At the occasion of his first sermon after becoming fully enlightened, Siddartha, the historical Buddha, spoke of what he called The Four Noble Truths. One English translation of The Four Noble Truths is:1
|
Siddartha lived all of his life in India—from about 566 BCE to about 486 BCE, according to one conventional reckoning.6 He spoke in an ancient Indian dialect. His sayings were handed down by word of mouth for over one or two centuries after his death before they were first written down. In northern and central India, the words of Siddartha were written down in the Sanskrit dialect. In southern India and the island of Sri Lanka (Ceylon), they were written down in the Pali dialect.
The original word in the Four Noble Truths that is translated as "suffering" is duhkha in Sanskrit, and dukkha in Pali. The only differences between the Sanskrit word and the Pali word are the differences in their spellings. They both have the same meaning. But they correspond to a number of terms in English, including: suffering, pain, discontent, unhappiness, sorrow, affliction, anxiety, dissatisfaction, discomfort, anguish, stress, misery, and frustration. Although duhkha/dukkha is often translated as "suffering", its philosophical meaning is more analogous to "disquietude" as in the condition of being disturbed.7
The Four Noble Truths are given in the traditional format of a doctor's diagnosis and prescription. In this case, the "disease" is duhkha, which translates rather well here as "dis-ease" or "uneasiness"—though such a translation may tend to belie the serious nature of the problem..
Now, let us go on to examine The First Noble Truth.