buddhism four noble truths essay

What Are the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism?

Learn Religions / Hugo Lin

Origins and Developments
Figures and Texts
Becoming A Buddhist
Tibetan and Vajrayana Buddhism

The Four Noble Truths

The First Noble Truth
The Second Noble Truth

The Third Noble Truth

The Fourth Noble Truth

Understanding the Truths Takes Time

B.J., Journalism, University of Missouri

The Buddha's first sermon after his enlightenment centered on the Four Noble Truths, which are the foundation of Buddhism. One way to understand the concept is to view the Truths as hypotheses, and Buddhism as the process of verifying those hypotheses, or realizing the truth of the Truths.

A common, sloppy rendering of the Truths tells us that life is suffering; suffering is caused by greed; suffering ends when we stop being greedy; the way to do that is to follow something called the Eightfold Path.

In a more formal setting, the Truths read:

The truth of suffering (dukkha)
The truth of the cause of suffering (samudaya)
The truth of the end of suffering (nirhodha)
The truth of the path that frees us from suffering (magga)

Quite often, people get hung up on "life is suffering" and decide Buddhism isn't for them. However, if you take the time to appreciate what the Four Noble Truths are really about, everything else about Buddhism will be much clearer. Let's look at them one at a time.

The First Noble Truth is often translated as "life is suffering." This is not as dire as it sounds; it's actually quite the opposite, which is why it can be confusing.

Much confusion is due to the English translation of the Pali/Sanskrit word dukkha as "suffering." According to the Ven. Ajahn Sumedho, a Theravadin monk and scholar, the word actually means "incapable of satisfying" or "not able to bear or withstand anything." Other scholars replace "suffering" with "stressful."

Dukkha also refers to anything that is temporary, conditional, or compounded of other things. Even something precious and enjoyable is dukkha because it will end.

Further, the Buddha was not saying that everything about life is relentlessly awful. In other sermons, he spoke of many types of happiness, such as the happiness of family life. But as we look more closely at dukkha, we see that it touches everything in our lives, including good fortune and happy times.

Among other things, the Buddha taught that the skandhas are dukkha. The skandhas are the components of a living human being: form, senses, ideas, predilections, and consciousness. In other words, the animated body you identify as yourself is dukkha because it is impermanent and it will eventually perish.

The Second Noble Truth teaches that the cause of suffering is greed or desire. The actual word from the early scriptures is tanha, and this is more accurately translated as "thirst" or "craving."

We continually search for something outside ourselves to make us happy. But no matter how successful we are, we never remain satisfied. The Second Truth is not telling us that we must give up everything we love to find happiness. The real issue here is more subtle; it's the attachment to what we desire that gets us into trouble.

The Buddha taught that this thirst grows from ignorance of the self. We go through life grabbing one thing after another to get a sense of security about ourselves. We attach not only to physical things but also to ideas and opinions about ourselves and the world around us. Then we grow frustrated when the world doesn't behave the way we think it should and our lives don't conform to our expectations.

Buddhist practice brings about a radical change in perspective. Our tendency to divide the universe into "me" and "everything else" fades away. In time, the practitioner is better able to enjoy life's experiences without judgment, bias, manipulation, or any of the other mental barriers we erect between ourselves and what's real.

The Buddha's teachings on karma and rebirth are closely related to the Second Noble Truth.

The Buddha's teachings on the Four Noble Truths are sometimes compared to a physician diagnosing an illness and prescribing a treatment. The first truth tells us what the illness is and the second truth tells us what causes the illness. The Third Noble Truth holds out hope for a cure.

The solution to dukkha is to stop clinging and attaching. But how do we do that? The fact is that it cannot be accomplished by an act of will. It's impossible to just vow to yourself, from now on I won't crave anything. This doesn't work because the conditions that give rise to craving will still be present.

The Second Noble Truth tells us that we cling to things we believe will make us happy or keep us safe. Grasping for one ephemeral thing after another never satisfies us for long because it's all impermanent. It is only when we see this for ourselves that we can stop grasping. When we do see it, the letting go is easy. The craving will seem to disappear of its own accord.

The Buddha taught that through diligent practice, we can put an end to craving. Ending the hamster wheel-chase after satisfaction is enlightenment (bodhi, "awakened"). The enlightened being exists in a state called nirvana .

The Buddha spent the last 45 or so years of his life giving sermons on aspects of the Four Noble Truths. The majority of these were about the Fourth Truth: the path (magga).

In the Fourth Noble Truth , the Buddha as a physician prescribes the treatment for our illness: The Eightfold Path . Unlike in many other religions, Buddhism has no particular benefit to merely believing in a doctrine. Instead, the emphasis is on living the doctrine and walking the path.

The path is eight broad areas of practice that touches every part of our lives. It ranges from study to ethical conduct to what you do for a living to moment-to-moment mindfulness. Every action of body, speech, and mind are addressed by the path. It is a path of exploration and discipline to be walked for the rest of one's life.

Without the path, the first three Truths would just be a theory. The practice of the Eightfold Path brings the dharma into one's life and makes it bloom.

If you are still confused about the four Truths, take heart; it's not so simple. Fully appreciating what the Truths mean takes years. In fact, in some schools of Buddhism, thorough understanding of the Four Noble Truths defines enlightenment itself.

Impermanence in Buddhism (Anicca)
Buddha's First Sermon
Right View—The Buddhist Eightfold Path
Dukkha: What the Buddha Meant by 'Life Is Suffering'
Why Do Buddhists Avoid Attachment?
The Eightfold Path: The Way to Enlightenment in Buddhism
How to Learn About Buddhism
The Perfection of Renunciation in Buddhism
The Five Skandhas
Nirvana and The Concept of Freedom in Buddhism
What Does "Samsara" Mean in Buddhism?
The Four Seals of the Dharma
The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination

Practical Training
Meditation Resources
Buddhist Context

The Nobility of the Truths

by Bhikkhu Bodhi

The most common and widely known formulation of the Buddha's teaching is that which the Buddha himself announced in the First Sermon at Benares, the formula of the Four Noble Truths. The Buddha declares that these truths convey in a nutshell all the essential information that we need to set out on the path to liberation. He says that just as the elephant's footprint, by reason of its great size, contains the footprints of all other animals, so the Four Noble Truths, by reason of their comprehensiveness, contain within themselves all wholesome and beneficial teachings. However, while many expositors of Buddhism have devoted attention to explaining the actual content of the four truths, only rarely is any consideration given to the reason why they are designated noble truths. Yet it is just this descriptive word "noble" that reveals to us why the Buddha chose to cast his teaching into this specific format, and it is this same term that allows us to experience, even from afar, the unique flavor that pervades the entire doctrine and discipline of the Enlightened One.

