Buddha's Four Truths and Eight Fold Path, and Ecclesiastes

What are the Four Truths of the Buddha? What is the Eight Fold Path?

Of “The Four Noble Truths” of Buddha, Encyclopedia Brittanica states: “Although the term ‘Four Noble Truths’ is well known in English, it is a misleading translation of the Pali term, because ‘noble’ refers not to the truths themselves but to those who understand them. A more accurate rendering, therefore, might be ‘four truths for the [spiritually] noble’; they are four facts that are known to be true by those with insight into the nature of reality but that are not known to be true by ordinary beings.”

The Buddha’s first sermon after his enlightenment centered on these “Four Truths for the Spiritually Noble”, which are the foundation of Buddhism. A simple rendering of the Four Truths is that “suffering” exists; it has a cause; it has an end; and it has a way to bring about its end.

1. ”Suffering” exists— Translating concepts from other languages into English usually engenders confusion, as already noted above as concerns the phrase “four noble truths,” and the same can be said here, with the English translation of the Pali/Sanskrit word dukkha as “suffering.” According to the Ven. Ajahn Sumedho, a Theravadin monk and scholar, the word actually means “incapable of satisfying,” and includes anything that is temporary, conditional, or compounded by other things.  Even something enjoyable can be dukkha because it will end. The truth is that dukkha touches everything in our lives, including good fortune and happy times.

All humans experience surprises, frustrations, betrayals, and such, which lead to unhappiness. The first truth is simply accepting as a basic fact of being human that one will encounter difficulties in daily life, and that this is an inevitable and universal part of life. There are basically two types of suffering: a) natural suffering – disasters, wars, physical ailments, death, etc., and b) self-inflicted suffering – habitual reacting and unnecessary anxiety and regret, and the inability to accept life on life’s terms.

2. “Suffering” has a cause: The word for cause here is tanha, and more accurately translated as “thirst” or “craving.” We continually search for something or someone outside of ourselves to make us happy or whole, or on whom to blame our difficulties. This cause comes in three forms, which Buddha described as the Three Roots of Evil, the Three Fires, or the Three Poisons. These three ultimate causes of suffering are: Greed and desire; Ignorance or delusion; Hatred and destructive urges.

This truth is not telling us that we must give up everything we love or need (water, air, food, clothing, shelter…) to find happiness; the real issue here is more subtle—it is, rather, our attachment to what we desire that gets us into trouble. Furthermore, we attach not only to physical things and other people, but also to ideas and opinions about ourselves and the world around us, and become frustrated when the world doesn’t behave the way we think it should, and life and other people don’t conform to our expectations/needs.

This truth states unequivocally that the actual root of the problem is to be found in the mind itself, in our tendency to continually grasp at or push away and to be fundamentally at odds with the way life really is. Suffering lies not in external events or circumstances, but in the way we react to and deal with them, our perceptions and interpretations. From this, suffering emerges.

3. “Suffering” has an end: The solution to dukkha is to stop clinging and attaching and expecting and resisting life on life’s terms. But how do we do that? Buddha said that we can’t by an act of will. This third truth states that it is only when we see and accept the first two truths that we can finally stop grasping and let go. In this way, the craving/desiring/wanting/expecting/needing will seem to disappear on its own accord.

Since it is our minds that are the ultimate cause of our difficulties, our minds are also the solution. We cannot change the things that happen, but we can change our responses, the way we think about life’s challenges, and our ability to accept life on life’s terms. This is nirvana, which means extinguishing. Attaining nirvana - reaching enlightenment - means extinguishing the three fires of greed, delusion and hatred.

4. The way to end “suffering” is to follow the Eight Fold Path: Here, the Buddha affirms that there is no particular benefit to merely believing in these truths; the emphasis is on putting the truths into practice in daily life. In particular, the Buddha preached following the Eight Fold Path. Once we are aware of and embrace our habits and illusions/delusions, we can abandon our expectations about the ways things should be and instead accept the way they are. We can use mindfulness and meditation to examine our views and so get an accurate perspective.

To this end, the Buddha gave a specified eight part path of spiritual practice to follow to ensure this change, and its resulting enlightenment. The Eight Fold Path is also called the Middle Way; it avoids both indulgence and severe asceticism, neither of which the Buddha had found helpful in his own search for enlightenment.

The Eight Fold Path refers to eight broad areas of practice, ranging from study to ethical conduct to living a moment-to-moment mindfulness. Every action of body, speech, and mind are addressed by the path. It is emphasized as a path of exploration and discipline to be for all of one’s life. The Buddha asserted that without the Eight Fold Path, the first three Truths would be theoretical and philosophical; good ideas without any tooth to the truth. The actual daily practice of the Eight Fold Path brings that tooth to the truth.

The steps of the Eight Fold Path are:
1. Right Understanding/View (acceptance of these fundamental Buddhist teachings)
2. Right Thought/Resolve (adopting a positive outlook and a mind free from lust, ill-will, and cruelty)
3. Right Speech (using positive and productive speech) 4. Right Action (keeping the five precepts: refraining from killing, stealing, misconduct, false speech, and taking intoxicants)
5. Right Livelihood (avoiding professions which harm others such as slavery or prostitution)
6. Right Effort (directing the mind towards wholesome goals)
7. Right Mindfulness (being aware of what one is thinking, doing, and feeling at all times)
8. Right Concentration/Meditation (focusing attention in order to enter meditative states)

The eight parts can be grouped into Wisdom (right understanding and intention), Ethical Conduct (right speech, action and livelihood) and Meditation (right effort, mindfulness and concentration). The eight parts are not to be taken in order, but rather support and reinforce each other. Ideally, all eight parts are practiced simultaneously.

