Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path of Liberation - Essay Example

The four noble truths are the Buddhas essence of the first teaching. They are very important when it comes to dealing with human beings who face sufferings, physical kind sufferings, and mental nature sufferings. The first noble truth is Life is Dukkha (the truth of suffering). It explains that, in life, there are a lot of sufferings and dissatisfactions. The second noble truth is that lifes suffering is caused by disordered attachments of people to permanent things. Suffering is all about desire or greed. In most cases, human beings have been searching for something outside of them to make them happy. Nevertheless, in as much as they succeed, they are ever unsatisfied. The third noble truth is suffering cessation through which karmas causes and disturbing emotions are being removed. According to Buddha, an individual can extinguish desires that bring about suffering through liberating himself from attachments. The purpose of this truth was to make Buddhists to pay much attention to free themselves from suffering cycle. The fourth noble truth is the truth of the path since it is the path that makes individuals reach their ultimate goals. The way to achieve the end of suffering and experience is found through the Eight Fold Path.

The Eight Fold Path of liberation is referred to enlightenment and requires an individual to have right understanding (comprehending the four noble truth), right thoughts (determine and resolve to practice the Buddhist faith), right speech (refraining from gossip and any form of abusive or untrue speech), right action (adhering to nonviolence ideas and refraining from sexual impropriety and stealing), right livelihood (avoiding to do jobs that can make you violate others), right effort (refraining from negative emotions and thoughts, for instance anger and jealousy), right mindfulness (this is all about having clear sense of mental state, feelings and bodily health of an individual) and right concentration ( the use of meditation as a mean of reaching enlightenments highest level). After reaching the other shore, one does not need a raft, so it must be left behind.

How are They Connected To the Middle Way?

Based on the eightfold path, in the Middle way, which assists individuals when it comes to avoiding indulgence as well as severe asceticism, is where the truth is found. Therefore, for an individual to get the Middle Way, the eightfold path must be followed.

The path that is most needed in the society today

The most important path that is needed in the society today is right livelihood. Right livelihood is somehow connected to right action (Rinpoche 16). Of course, when we speak about livelihood, it is not only about jobs, but also main daily endeavors those that make human beings to have their basic needs and so on. Right livelihood is something that must be practiced each day, and it entails right speech and physical action, human beings will learn what is right and how a negative livelihood can harm other people in the society. Through this, human beings will learn and give up different things that harm others. Likewise, they will learn and adopt a livelihood that other people will benefit from, whether direct or indirect. The right livelihood also encourages right effort. Through cultivating a positive mindset, it will be possible to avoid harming other, hence making the society to be ever peaceful.

Work Cited

Rinpoche, Khenchen. The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path | SamyeLing.org, 2017, www.samyeling.org/buddhism-and-meditation/teaching-archive-2/kenchen-thrangu-rinpoche/the-four-noble-truths-and-the-eightfold-path/.