The word "noble," or ariya, is used by the Buddha to designate a particular type of person, the type of person which it is the aim of his teaching to create. In the discourses the Buddha classifies human beings into two broad categories. On one side there are the puthujjanas, the worldlings, those belonging to the multitude, whose eyes are still covered with the dust of defilements and delusion. On the other side there are the ariyans, the noble ones, the spiritual elite, who obtain this status not from birth, social station or ecclesiastical authority but from their inward nobility of character.

These two general types are not separated from each other by an impassable chasm, each confined to a tightly sealed compartment. A series of gradations can be discerned rising up from the darkest level of the blind worldling trapped in the dungeon of egotism and self-assertion, through the stage of the virtuous worldling in whom the seeds of wisdom are beginning to sprout, and further through the intermediate stages of noble disciples to the perfected individual at the apex of the entire scale of human development. This is the Arahant, the liberated one, who has absorbed the purifying vision of truth so deeply that all his defilements have been extinguished, and with them, all liability to suffering.

While the path from bondage to deliverance, from worldliness to spiritual nobility, is a graded path involving gradual practice and gradual progress, it is not a uniform continuum. Progress occurs in discrete steps, and at a certain point -- the point separating the status of a worldling from that of a noble one -- a break is reached which must be crossed, not by simply taking another step forward, but by making a leap, by jumping across from the near side to the further shore. This decisive event in the inner development of the practitioner, this radical leap that propels the disciple from the domain and lineage of the worldling to the domain and lineage of the noble ones, occurs precisely through the penetration of the Four Noble Truths. This discloses to us the critical reason why the four truths revealed by the Buddha are called noble truths. They are noble truths because when we have penetrated them through to the core, when we have grasped their real import and implications, we cast off the status of the worldling and acquire the status of a noble one, drawn out from the faceless crowd into the community of the Blessed One's disciples united by a unique and unshakable vision.

Prior to the penetration of the truths, however well endowed we may be with spiritual virtues, we are not yet on secure ground. We are not immune from regression, not yet assured of deliverance, not invincible in our striving on the path. The virtues of a worldling are tenuous virtues. They may wax or they may wane, they may flourish or decline, and in correspondence with their degree of strength we may rise or fall in our movement through the cycle of becoming. When our virtues are replete we may rise upwards and dwell in bliss among the gods; when our virtues decline or our merit is exhausted we may sink again to miserable depths.

But with the penetration of the truths we leap across the gulf that separates us from the ranks of the noble ones. The eye of Dhamma has been opened, the vision of truth stands revealed, and though the decisive victory has not yet been won, the path to the final goal lies at our feet and the supreme security from bondage hovers on the horizon. One who has comprehended the truths has changed lineage, crossed over from the domain of the worldlings to the domain of the noble ones. Such a disciple is incapable of regression to the ranks of the worldling, incapable of losing the vision of truth that has flashed before his inner eye. Progress towards the final goal, the complete eradication of ignorance and craving, may be slow or rapid; it may occur easily or result from an uphill battle. But however long it may take, with whatever degree of facility one may advance, one thing is certain: such a disciple who has seen with immaculate clarity the Four Noble Truths can never slide backwards, can never lose the status of a noble one, and is bound to reach the final fruit of Arahantship in a maximum of seven lives.

The reason why the penetration of the Four Noble Truths can confer this immutable nobility of spirit is implied by the four tasks the noble truths impose on us. By taking these tasks as our challenge in life -- our challenge as followers of the Enlightened One -- from whatever station of development we find ourselves beginning at, we can gradually advance towards the infallible penetration of the noble ones.

The first noble truth, the truth of suffering, is to be fully understood: the task it assigns us is that of full understanding. A hallmark of the noble ones is that they do not flow along thoughtlessly with the stream of life, but endeavor to comprehend existence from within, as honestly and thoroughly as possible. For us, too, it is necessary to reflect upon the nature of our life. We must attempt to fathom the deep significance of an existence bounded on one side by birth and on the other by death, and subject in between to all the types of suffering detailed by the Buddha in his discourses.

The second noble truth, of the origin or cause of suffering, implies the task of abandonment. A noble one is such because he has initiated the process of eliminating the defilements at the root of suffering, and we too, if we aspire to reach the plane of the noble ones, must be prepared to withstand the seductive lure of the defilements. While the eradication of craving can come only with the supramundane realizations, even in the mundane course of our daily life we can learn to restrain the coarser manifestation of defilements, and by keen self-observation can gradually loosen their grip upon our hearts.

The third noble truth, the cessation of suffering, implies the task of realization. Although Nibbana, the extinction of suffering, can only be personally realized by the noble ones, the confidence we place in the Dhamma as our guideline to life shows us what we should select as our final aspiration, as our ultimate ground of value. Once we have grasped the fact that all conditioned things in the world, being impermanent and insubstantial, can never give us total satisfaction, we can then lift our aim to the unconditioned element, Nibbana the Deathless, and make that aspiration the pole around which we order our everyday choices and concerns.

Finally, the fourth noble truth, the Noble Eightfold Path, assigns us the task of development. The noble ones have reached their status by developing the eightfold path, and while only the noble ones are assured of never deviating from the path, the Buddha's teaching gives us the meticulous instructions that we need to tread the path culminating in the plane of the noble ones. This is the path that gives birth to vision, that gives birth to knowledge, that leads to higher comprehension, enlightenment and Nibbana, the crowning attainment of nobility.

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Dhamma Essay: Aims of Buddhist Education by Bhikkhu Bodhi

Four Noble Truths as Buddhism Fundamentals Essay

Introduction, the truth of suffering, the noble truth of source of illness, the truth of cessation of suffering, the truth of path to the cessation of suffering, works cited.

The four noble truths may be defined as the fundamental teachings of the Buddhism religion. The Four Noble Truths are simultaneously given as the first lessons to everyone being introduced to Buddhism. They describe the way of life of the followers and the factors that can cause suffering. The truths are not just philosophical interpretations, but also give cognitive methodologies to promote psychological insight of the believer (Tay 104).

