FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

Pali cattari-ariya-saccani, Sanskrit catvari-arya-satyani the essence of Buddhist religious doctrine, expounded by Gautama Buddha in his first sermon at the deer park near Benares (Varanasi), India, shortly after his having attained Enlightenment. The four truths are: (1) that existence is suffering (dukkha); (2) that this suffering has a cause (samudaya); (3) that it can be suppressed (nirodha); and (4) that there is a way (magga) to accomplish this, the noble Eightfold Path (q.v.). These four truths are universally recognized by Buddhist schools. The causes of suffering are expressed in a formula of 12 interdependent stages (the paticca-samuppada) that form an infinitely repeating cycle of coming and becoming. The breaking of this cycle constitutes freedom from rebirth and the cessation of suffering.