I thought I would start at the beginning by talking about the Buddhist cosmological view of the Universe and the Four Noble Truths.

Today astronomers and physicists have a fairly good idea of the size and age of the Universe. Scientists agree that our Universe was born with a bang about 13.7 billion years ago and ever since it has been expanding.

Our own Milky Way galaxy is 100,000 lights years across and there are no less than 200 billion stars like our own. And there are about 100 billion galaxies like our own in our Universe. I don’t know about you, but I find all of that a little hard to comprehend. A billion is one thousand million. And a light year is the distance that light can travel in one year. Light moves at a velocity of 186,000 miles per second.

So, you see our Universe has a specific size and age.

From the Buddhist perspective our thinking of this one Universe moving through time in a linear fashion is way too small. According to ancient Buddhist cosmology, space is infinite. And this infinite space is occupied by an infinite number of world systems. From the Buddhist perspective there are billions upon billions of galactic universes. Unlike the scientific belief of time as linear, in Buddhist cosmology there is no beginning, nor no end - therefore time is infinite. Some of these galactic universes are just being born, others (like ours) simply exist, and others are dying. It is a continue cycle of birth, existence for a while and eventual death and then the cycle starts over again. I could go on - but I think this gives you some idea of the overall cosmological scale of things from the Buddhist view.

We are part of this planet earth with 6 billion other sentient beings. Again this view is way too small. Form the Buddhist view there are billions of upon billions of sentient beings - in all kinds of realms of existence throughout the numberless galactic universes. I know in New Age circles they will say, “He/she is an old soul, or he/she is a new soul.” From the Buddhist perspective all of us are very old souls. We have lived countless number of lifetimes and experienced all realms of existence. We have probably committed heinous crimes and we also have done many compassionate things to have attained this rare human birth. To have attained human birth is considered incredibly rare and precious. There is a Buddhist analogy that depicts how rare it is to attain human birth. Imagine that in all of the vast oceans of the earth there is only one sea turtle and this sea turtle is blind. Floating on the vast oceans of the earth is one, six-inch wooden ring. Once every one hundred years this blind sea turtle surfaces to take a breath. They say the chances of this blind sea turtle’s head coming through the wooden ring are our chances of attaining human birth.

So, first even attaining human birth is rare and it is said that then to be exposed to the Dharma teachings, as all of us have, is even more rare. So, we have this amazingly precious opportunity to practice the Dharma. Shantideva, the eleventh century Indian saint, said if we don’t take advantage to practice the Dharma now, when might we get another opportunity? So, the point is not to waste this precious human life.

2,500 years ago the Buddha Siddhartha Gotama went on a spiritual path - much like many of us. He spent seven years on a spiritual quest - living the life of an ascetic or renunciate. After meditating under the bodhi tree in what is today present day Bodhgaya, India, he attained enlightenment through his own efforts. We should be incredibly grateful to the Buddha for his kindness & compassion to share the Dharma with us. The Buddha’s first teaching was at Deer Park in Varanasi, India and it is referred to as the first turning of the wheel of Dharma - of which there were three. So, I’d like to talk a bit about these Four Noble Truths.

Four Noble Truths

Why are they called “Noble”? There is something misleading about this phrase. This implies that suffering and its cause are noble but this is not the intended meaning. The word noble (arya) doesn’t refer to the truths of suffering but to the individual who is spiritually advanced enough to see these truths directly.

An Arya (noble one) is someone who has peeled away the layers of misconception blanketing his or her mind and can, therefore for the first time look upon ultimate reality directly.

The Four Noble truths are:

1. The Truth That Life is Characterized by Suffering.

2. The Truth of the Cause of Suffering.

3. The End or Cessation of Suffering.

4. The Path Leading to the End of Suffering.

5. The First Noble Truth: is about the impermanent nature of this world. Nothing stays the same and there is constant change. It is said whatever is stored up, will eventually be exhausted. What is built will eventually fall down. And whatever is born, will one day die. All of us desire happiness, safety, peace and comfort. We desire what is satisfying, pleasurable, joyful and permanent. We don’t like thing to change. Because this world of ours is impermanent, and always changing, we therefore are incapable of fully satisfying our desires. Inevitably, we experience frustration, anger, loss, unhappiness, and dissatisfaction. Life is in constant change, and changes such as birth, old age, sickness, and death can bring dissatisfaction or suffering. Suffering may arise from being associated with people or conditions that are unpleasant, or from being separated from people we love or conditions we enjoy, from not getting what we desire, or from getting what we desire then losing it. Even our own thoughts and, feelings are impermanent, constantly changing. Inevitably, all physical, emotional and mental conditions will change.