It can be viewed as a particular guideline that may be utilized to improve the understanding of their lives and everything that surrounds them (Fenner 7). They reassure that suffering can be eliminated in someone’s life as long as the person or the believer follows the teachings strictly and wisely. Notably, the teachings represent a permanent cure for misery. Followers of Buddhism believe that they have the power inside them to end the pain in their lives. It is necessary to analyze each step to improve an understanding of their purpose and unique aspects.

The first noble truth in Buddhism teachings is the truth of suffering that is frequently referred to as Dukkha. It is suggested that a person’s life is full of frustration, pain, and dissatisfaction. The teaching of this truth is expressed in three different ways. One of them is defined as “suffering of suffering” whereby the person is aware of the torment, such as physical discomfort, war, and diseases (Laumakis 97). The other dimension is pain and frustration brought by the impermanence of all possible things. The last interpretation of the Dukkha is the expression of suffering that is inevitable. Moreover, it focuses on such issues as agony that one must experience as a human being.

It is suggested that one may have to look at various aspects of suffering to be aware of possible implications. The issue is that many people reject them, and they believe that they are quite outdated (Sumedho 11). Some state that a particular inconsistency is present because several interpretations of the teachings are possible. One may think that it is suggested that an individual is capable of controlling his or her happiness if moral principles are respected (Gowans 124).

However, it is possible to argue with this objection, and it was most likely meant that relief is only temporary. The first noble truth is criticized because it encourages hopelessness. It is possible to argue that Buddhism, as a religion, is pessimistic since it majors in suffering. On the other hand, one of the core aspects that should be highlighted is that it helps to identify issues that are present in the life of an individual, and this position allows having a better understanding of what course of action is required to resolve them.

The truth suggests that the lack of knowledge can be one of the primary causes of illness. Craving can be regarded as one of the sources according to the noble truths (Carus 102). Human beings often find themselves in trouble due to a desire to get access to things, which are not in their capacities, such as material wealth and mental satisfaction. Therefore, the truth holds that human beings are in constant motion to rearrange themselves in a pleasant manner (Netland 109).

Therefore, individuals are not satisfied with what they have as well as what they are. One of the aspects that are frequently misunderstood is that some are not aware of the fact that the core issue is not craving. The primary problem is spiritual ignorance, and it could lead to severe complications in some cases. Moreover, such individuals are not capable of developing a particular state of mind that is crucial to attaining wisdom (Velez par. 57).

It is also possible to argue that the situation is not the same for every person, and this approach cannot be applied in all cases. Some people are born with problems such as hereditary diseases that do not come from cravings. Critics argue that it is inevitable, and it can occur to any individual regardless of his or her religion. However, it should be regarded as a general guideline, and one may have to explore his or her thoughts to understand how to avoid craving and ignorance.

The third noble truth makes Buddhism look optimistic. It sensitizes that suffering can be eradicated out of the lives of humans (Matthews, 145). Buddhism teaches that humans should take a ‘middle way’ approach to deal with suffering. However, the third noble truth is confusing since it needs spiritual development and maturity. It is stated that desire may be extinguished by deliberating oneself from the attachment.

Therefore, the possibility of liberation is present, and the concept of Nirvana is introduced. It can be described as a state of mind where a human can reach to be free from suffering. It is also a condition in which one is full of spiritual happiness without fears and emotions (Carus 110). The truth suggests that believers should major in freeing themselves from the chains of suffering (Trainor 76).

This truth entails giving specific solutions to suffering, and it provides the noble eight-fold path. Individuals should be aware of the fact that they should have access to the necessary knowledge to ensure that their practice of Buddha’s teaching is appropriate. Moreover, it is suggested that one should focus on cultivating a relevant attitude and be peaceful. Meditation is also particularly interesting because it is believed that it may alter the mind of a person. It is possible to state that enormous attention is devoted to ethical aspects, just like in many other teachings.

The eight paths can be divided simultaneously into precepts, meditation, and wisdom. The first approach is utilized to help a person learns how to control the body and the mind (Carus 112). Mediation, on the other hand, assists a person to comprehend how to unify the mind. Finally, wisdom is crucial in the first two practices since it enables one to reach enlightenment. Buddha describes the Eightfold Path as a way to enlightenment (Carus 112). Once a person achieves a particular level, there is no need to use the Path again. It is imperative to understand that the primary goal of this approach is to ensure that all behaviors that are viewed as wrong are eliminated. Moreover, additional ones may be introduced if an individual is determined to achieve the highest possible level (Harvey 69).

In summary, it is evident that the Four Noble Truths can be viewed as fundamental principles of Buddhism, and their primary objective is to eliminate suffering from the life of an individual and achieve enlightenment. The teachings suggest that the quality of life may be improved if the source of pain is addressed and necessary measures are taken. However, the issue is that there is no definite cause in some cases, and the process will take a long time until one identifies the primary causes of his or her unhappiness. Overall, it is possible to state that any selfishness can be quite problematic, and one may consider these principles to enhance views on life and to become spiritual.

Carus, Paul. The Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Path . Altenmünster, DE: Jazzybee Verlag, 2012. Print.

Fenner, Peter. The Self and Its Destiny in Buddhism . Victoria, AU: Deakin University, 1990. Print.

Gowans, Christopher W. Philosophy of the Buddha . London, UK: Routledge, 2003. Print.

Harvey, Peter. An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University, 1990. Print.

Laumakis, Stephen. An introduction to Buddhist Philosophy . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University, 2003. Print.

Matthews, Lewis. The Four Noble Truths of Wealth: A Buddhist View of Economic Life . London, UK: Enlightened Economy Books, 2014. Print.

Netland, Harold. Buddhism: A Christian Exploration and Appraisal . Downers Grove, IL:IVP Academic, 2009. Print.

Sumedho, Ajahn. The Four Noble Truths . Taipei City, TW: Buddha Education Foundation, n.d. Print.

Tay, Ching. From the Four Noble Truths to the Four Universal Vows: An integration of the Mahayana and Theravada Schools . Hacienda Heights, CA: Buddha’s Light Pub, 2002. Print.

Trainor, Kevin. Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide . New York, NY: Oxford Univ. Press, 2004. Print.

