The Four Noble truths and their tasks:
1. This is the noble truth of suffering.
This noble truth of suffering is to be fully understood.
This noble truth of suffering has been fully understood.
2. This is the noble truth of the origin of suffering.
This noble truth of the origin of suffering is to be abandoned.
This noble truth of the origin of suffering has been abandoned.
3. This is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering.
This noble truth of the cessation of suffering is to be realized.
This noble truth of the cessation of suffering has been realized.
4. This is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering.
This noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering is to be developed.
This noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering has been developed.
The Three Turnings and Twelve Aspects from the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dhamma, Saṁyutta Nikāya 56, no. 11, translated by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
This talk by Deborah Ventura and Susan Pembroke is based on notes and observations from a 4-day training with Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi on the Four Noble Truths and their tasks.
As practitioners, we are charged with penetrating each noble truth as well as completing their associated task, namely, fully understanding the pervasiveness of suffering, dukkha; secondly, abandoning all craving, tanha, that is the origin of suffering; and thirdly, realizing the cessation of all suffering.
From these instructions, it is apparent that these truths are not articulated as philosophical or dogmatic abstractions but are to be fully understood experientially and are to be known on a visceral level. The Buddha’s remarkable discovery is the promise of a complete end of suffering.
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