1. The Four Noble Truths – Part Two
The Goals
The Four Noble Truths – Part Two

2. The Four Noble Truths - Reminder
These are the basis of all Buddhist teaching
These were alluded to in the Buddha’s first sermon (The Sermon at Benares)
Buddhists use a doctor analogy to explain them:
The Buddha is the doctor who makes the diagnosis – Dukkha
The cause of the illness is craving (tanha) – Samudaya
There is a cure, it is to achieve nibbana – Nirodha
The prescription is to follow the Noble Eightfold Path - Magga

3. The First Noble Truth - Dukkha
Also one of the Three Universal Truths / Marks of Existence
Means ‘unsatisfactoriness’
Caused by failure to understand anicca
Second Noble Truth - Samudaya
The cause of dukkha (the actual illness) is tanha (craving)
Because you do not understand anicca, you crave permanence and possessions
All this craving makes you suffer: tanha causes dukkha

4. The Third Noble Truth - Nirodha
There is a way to cure the illness of dukkha
The way to be cured forever is to achieve enlightenment (nibbana)
This is the ULTIMATE GOAL of all Buddhists
Nibbana is not a place, but a state of mind
Difficult to describe – must experience it to understand fully (fish and turtle story)
Enlightened beings are outwith the realm of cause and effect, so are not reborn when they die
See ‘What the Buddha Taught’ and ‘QKM’