Velez, Abraham. “ Buddha .” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy . Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.d. Web.

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Bibliography

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What Are the Four Noble Truths?

The Four Noble Truths are basic facts that outline a path for overcoming our problems. This is Buddha's first teaching, which provides the framework for all other Buddhist teachings.

First Noble Truth: True Suffering

The first truth is that, in general, life is unsatisfactory. From birth to death, there are plenty of joyful moments, but they never last long, and there are lots of unpleasant times as well:

Unhappiness – illness, disappointment, loneliness, anxiety and dissatisfaction are all easy to recognize and understand. It’s often not even related to our surroundings – we could be with our best friend eating our favorite food, but still be unhappy.
Short-lived happiness – whatever we enjoy, it never actually lasts or satisfies us, and it soon turns into unhappiness. When we’re freezing cold, we go into a warm room, only for the heat to eventually become so unbearable that, again, we want fresh air. It would be great if this happiness lasted forever, but the problem is that it never does. [See: What is Happiness? ]
Ever-repeating problems – what’s the worst is that the ways we deal with the ups and downs of life just create more problems. For instance, we’re in a bad relationship and the way we are acting is just making it worse. We break up, but then because we had reinforced our bad habits, we repeat the same patterns in our next relationship. It too turns bad.

Second Noble Truth: True Cause of Suffering

Our unhappiness and short-lived happiness don’t just arise out of thin air, but from a wide range of causes and conditions. External factors, like the society we live in, serve as the conditions for our problems to arise; but for the actual cause, Buddha instructed us to look at our own minds. Our own disturbing emotions – hatred, envy, greed and so on – drive us to compulsively think, speak and act in ultimately self-destructive ways.

Buddha saw even deeper and uncovered the true cause that underlies even these emotional states: the way we understand reality. This includes unawareness and confusion about the long-term effects of our behavior, and a strong misconception about how we, others, and the world exist. Instead of seeing the interconnectedness of everything, we tend to think that things exist all by themselves, independent of external factors.

Third Noble Truth: True Stopping of Suffering

Buddha pointed out that we don’t need to put up with this, because if we can uproot the cause, then the result will not arise. If we get rid of our confusion about reality, the problems will never be able to come back again. He wasn’t just talking about one or two of our problems – he said we will stop creating new problems altogether.

Fourth Noble Truth: True Path of Mind

To get rid of our naivety and unawareness, we need to look at what directly opposes them:

Plan for the long-term , instead of leaping shortsightedly for immediate gratification
Look at the larger picture , instead of focusing on one small aspect of life
Consider the consequences of our actions on the rest of our lives and on future generations, instead of just doing what’s easy for us now.

Sometimes, faced with the disappointments of life, we feel like the only way to cope is to distract ourselves by getting drunk or stuffing ourselves with junk food, not thinking of the long-term consequences. If we make it a habit, there are serious health risks that not only jeopardize our own lives, but could also have disastrous effects on our families as well. Underlying this is the idea that we're totally separate from the consequences of our own actions. The strongest opponent of our confusion is thus:

Realize that we are intimately interconnected with the rest of humanity and the planet, and understand that our fantasies of how we exist do not correspond to reality.

If we can accustom ourselves to this insight through repeated meditation, we will eventually dispel all of the confusion that supports our empty projections.

[See: How to Meditate ]

We all want to be happy, yet it somehow continues to elude us. Buddha’s approach to finding happiness – outlined in the Four Noble Truths above – is universal and still relevant 2,500 years after the Buddha first taught it.

There’s no need to become a Buddhist in order to benefit from using the Four Noble Truths to deal with our everyday problems. It’s impossible that things will always go the way we want, but that is no reason to become depressed and lose hope. The Four Noble Truths contain within them everything we need to find genuine happiness and make our lives truly meaningful.

In short, true suffering is to be known; the true cause of suffering is to be gotten rid of; the true stopping of suffering needs to be attained; and the true path of mind needs to be realized.

Basic Buddhist Teachings – II

The four noble truths.

In Buddhism, the four noble truths (Pāli: cattāri ariyasaccāni) are recognized as the first teaching given by the Buddha and are considered one of his most important teachings.

They are called “Noble Truths” because, as the Buddha says, they are real (tathāni), infallible (avitathāni), and do not change (anaññathāni). (SN Tatha Sutta).

It is because of the complete understanding of these four noble truths, as they really are, that the Buddha is called “Worthy” (Arahant), and “Perfectly Enlightened by Himself ” (Sammā Sambuddho). (SN Sammā sambuddha Sutta).

Besides, the word “Buddhism” comes from the word “buddha”, which in turn comes from the word “buddhi” and “bodhi”. These words literally mean “intellect”, “intelligence”, “wisdom” or “supreme knowledge”. They refer more specifically to the intelligence and supreme knowledge that a Buddha possesses due to the understanding of the four noble truths. But metaphorically they are usually translated as “enlightenment” or “awakening”, and the word “Buddha” as “enlightened” or “awakened”.

Whether a Buddha appears in the world or not, the four noble truths exist. However, a Buddha is needed to reveal them, bring them to light and teach them to the “deceived” world. As formulated by the Buddha, the four noble truths are central and universal events regardless of time and space. These are:

All beings experience pain and misery (dukkha) during their lifetime: “ Birth is pain, old age is pain, sickness is pain, death is pain; sorrow, grief, sorrow, grief, and anxiety is pain. Contact with the unpleasant is pain. Separating from the pleasant is pain. Not getting what one wants is pain. In short, the five assemblies of mind and matter that are subject to attachment are pain “.
The origin (samudaya) of pain and misery is due to a specific cause: “ It is the desire that leads to rebirth, accompanied by pleasure and passion, seeking pleasure here and there; that is, the desire for pleasures, the desire for existence, the desire for non-existence “.
The cessation (nirodha) of pain and misery can be achieved as follows: “ With the complete non-passion and cessation of this very desire, with its abandonment and renunciation, with its liberation and detachment from it “.
The method we must follow to stop pain and misery is that of the Noble Eightfold Path .

These truths do not exist in external things such as grass, wood and stones; they do exist though, in our body, which is composed of material elements and mental elements, such as consciousness and perception. As the Buddha says, “ In this body with its perception and consciousness I declare the world of pain, the origin, the cessation, and the practice that leads to its cessation “.

