The Four Noble Truths:3. Explanation of the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering

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The Four Noble Truths:3. Explanation of

the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering

 

 

The Lord Buddha taught that living beings are caught up in the clutches of sensuality because their minds are still polluted by craving.

 

The Lord Buddha’s explanation of the Cessation of Suffering includes all four of the Origin of suffering’s implications in the light of the Four Noble Truths:

 

    3.1 The Cessation of Suffering as release;

    3.2 The Cessation of Suffering as an end to obsession;

    3.3 The Cessation of Suffering as stopping conditioning;

    3.4 The Cessation of Suffering as deathless.

 

3.1 The Cessation of Suffering as Release

 

This is the direct definition of the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering. Whosoever attains Nirvana will be able to obtain release from the Cycle of Existence and for that person there will be no more rebirth.

 

3.2 The Cessation of Suffering as an End to Obsession

 

The Lord Buddha taught that living beings are caught up in the clutches of sensuality because their minds are still polluted by craving. If they are able to remove craving from their minds, they will come to an end of their obsession with sensuality and thereby end their suffering in other words they will attain Nirvana. This explanation is intended to show the inter-relation between the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering and the Noble Truth of The Cause of Suffering.

 

 

the Buddha taught that Cessation is the ‘Elixir of Deathlessness’ which can cure the illness of ‘Suffering’

 

3.3 The Cessation of Suffering as stopping conditioning

 

In order to demonstrate the inter-relation between the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering and the Noble Truth of the Eightfold Path, the Lord Buddha taught that:

 

“The wise one who trains himself [yogavacara] should see that the builder is ‘craving’ who fashions the home that is the physical body of each and every living being, to keep those living beings being reborn again and again in that home and having to endure the ensuing suffering and retribution.”

 

Whosoever wishes to escape from this physical body which is conditioned by craving must practice the Noble Eightfold Path, to stop the mind from ‘conditioning thought’. Thus ‘Stopping the Mind is the Secret of Success’.

 

3.4 The Cessation of Suffering as Deathlessness

 

In order to show the relationship between the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering and the Noble Truth of Suffering, the Buddha taught that Cessation is the ‘Elixir of Deathlessness’ which can cure the illness of ‘Suffering’ that is all twelve characteristics of suffering mentioned above. Those twelve characteristics of suffering mentioned above. Those twelve characteristics of suffering are like the symptoms of a disease that traps living beings within the Cycle of Existence. Anyone who tastes the ‘Elixir of Deathlessness’ – i.e. the Extinction of Suffering – will cure themselves of Suffering’s disease.

 

to be continued...

 

 

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