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End of Suffering
End of Suffering
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.
Source: “The Nobility of the Truths”, by Bhikkhu Bodhi. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 5 June 2010, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/bps-essay_20.html
Happiness – The Cessation of Suffering
To have the desire for a person to be well and happy implies that we would wish for them, as much as is possible, to be free from pain and suffering. How is this possible? The Buddha’s Eightfold Noble Path offers a way for us to explore this possibility in our own lives.
First, in the Four Noble Truths, he shows the reality of suffering in our lives. He then gives us the cause of that suffering. Yet, he also states that it is possible to be free of suffering — and the cause for that is the Eightfold Noble Path.
In the table, available below, I have attempted to show that by being mindful of principles taught by the Buddha in other discourses, the Eightfold Noble Path presents a path that would alleviate suffering — and to eventually free oneself completely from it.
- For a PDF copy of the table, click on Happiness – The Cessation of Suffering – A Table.
- For an MS Word copy, click on Happiness – Cessation of Suffering – A Table.