Of the four truths, the first identifies the innate physical and psychological pain or the innate misery, pain and suffering intertwined in the essence of life; the second identifies the origin and cause of the pain; the third recognizes the state in which the pain and its cause cease and are thus absent; and the fourth formulates a course of practice towards this state of pause.

This teaching begins with the analysis of the concept of pain that we all experience and the source of it, i.e., the desire we have within us. Due to our desire and in order to feel safe and secure, we constantly strive to gain experiences and objects that create pleasant emotions. We avoid anything that causes us pain and try to manipulate situations and people around to achieve what we want. In reality, the rest of the unstable world seldom matches what we want, and thus, we are often hurt and frustrated.

If we manage to overcome our desire we will feel greater harmony with ourselves and the world around us and the pain will be eliminated. The way to achieve this is through the Noble Eightfold Path .

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Buddhism – the Four Noble Truths

How it works

“Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional” –Buddha. Suffering is something that all human beings in society must endure over the course of their lifetime. It is perceived to be a negative part of life and something that cannot be avoided. However, has one ever dug deeper into the roots of suffering? Why do humans suffer? Is it something that can be further understood and better overcome? Buddhism explores the notion of suffering through its path to enlightenment by practicing such customs of morality and meditation.

Throughout this paper, we will explore how Buddhism came about, who practices it and more specifically their fascinating beliefs around Dukka (suffering) and the four noble truths.

Around 2,500 years ago, a man named Siddhartha Gautama-also known as the Buddha, came into this world. He was born in the town of Lumbini, near the border of Nepal, into a royal family. Growing up he lived a luxurious life filled with pleasure until one day at the age of 29, he came across an old man, a sick man, and a corpse (Religion: Buddhism, 2009). Suddenly confronted with the reality of those suffering, Siddhartha was determined to find the path to enlightenment and to the liberation of suffering, and this is how Buddhism arose (Religion: Buddhism, 2009).

In present day, there are over 376 million people following Buddhism around the world. There are two main branches of Buddhism: Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism is more commonly practiced in places such as Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Thailand and Mahayana Buddhism is commonly seen in Tibet, China, Japan, Korea, and Mongolia (Sockolov, 2018). Theravada monks live a monastic life focusing on meditation and concentration as a way to individual enlightenment while Mahayana focuses not only on the enlightenment of oneself but also the enlightenment of all beings, depicting their belief in selflessness and working to benefit others (Sockolov, 2018).

Despite these certain differences in these branches of Buddhism, one core belief that remains similar between the two is that of the four noble truths. These four truths were the foundations of the Buddha’s teaching and he believed that it was essential to not only know the four truths, but to fully understand them which in turn would bring one nobility. The first noble truth is that there is suffering, the truth of Dukkha. Dukkha is the pain and dissatisfaction one experiences in their life that leads to suffering. Therefore the first noble truth is about acknowledging that there is suffering and whether it be pain, fear, loss, anger or death; it exists and one must be able to accept that we encounter these difficulties in our daily life (Thorp, 2017).

The second noble truth is the cause of suffering. These causes are also known to be the three poisons: Ignorance, Attachment, and Aversion. Ignorance brings us suffering as one fails to perceive the true reality and is deluded to see things through a distorted lens and not how they actually are (Thorp, 2017). Secondly, attachment brings us suffering as we tend to cling to the pleasant experiences in our life and therefore when we are resting in an unpleasant experience; a craving arises where we wish we were somewhere else, creating suffering (Sockolov, 2018). Finally, aversion causes suffering because it is the feeling that arises from unpleasant experiences that we try and avoid. A key concept to grasp when trying to understand the second truth is karma. In Buddhism, karma mainly refers to one’s intention or motivation while doing an action. In other words, whatever you do intentionally to others will return back to you and relating this notion back to second noble truth; if you cause suffering to others it will cause suffering to yourself (Harderwijk, 2015).

The third and most positive noble truth is that there is the cessation to suffering. Since suffering and the causes of suffering are dependent on our state of mind, and our state of mind can be changed, we can therefore eliminate suffering from our lives and enter the state of nirvana (Harderwijk, 2015). Nirvana means “to extinguish” and attaining nirvana signifies reaching enlightenment. Once one has attained nirvana in the third noble truth, they have liberated themselves from suffering (Harderwijk, 2015). However, just because one has the wisdom to end suffering, the Buddha provides his prescription to end suffering in the fourth noble truth: the path to the cessation of suffering. This entails the Eight-Fold Noble Path, which are the eight “right” ways to end suffering and the means to achieving spiritual enlightenment according to the Buddha.

These eight stages can be grouped into the three main essentials of Buddhist training and discipline: Wisdom, ethical conduct and mental discipline. Wisdom constitutes of right thought and right understanding, essentially denoting that one has thoughts of selfless detachment, love, and non-violence and that one also understands the four noble truths, explaining how things really are (Rahula, 2018). Ethical conduct is mainly based on universal love and compassion and includes right speech (abstaining from telling lies, gossiping, and using rude/harsh language), right action (promoting moral, honourable, peaceful conduct) and right livelihood (abstaining from a profession that brings harm to others) (Rahula, 2018). Ethical conduct also goes to show how the Buddha strongly valued morality in his teachings of spiritual development. Mental discipline portrays the ways in which the mind is trained and disciplined through right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration (Rahula, 2018). Essentially, these last three stages of the noble path go to promote meditation as an important practice on the path to spiritual enlightenment.

In conclusion, the way suffering is depicted in Buddhist practice can teach one many things about the self, guiding one to not only becoming a more enlightened person, but to reduce suffering as a whole and lead one to live a happier life. As people struggle to cope with suffering in their lives, the Buddha truly believed that suffering is something that can be avoided by practicing things such as morality and meditation, and by following and understanding the four noble truths. With all this being said, as we are taught to believe that suffering is “normal” in society, if we take the time to open our eyes to practices such as Buddhism, one will be able to change their perspective on suffering and realize that it is actually something that can be overcome by understanding the truths that lie within the spirit of the Buddha.

