:
1- The Noble Turth of Dukkha
2- The Noble Truth of the Cause of Dukkha
3- The Noble Truth of the End of Dukkha
4- The Noble Truth of the path leading to the End of Dukkha
Dukkha is the Pali word. It has generally been translated as Suffering or unsatisfactoriness, but this term as used in the Four Noble Truths has a deeper and wider meaning. Dukkha contains not only the ordinary meaning of suffering, but also includes deeper ideas such imperfection, pain, impermanence, disharmony, discomfort, irritation, or awareness of incompleteness and insufficiency. By all means, Dukkha includes physical and mental suffering: birth, decay, disease, death, to be united with the unpleasant, to be separated from the pleasant, not to get what one desires.
Noble Eightfold Path or Middle Path( Majjhima Patipada )អដ្ឋង្គិកមគ្គៈ
1- Right Understanding means to know and understand the four Noble Truths.
2- Right Thoughts means to think three kinds of thoughts:
i. thoughts of renunciation of thoughts which do not have lustful desires
ii. thoughts of goodwill to others which are opposed to illwill
iii. thoughts of harmlessness as opposed to cruelty
3- Right Speech deals with refraining from falsehood such as telling lies or not telling the truth; slandering or saying bad about other people; harsh words and frivolous talks such as gossiping.
4- Right Action deals with refraining from killing, stealing and sexual misconduct.
5- Right livelihood deals with the five kinds of trades which should be avoided in order to lead a noble life. They are trading in arms ( weapons), living beings, flesh ( breeding animals for slaughter), intoxicating drinks, and poison.
6- Right Effort has four parts:
i. to try to stop evil thoughts that have3 arisen
ii. to prevent evil thoughts from arising
iii. to try to develop unrisen good thoughts
iv. to try to continue good thoughts that have arisen.
7- Right Mindfulness is also fourfold. It is mindfulness of the body, mindfulness of sensations, mindfulness of thouths passing through the mind and mindfulness ot Dhamma.
8- Right Concentration is the one-pointedness of the mind which stays on one object as opposed to the distracted mind which jumps from one thing to another.
The eight factors can be grouped into three smaller grouts as follows:
Sila ( morality)
-Right Speech
- Right Action
- Right Livelihood
Samadhi( concentration)
- Right Effort
- Right Mindfulness
- Right Concentration
Panna ( wisdom)
- Right Understanding
- Right Thoughts
Sila, Samadhi and Panna are the three stages on the Path to mental purity object is Nibbana. These stages are described in a beautiful verse:
To cease from evil,
To do what is good.
To cleanse one’s mind:
This is the advice of all the Buddhas.
មិនធ្វើអំពើបាប
ធ្វើតែអំពើល្អ
ធ្វើចិត្ដអោយបរិសុទ្ធ
ទាំងនេះជាពុទ្ធសាសនា
នៅមានតទៀត……………Continue…..
ទស្សនពុទ្ធសាសនា(Buddhist View)
