The Four Noble Truths

The eightfold path begins with accepting the Four Noble truths. The Four Noble Truths are as follows: life has inevitable suffering, there is a cause to our suffering, there is an end to suffering, and the end to suffering is contained in the eightfold path. Buddhism is a religion that is primarily concerned with suffering, with yourself and with others. “These form a central focus of the religion, its practice and its philosophy. One is encouraged to explore what suffering is, the various forms it comes in and their root causes. Though they can all be reduced to attractions and aversions based upon the illusion of a real self, which desires certain things and is averse to others, yet this is not immediately obvious or a point easily grasped.”(Peter, …show more content…
The second step in the eightfold path is having the right intentions. You must be selfless and love. To be selfless, you must know what your self is. “Before we can begin to see what the self actually is, we need to take a closer look at the way the self appears. Consider the fact that sometimes we say, “I am sick,” and at other times we say, “I have a headache.” In the first case, it seems that the self itself is ill. In the second, the self and the head seem to be two different things, with the self possessing the head. Sometimes we even say, ‘I was not myself the other day,’ as if I and the self were two different things.” (Andy Karr). The Buddhist tradition says four things about self: it appears to be one thing, it appears to be independent, it appears to be lasting, and it appears to be …show more content…
The second characteristic, independence, leads us to believe that when we are making decisions, we are doing them for ourselves and it does not affect another person. When in all reality, it affects everyone in a sort of “butterfly effect”. While our self appears to be lasting, or permanent throughout our life, we are not the same person that we started out being. The fourth and final characteristic, manifests itself as that we are important. Although we do not go around thinking “I need to look out for myself”, we are important and we must still be selfless while being selfish. The third and fourth path, avoiding lies, maliciousness, and violence, can not always be followed. It is easy at times to avoid violence, but in others, you must make some tough decisions.While we try to avoid lying to others, we can not always achieve this goal. We try to protect another’s feelings and in doing this, at times, we lie. This, however, is why we practice meditation. Our minds are weak as they let words and actions hurt us. Meditation and self love can help strengthen our minds toward what they need to be