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Buddhist Ethics: A Philosophical Exploration

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6 The Four Noble Truths

Published: December 2021
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The four noble truths are the foundation of all of Buddhist thought, and especially ethical thought. This chapter examines Buddhist insight into the ways that suffering pervades every aspect of our lives, and the importance of the many different levels of suffering, including suffering from shame, suffering of change, and suffering of pervasive conditioning. The chapter also covers the Buddhist account of the origins of suffering, from the three pathologies of primal confusion, attraction, and aversion. Finally, it addresses the aspects of the eightfold path, and its applications as a way to attain the cessation of these forms of suffering.

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The Four Noble Truths
Affirming Faith In Mind
Chao-chou's Dog
Dictionary of Zen and Buddhist Terms
Faith and Fellowship
Four Great Vows
Fukanzazengi
Glossary to the Diamond Sutra
How to Practice
How to Sit (Zazen)
Index to the Diamond Sutra
Lineage from "Transmission of Light"
Regarding Our Faith
Repentance Gatha
Song of Zazen
The Dance of Affinity
The Diamond Cutter Sutra
The Heart of the Prajna Paramita Sutra
The Heart Sutra in Buddhist Sanskrit
The Sound of One Hand
Thousand Hands Sutra
Torei Zenji: Bodhisattva's Vow
True Prayer: Why We Bow and Chant
Venerable Master Kyung-Ho's Inspirational Talk

The origin of suffering is egoistic craving and attachment.

There is a way to the cessation of suffering.

This Way is the Eightfold Path: Right Understanding; Right Thinking; Right Speech; Right Attitude; Right Livelihood; Right Effort; Right Mindfulness; Right Concentration.

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Ideas Buddhism

The Buddhism of Schopenhauer

The famed German philosopher did not become acquainted with Eastern thought until after writing his magnum opus. Yet in Buddhism, he found reflection—and validation—of his own genius.

In a particularly harrowing passage from his 1819 discourse The World as Will and Representation , German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer cites an account from one of botanist and geologist Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn’s expeditions to the Indonesian island of Java.

“Junghuhn,” Schopenhauer writes, “saw an immense field entirely covered with skeletons, and took it to be a battlefield. However, they were nothing but skeletons of large turtles, five feet long, three feet broad, and of equal height. These turtles come this way from the sea, in order to lay their eggs, and are then seized by wild dogs ( Canis rutilans ); with their united strength, these dogs lay them on their backs, tear open their lower armor, the small scales of the belly, and devour them alive. But then a tiger often pounces on the dogs. Now all this misery is repeated thousands and thousands of times, year in, year out. For this then, are these turtles born. For what offense must they suffer this agony? What is the point of the whole scene of horror?”

To readers familiar with Buddhist scriptures, this passage inevitably echoes the story of Siddhartha Gautama , whose shocking encounter with the overabundance of death and suffering outside his princely palace propelled him on his path to Buddhahood. This is not a coincidence, as Schopenhauer, who lived from 1788 to 1860, is widely recognized as one of the first Western philosophers to develop a serious interest in Eastern thought. Financed by an inheritance from his merchant father, he spent most of his adult life secluded at home, at his own princely palace of sorts, reading and rereading the Vedas and Upanishads, accompanied by a succession of white poodles all named Atman, after the Hindu and Buddhist concept of the true or eternal Self or witness-consciousness.

Many wrongly assume that Schopenhauer was aware of these ancient texts before writing World as Will . In truth, the philosopher completed his magnum opus well before ever diving into them. They did not serve as an inspiration so much as they seemed to confirm what he had already discovered through independent study. Ignored by the academic community of his time, Schopenhauer—who, like Franz Kafka or Vincent van Gogh, did not become a household name until after his death—found quiet comfort in the fact that his work seemed somehow connected to one of the oldest and greatest philosophical traditions on the planet.

In an article titled “Buddhism and Nineteenth-Century German Philosophy,” the German theologian Heinrich Dumoulin notes that, while scholars from Southeast Asian countries had readily consumed Western philosophy since the 1700s, “Asian ideas and cultural values were slower to gain entry into Europe.” Asian philosophy traveled westward not through professors but Jesuit missionaries who saw traces of their own Christian worldview reflected in Buddhism and Confucianism.

Germany’s first introduction to Indian thought came from Polish philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), who—after translating the Bhagavad Gita from Sanskrit into German—went on to write that “in India, the human mind acquired its first form of wisdom and virtue, with a depth, strength, and sublimity which … has no equal in our cold, European, philosophical world.” Further steps were taken by August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767–1845), who occupied the first chair in Sanskrit at the University of Bonn, and his younger brother Friedrich (1772–1829), author of an influential essay titled “On the Language and Wisdom of the Indians.”

Aside from a small but steadily growing class of Buddhist scholars in the West, Buddhism also caught the attention of a handful of leading German philosophers who, though they did not understand its history to the extent of their specialized peers, found its teachings to be relevant to their own writing.

Despite never leaving his hometown of Konigsberg, Immanuel Kant was fascinated with foreign cultures. For over forty years he taught a course on “Physical Geography,” one of the first in the country, compiling material from travel literature. He talked about Buddhism in lectures on Tibet, India, China, and Japan, and, according to Dumoulin, “was sympathetic to the Buddhist belief in [the] transmigration of souls.” Kant, whose concept of the categorical imperative outlines a series of ethical laws all people should follow regardless of their circumstances, was also impressed by what he perceived to be Buddhism’s distinct moral character, with karma promising to punish evil and reward good when earthly institutions failed.

Kant’s contemporary Georg W. F. Hegel, Schopenhauer’s nemesis, also devoted space to Buddhism, albeit in a different context. Arguing that “world history moves from East to West,” the great dialectician concerned himself with the Far East only insofar as—in Dumoulin’s words—he “sought to integrate all the [world’s] religions into his own grandiose metaphysical system.”

Schopenhauer differed from Hegel in that he viewed Eastern thought as different from and arguably superior to its Western counterpart. Letters reveal that he first encountered Eastern spiritual wisdom in 1813, when his friend Friedrich Maier, an Indologist and author of a book titled Brahma, or the Religion of the Hindus , gifted him a Latin translation of the Upanishads.

Letters also reveal that Schopenhauer had already made significant progress on World as Will before he was able to sit down with this translation. “The agreement with my own teachings is especially wonderful,” he later told an acquaintance, “since I wrote the first volume [from] 1814 [to] 1818 and did not know anything about all that, not having been able to acquire all that knowledge.” Schopenhauer’s pursuit of the Upanishads really took off after he resigned from his post at the University of Berlin and devoted himself entirely to independent study.