6. The Second Noble Truth:

refers to the arising, origin, and cause of our dissatisfaction and suffering. We desire, crave, and thirst for happiness, security, and identity in this world of impermanence. Influenced by our misperception (ignorance/delusion), we want life to satisfy our every craving, need, and desire. We want from life what it can never provide: constant happiness, pleasure, and security undisturbed by change or loss. When life fails to satisfy our needs and desires, we experience fear, frustration, hurt, anger, pain, or suffering. Afflicted by such thoughts and emotions, we tend to speak and act in negative ways which cause further suffering. Therefore our dissatisfaction and suffering do not come from outside of ourselves. We cause our own suffering when we fail to realize that the impermanent nature of life is incapable of providing constant satisfaction for our craving, need, and desire. The origin and cause of our suffering is our misperception of reality (ignorance/delusion), self -centered desire (greed), craving, grasping, attachment to things that do not last, and our negative behavior.

There is a Sanskrit word known as “Trishna.” Translated Trishna means “thirst.” It is similar to dissatisfaction, but it is actually more. It is this fundamental ache that is implanted in everything that exists that things are not quite right. It is a gnawing dissatisfaction with what “is” and a simultaneous reaching out for something else - wanting things different than they way they are. There are gross forms such as obsessive greed for money or lust for sensual pleasures but then there are exceeding subtle forms like the desire to be a better Buddhist (than you are) or to improve your meditation - because you want to attain some kind of bliss or enlightenment. I want to talk about these later.

Misunderstanding the Second Noble Truth:

Very often people when they first hear these teachings falsely believe that the Buddha meant that we must live as a complete renunciate - that we shouldn’t have nice things. I have even heard people say that if you are a Buddhist you shouldn’t have a computer, a nice car or nice house. I don’t believe this is what the Buddha taught – after all the Buddha taught the “middle path.”

It is simply that material possessions don’t bring us lasting happiness. Many people have the mistaken notion that material possessions will make them happy. We know from our own experience that possessions don’t bring lasting happiness. But we buy that new car and we may be happy for a while, but soon we get a scratch on it, or the new model comes out with new features, so we want the newer model. Or if we are unhappy in our marriage or relationship we want to trade our partner in for a new model. Of if our job is not going well, we want to trade it in for a new job……and on it goes.

But, you see it is not the “things” that are the problem - but rather it is how we relate to the things that is the problem. There is nothing wrong with having nice things - as long as you realize they are not the source of lasting happiness.

1. The third Noble Truth: is the end of Suffering.

This is the Buddha’s bold declaration that there is indeed an end to suffering. Not just a brief vacation from the cycle of suffering - but a complete cessation. Why? Because he experienced this himself.

The solution is really very simple – it lies in cutting the grasping and clinging of our heart and mind. A simple way of putting this is: Just let go! Let go of all unrealistic expectations. Let go of harmful behavior. Let go of clinging attitudes toward people, possessions and even your own body. And finally let go of yourself!

In Buddhism there is little faith - or certainly no “blind faith” but I do believe as Buddhists we MUST have faith that it is possible to end suffering.

1. The fourth Noble : The Path Leading to the End of Suffering.

Eight Fold Path: Right: understanding, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, concentration.

I condense this down to the practice of meditation, because it is through the meditation practice that we can actualize the ideals of this Eight Fold Path.

It is through the meditation practice that we begin to cut our ego clinging. Through the meditation practice we cut the grasping and clinging of our minds and we begin to see the world in a more spacious way.

We also begin to see the nature of reality as it is and we begin to accept the impermanent nature of our world.

These Four Noble Truths constitute the entire Buddhist path in nutshell.

Buddha is sometimes referred to as the great physician because he identified the illness, he identified the cause, and then prescribed the cure.

Remember, it is through the meditation practice that we cut our ego-clinging. So, if you have a meditation practice, continue it. If you don’t’ have one - then develop one.