What is the ultimate condition of the human experience - the greatest challenge we all face?
What is the ultimate cause of this condition?
How can it be overcome?
What results when this condition is overcome?
Buddha's response:
Four Great (Noble) Truths
The Dharma (Sanskrit) or Dhamma (Pali - liturgical language of Buddhism) is the "Doctrine," the "Truth," the "Way," the "Eternal Law" (distinct from way Hindus use term) and is encapsulated in the Buddha's teachings, including the "the Four Great (Noble) Truths." Set forth after enlightenment, near Benares (sacred Hindu city), Buddha preaches his first sermon, his "Setting Rolling the Wheel of Truth" (Buddhist Doctrines b.) - his primary teachings - e.g., Dhammapada 14:12-14 (The Buddha) and 20:1-3 (The Way).
1. What is the ultimate state of the human condition? dukkha - "unsatisfactoriness" - aggravation to suffering and sorrow - e.g., story of mustard seed and mother's search
dukkha - the defining nature of the human condition
2. What is the ultimate cause of this condition? tanha - ignorant cravings, desires, attachments, stuff of the ego - e.g., Dhammapada 16:1-9 (Pleasure) Sometimes expressed as "The Three Poisons": greed/desires, delusion/ignorance, and hatred = bad karma
thus at one level are our overt desires stemming from the "self," the ego;
while at another level is our ignorance to assume we have a "self," that there is an "I" or a "me," that we can have "things" and "attachments" when all that stuff is an illusion anyway, all part of chain of linkage, of cause and effect (paticcasamuppada -"dependent origination") and transitory (anicca - "impermanent world").
tanha, the cause of suffering
3. Can it be overcome? yes and what results? consider the "metaphor of fire"
the goal or more appropriately, the outcome is nirvana (a first definition) - difficult to define (seldom hear spoken) - transcendent state in which all desires are extinguished (take away the fuel), but more appropriately, liberated and released from suffering, from samsara and karma - e.g., Dhammapada 2:1-9 and see note (Vigilance) and 15:1-12 (Happiness)
or perhaps rephrased, the outcome is sunyata (a first definition) - "emptiness," all is extinguished (take away the fire as well), but more percisely, it is not a state of non-being, does not mean "nothingness" per se, but a transcendent state of "boundless life," bliss and peace (or is it?)
in both cases, its your responsibility, and can achieve in your lifetime, but few have stamina to achieve
nirvana/sunyata is not so much the goal, but more appropriately, the "result," something that is reached when dukkha is overcome
Question: given what you know of Buddhism thus far, what would you image as the means to reach the goal? the HOW.
What moral principles and behaviors would you formulate?
Answer - the Fourth Noble Truth