The deeper he dove into Eastern thought, the more similarities he discovered between it and his own. This was especially true of Buddhist scriptures, which, like World as Will , proposed that what we commonly regard as “reality” is in fact an illusion, a pale imitation of a higher, invisible truth. Juxtaposed against this false reality—a duality Schopenhauer had originally inherited from Kant, who was in turn indebted to Plato and his allegory of the cave—was what Kant termed the “thing-in-itself” ( Ding an sich ) and what Schopenhauer came to refer to as the Will: an essential energy that animates and unites all living entities: the “this” in the “For this then, are these turtles born.”

In a line of reasoning that closely follows the Buddha’s four noble truths, Schopenhauer argued that the Will—expressed in animals as the need to exist, grow, and reproduce, and in humans as desire in all its various, complicated forms—was the cause of all suffering, since desire can never be satiated. Because the Will is the essential energy of the universe, Schopenhauer also argued that suffering was an inseparable aspect of existence, escapable only through the renunciation of desire and, by extension, existence itself.

He supposed that the rejection of the Will—through the consumption of art or an ascetic lifestyle—would lead to a state of bliss not unlike what we conceive of when we hear the word nirvana :

“Then nothing can trouble a man more, nothing can move him, for he has cut all the thousand cords of will which hold us bound to the world and, as desire, fear, envy, anger, drag us hither and thither in constant pain, He now looks back smiling and at rest on the delusions of this world which once were able to move and agonize his spirit also, but which now stand before him as utterly indifferent to him as the chessman when the game is ended, or as in the morning the cast-off masquerading dress which worried and disquieted us in the night in carnival. Life and its forms now pass before him as a fleeting illusion, as a light morning dream before half waking eyes, the real world already shining through it so that it can no longer deceive, and like this morning dream they finally vanish altogether without any violent transition.”

In a preface added to a later edition of World as Will , a more educated Schopenhauer addressed the ancient sagacious wisdom he now perceived in his 1819 book:

“If he [the reader] is a partaker of the benefit conferred by the Vedas, the access to which, opened to us through the Upanishads, is in my eyes the greatest advantage which this still young century enjoys over previous ones, because I believe that the influence of the Sanskrit literature will penetrate not less deeply than did the revival of Greek literature in the fifteenth century: if, I say, the reader has also already received and assimilated the sacred… Indian wisdom, then is he best of all prepared to hear what I have to say to him…”

Like Siddhartha Gautama, Schopenhauer’s philosophy about suffering, desire, and renunciation was informed by an at times tragic, at other times unsatisfying life—a life the Indian scholar of Bengali and English literature Rabindra Kumar Das Gupta once summed up as a string of “failures and disappointments.” Born in Danzig, Schopenhauer was just 5 years old when the Polish city lost its status as a Polish exclave in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and was made a part of Prussia. At 17, his father was found dead in a canal. Those close to the family speculated that Heinrich, a shrewd but struggling businessman, must have slipped, but Schopenhauer was convinced that his father—his melancholic tendencies worsened by financial trouble—had actually committed suicide.

Although the future philosopher had never been close to his father, he actively despised his mother. Johanna Schopenhauer, a successful writer and professional bohemian who kept an entourage of artists and intellectuals, including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, felt the exact same way about her son, calling him “unbearable and burdensome” and “very hard to live with.” The lukewarm reception of World as Will , which Schopenhauer had secretly hoped would place him at the pinnacle of German academia, only worsened their relationship. Their quarrels became more and more frequent until, one day, Johanna pushed Arthur down the stairs, prompting the latter to declare—as Dumoulin put it—that “posterity would remember her only through his reputation.”

Schopenhauer argued that suffering was an inseparable aspect of existence, escapable only through the renunciation of desire and, by extension, existence itself

This declaration proved prophetic only in retrospect. With unsold copies of his manuscript collecting dust, Schopenhauer acknowledged and even embraced the then-likely possibility of his name fading into obscurity. As his personal life crumbled, so did his career. In less than a year after accepting his professorship at the University of Berlin, Schopenhauer resigned from the institution when his class—scheduled at the same time as Hegel’s—failed to attract a sufficient number of students.

In light of such biographical details, one cannot help but wonder whether Schopenhauer’s pessimism was logical or pathological in nature, whether the philosopher arrived at his bleak worldview through sincere, unbiased introspection, or whether he was pushed in this direction by the frustration of his many unfulfilled desires.

Friedrich Nietzsche, an early admirer of Schopenhauer, supported the first of these two hypotheses, arguing the philosopher’s isolation from society offered the same clarity and insight that he himself enjoyed in chronic illness. He described Schopenhauer as “absolutely alone, with not a single friend,” arguing that “between one and none there lies an infinity.”

Accepting his own mortality, Schopenhauer became willing to acknowledge uncomfortable yet obvious truths that others—shielded by a lover’s embrace or intoxicated by alcohol—ignored. Proof of the world’s inherent cruelty did not have to be uncovered or elucidated; it was evident in the most basic functions of nature, in which, Schopenhauer once wrote, “the agony of the devoured animal is always far greater than the pleasure of the devourer.”

Just as his pessimism stemmed from rational observation rather than emotional trauma, so too was it motivated by compassion rather than disdain. As he wrote in World as Will :

“If you led the most unrepentant optimist through the hospitals, military wards, and surgical theatres, through the prisons [and] torture chambers … through battlefields and places of judgment, and then open for him all the dark dwellings of misery that hide from cold curiosity, then he too would surely come to see the nature of this best of all possible worlds.”

Interpreting Schopenhauer as a 19th-century incel who blames his unhappiness on an indifferent universe not only misses the point of World as Will , but also of the Eastern thinkers he came to identify himself with. Dumoulin notes that, as a result of systemic misreading, both “Schopenhauerism” and Buddhism are viewed in the West as philosophies of death, of rejecting a painful, meaningless existence in favor of painless but equally meaningless nonexistence. In truth, Schopenhauer’s philosophy was fueled by a deep love and care for the world that had supposedly mistreated him, just as his conception of overcoming the Will—much like the nirvana that it evokes—was neither negative nor nihilistic. As with Sisyphus, or the Buddha, we must imagine Schopenhauer happy.

