-1What the Buddha Taught
A series of lecture-discussions sponsored by
Oxford Soto Zen
Suggested by Les Kaye
Led by Jimmyle Listenbee
Based on What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula
-2Lecture 5
Chapter 4:
The Four Noble Truths
The 3nd Noble Truth:
The Cessation of Dukkha
-3The Four Noble Truths
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Dukkha
Samudaya, the arising or origin of dukkha
Nirodha, the cessation of dukkha
Magga, the way leading to the cessation of
dukkha
-4The 3rd Noble Truth:
The Cessation of Dukkha
There is emancipation, liberation,
freedom from suffering!
It is called Nibbana, popularly known as
“Nirvana”
AKA Tanhakkhaya “Extinction of Thirst”
-5What is Nirvana?
Language is incapable of expressing –
• Absolute Truth
• Ultimate Reality
Relate to “In the beginning was the Word…”?
Fish & tortoise story
-6Discussion
Nirvana is the extinction of hatred; of desire; of
illusion.
It is a long journey toward trusting that it is
possible to let go of the concept of being an
individual self.
Glimpses light the path.
-7-
Buddha’s Description of Nirvana,
Enlightenment
READ p.37
“O bhikkhus, there is the unborn…and
conditioned’
And
“Here are the four elements…nor sense objects
are to be found.”
-8Not Negative/Not Positive
Not “Self-annihilation” but annihilation of
illusion – the False Idea of Self.
Negative & Positive are relative, within the
realm of duality.
Nirvana is beyond the realm of relativity &
duality.
-9Freedom
Freedom is always liberation from something
obstructive.
Nirvana is freedom from evil, craving, hatred,
ignorance,
Freedom from all terms of duality, relativity,
time & space.
-10“Self”-Analysis
READ p.38-39
“A man is composed of six elements…Now,
when he experiences a pleasant, unpleasant
or neutral sensation, he knows that it is
impermanent.
-11The Absolute Noble Truth
which is Nirvana, Reality
The Absolute Truth is that:
•There is nothing absolute in the world;
•Everything is relative, conditioned and
impermanent;
•There is no unchanging, everlasting, absolute
substance like Self, Soul or Atman, within or
without.
-12-
Nirvana is not a “Result”
Beyond cause and effect, it IS.
One can only see it or realize it.
There is a path (practice) leading to
such realization, but the realization is
not the effect or result of the path.
-13Metaphors of the Mountain, the Light:
• You may get to the mountain along a
path, but the mountain is not the result
of the path.
• You may see a light, but the light is not
the result of your eyesight.
-14What is after, beyond Nirvana?
What is its purpose?
Since it is Ultimate Truth, there can be nothing
after or beyond it.
“Purpose” is beside the point. One lives the holy
life with Nirvana as its final plunge into the
Absolute Truth – as its goal, its ultimate end.
-15After Death
One does not “enter into Nirvana.”
A Buddha’s or Arahant’s death is parinibbuto: “fully
passed away” “fully blown out” “fully extinct”
What happens to him/her comes under the
category of “unanswered questions.” It is
Compared to a fire gone out when wood is fully
burned, a lamp when wick & oil are finished.
-16The Being (not Nirvana) is the fire
• A being, composed of the 5 Aggregates has
realized Nirvana.
• It is not necessary to wait until death to realize
Nirvana.
-17If no Self – then who realizes Nirvana?
Consider if no self, then who is it now
that thinks? (It is the thought that
thinks.)
In the same way, it is wisdom itself
(realization) that realizes Nirvana.
-18Thirst & Wisdom are both within
The 5 Aggregates
The germ of their arising as well as their cessation are both
within the 5 Aggregates.
READ Buddha’s well-known statement, p.42
“Within this fathom-long body…and the path leading to the
cessation of the world.”
There is no external power that produces the arising and the
cessation of dukkha.
-19Developing Wisdom
When wisdom is developed and cultivated according to the 4th
Noble Truth, it sees the secret of life, the reality of things as
they are.
When this secret is discovered, all the feverish forces of
samsara are rendered calm and incapable of producing more
karma – because there is no more illusion, no more thirst for
continuity.
It is like a mental disease cured when the patient gains insight
into the cause or secret of the malady.
-20Nirvana on Earth
READ p.43
“He who has realized the Truth…He lives fully in
the present.”
Nirvana is “to be realized by the wise within
themselves”
If we follow the Path with diligence, if we earnestly
train and purify ourselves, if we attain the necessary
spiritual development --- we may one day realize it
within ourselves.