Once again, I could easily fit all of these concepts—the Four Truths and the Eight Fold Path—into the Twelve Steps of A.A. To simplify it:

1. The Serenity Prayer: G!d, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

2. From the A.A. Big Book,  5th edition, pages 417-8: “And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation—some fact of my life —unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in G!d’s world by mistake. …unless I accept life completely on life’s terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes. …I’m better off if I don’t give advice, don’t figure I know what’s best, and just accept life on life’s terms, as it is today—especially my own life, as it actually is.”

3. In addition, the Twelve Steps advance the notion of increasing one's conscious connection in spiritual matters through prayer and meditation, becoming aware of reactions and behaviors entrenched in old, faulty ways, and working towards improvement.

Is there a similar parallel in the writings of Judaism, which came before the Buddha? We need look no further than the Wisdom writings ascribed to Solomon, in Proverbs and in Ecclesiastes. 

Truth 1: “Suffering” exists:
“All things are wearisome; no one can utter it; the eye shall not be sated from seeing, nor shall the ear be filled from hearing.” Ecclesiastes 1:8
“And this too is a grievous evil, that just as it came so shall it go, and what advantage does he have that he toil for the wind? Also all his days he eats in the dark, and he has much vexation and sickness and wrath.” Ecclesiastes 5:15-16

Truth 2: “Suffering” has a cause:
“And I saw all the toil and all the excellence of work, which is a man’s envy of his friend; this too is vanity and frustration.” Ecclesiastes 4:4
“A healing heart is the life of the flesh, but anger is the rot of the bones.” Proverbs 14:30
“The desire of a lazy man will bring about his death.” Proverbs 21:25

Truth 3: “Suffering” has an end:
“He who waits for the wind will not sow, and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. …In the morning, sow your seed, and in the evening, do not withhold your hand, for you know not which will succeed, this one or that one, or whether both of them will be equally good. …For if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all.” Ecclesiastes 11:4, 6, 8.

Truth 4: The way to end “suffering” is to follow a tried and true path:
“Go, eat your bread with joy, drink your wine with a content mind; for G!d has already graced your deeds. …Whatever you find in your power to do, do it.” Ecclesiastes 9:7-10

As to the Eight Fold Path, we find that as well. According to Ethan Dor-Shav, “By understanding the fleeting nature of life as a whole, Kohelet is no longer paralyzed by the burden of death. Life’s transience is dynamically transformed into a powerful motivational force: an urgency to live, to experience joy, to take action, and above all, to learn. The key to embracing transience, Kohelet discovers, is not to build monuments or expand empires, but to find the truth and inner understanding that flows from the eye-opening insight into the fleeting nature of it all. Kohelet thus ends his quest by affirming the absolute value of mortal existence. …the Talmud teaches that divine inspiration cannot be attained in a state of sadness, for it dwells only in a mind that has trained itself in joy. Many centuries later, the hasidic sage Rabbi Nachman of Breslav taught that it is a great thing always to be in a state of joy. To Kohelet, joy is not a consolation prize, or an elixir for life’s pains. Neither is it related to the promise of a life to come. Rather, joy is a value in and of itself; it is what it means to be truly alive.”

Dor-Shav concludes, “Yet even joy, it seems, is not the final destination for Kohelet. …Neither Solomon’s riches, nor his power, nor even his monumental temple in Jerusalem survived under the sun. What has indeed lasted, however, is the legacy of his wisdom, embodied in the book of Ecclesiastes. This belief in knowledge as the highest form of spirituality has served as the Jewish torch throughout the ages. And no small measure of that light is reflected in the understanding that only ideas can defy time, transforming the world.”

Rabbi Rami Shapiro assents, as well, in his rendering of this passage from Ecclesiastes: “Thus I understand the simple truth of life: There is nothing better than for you to rejoice in every deed done in harmony with the moment. For doing is your purpose; in doing is your meaning. Leave the result to those who come after you, and attend solely to doing well that which must be done at all.”

Rabbi Shapiro presents Solomon’s philosophy like that of a Taoist sage, and the book of Ecclesiastes not as a lamentation of life’s vanities and meaninglessness, but as a guide to reality and how to embrace it with joy and serenity. The central message of Ecclesiastes, as R’Shapiro sees it, is that of finding joy in even the most ordinary of daily acts, and thereby reaching true peace of mind in our contemporary world of ego and artificial distractions. We do so, as presented by Kohelet, by accepting impermanence in order to embrace the present with full body and mind, engaging each moment. Suffering, posits the wise Solomon, comes of missing today by agonizing about yesterday or daydreaming about tomorrow.

Indeed, in Judaism, we find a tried and true path which will lead us out of suffering as described in Buddha’s Four Truths, and into enlightenment. The path to enlightenment is to accept the transience and brevity of our days, to bring joy to everything we do and to do everything with joy, to be truly alive every moment we are given, and to grow in wisdom. Are these not the Jewish ways that correspond with Buddha’s Four Truths and Eight Fold Path? I believe Rebbe Gelberman, z’l, would concur.