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The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism
While meditating under the bodhi tree, the Buddha came to understand the following four basic principles: We will write a custom essay on your topic. 810 writers online. Learn More. Dukkha- the truth of suffering. Samudaya- origin of suffering. Nirodha- cessation of suffering. Magga- the path towards the end of suffering.
Four Noble Truths
The Four Noble Truths are the foundational tenets of Buddhism, which spark awareness of suffering as the nature of existence, its cause, and how to live without it.The truths are understood as the realization which led to the enlightenment of the Buddha (l. c. 563 - c. 483 BCE) and were the basis of his teachings.. The Four Noble Truths are: Life is suffering
BBC
It was these four principles that the Buddha came to understand during his meditation under the bodhi tree. The truth of suffering (Dukkha) The truth of the origin of suffering (Samudāya) The ...
Four Noble Truths
Four Noble Truths, one of the fundamental doctrines of Buddhism, said to have been set forth by the Buddha, the founder of the religion, in his first sermon, which he gave after his enlightenment.. Although the term Four Noble Truths is well known in English, it is a misleading translation of the Pali term Chattari-ariya-saccani (Sanskrit: Chatvari-arya-satyani), because noble (Pali: ariya ...
What Are the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism?
In a more formal setting, the Truths read: The truth of suffering (dukkha) The truth of the cause of suffering (samudaya) The truth of the end of suffering (nirhodha) The truth of the path that frees us from suffering (magga) Quite often, people get hung up on "life is suffering" and decide Buddhism isn't for them.
PDF The Four Noble Truths
So on the second occasion, he gave the teaching of the Four Noble Truths. ** ** ** Now the Four Noble Truths are: there is suffering; there is a cause or origin of suffering; there is a end of suffering; and there is path out of suffering which is the Eightfold Path. Each of these Truths has three aspects so all together there are twelve insights.
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The Nobility of the Truths. by Bhikkhu Bodhi. The most common and widely known formulation of the Buddha's teaching is that which the Buddha himself announced in the First Sermon at Benares, the formula of the Four Noble Truths. The Buddha declares that these truths convey in a nutshell all the essential information that we need to set out on ...
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The Buddha said that there is dukkha, there is an origin of dukkha, there is an end of dukkha and there is a path that leads to the end of dukkha. These are the Four Noble Truths. The First Noble Truth revealed by the Buddha says that there is suffering and it is everywhere around us. Being born is a suffering, getting older and growing up is a ...
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The fact of suffering is the central teaching of Buddhism. In the Bud-dha's first sermon after his awakening he spoke about suffering, its origin and its ending. The first two of the Four Noble Truths are particularly per-tinent to the discussion of Step One: "This is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering; aging is
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'The Four Noble Truths' investigates these central tenets of the Buddha's teachings. The ultimate goal of Buddhism is to end suffering and rebirth by attaining nirvana. This is partially through leading a moral life, and partially through the wisdom gained by studying the Four Noble Truths.
Basic Buddhist Teachings
In Buddhism, the four noble truths (Pāli: cattāri ariyasaccāni) are recognized as the first teaching given by the Buddha and are considered one of his most important teachings. They are called "Noble Truths" because, as the Buddha says, they are real (tathāni), infallible (avitathāni), and do not change (anaññathāni). (SN Tatha Sutta).
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These four truths were the foundations of the Buddha's teaching and he believed that it was essential to not only know the four truths, but to fully understand them which in turn would bring one nobility. The first noble truth is that there is suffering, the truth of Dukkha. Dukkha is the pain and dissatisfaction one experiences in their life ...
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Abstract. The four noble truths are the foundation of all of Buddhist thought, and especially ethical thought. This chapter examines Buddhist insight into the ways that suffering pervades every aspect of our lives, and the importance of the many different levels of suffering, including suffering from shame, suffering of change, and suffering of ...
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Buddhism is mainly spread in countries of East and Southeast Asia, particularly Tibet, China, Mongolia, and others. The most important teachings of Buddha are named Four Noble Truths. Buddha suggests that there is a God inside of every person and only through meditation it can be achievable. People who achieve it free themselves from suffering ...
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four noble truths. Keywords: - Non-violence, Four Noble Truths, Suffering, Bhavacakra, Eightfold path. Introduction: On the full moon day of May in the year 623 B.C., there was born in the Lumbini Park at kapilavasthu near the city of Baranasi (Benares) on the Indian borders of present Nepal a noble prince who was destined to be the
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The Four Noble Truths. The origin of suffering is egoistic craving and attachment. There is a way to the cessation of suffering. This Way is the Eightfold Path: Right Understanding; Right Thinking; Right Speech; Right Attitude; Right Livelihood; Right Effort; Right Mindfulness; Right Concentration. <- Regarding Our Faith The Heart of the Prajna ...
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The Four Noble Truths are the foundation of the Buddha's teaching. They are four objective, fundamental aspects of reality he realized when he awoke. The Bud...
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In a line of reasoning that closely follows the Buddha's four noble truths, Schopenhauer argued that the Will—expressed in animals as the need to exist, grow, and reproduce, and in humans as desire in all its various, complicated forms—was the cause of all suffering, since desire can never be satiated. Because the Will is the essential ...
Flag of Elektrostal, metallurgy and heavy machinery ...
329 votes, 32 comments. 603K subscribers in the vexillology community. A subreddit for those who enjoy learning about flags, their place in society…
Geographic coordinates of Elektrostal, Moscow Oblast, Russia
Geographic coordinates of Elektrostal, Moscow Oblast, Russia in WGS 84 coordinate system which is a standard in cartography, geodesy, and navigation, including Global Positioning System (GPS). Latitude of Elektrostal, longitude of Elektrostal, elevation above sea level of Elektrostal.
Elektrostal, Moscow Oblast, Russia
Elektrostal Geography. Geographic Information regarding City of Elektrostal. Elektrostal Geographical coordinates. Latitude: 55.8, Longitude: 38.45. 55° 48′ 0″ North, 38° 27′ 0″ East. Elektrostal Area. 4,951 hectares. 49.51 km² (19.12 sq mi) Elektrostal Altitude.
Every Russian city/town flag that has an atom in it
My point is that "everyone designs their own" v "symbols are assigned by some completely external body" is a false dichotomy, and a weird thing to focus on when the biggest difference between the two is actually that there is a national body influencing things - it's a lot more systematic than about how much individual cities or oblasts care about these things.