Buddha’s Teachings

"Bhante, in essence, what are Buddha’s teachings?"

"Buddha’s teachings are summed up in what came to be known as the Four Noble Truths. That is what the Buddha taught — the Four Truths." He stopped, as if for emphasis.

"One, the fact that there is suffering in the world — that is to say, unsatisfactoriness or conflicts. The truth of suffering. Secondarily, this suffering has its causes. Suffering is not causeless — without cause. The Buddha, like a scientist, showed the cause of these sufferings. The cause is more subjective than it is objective. That is, man’s craving — his greed, hatred, or ill will and ignorance or delusion. These are the root causes of all our suffering."

How similar these sufferings are to the views of ancient yogis, I thought. The great master Patanjali wrote that when a man ignores his true nature, he then experiences the five-fold suffering — ignorance, egotism, craving, fear, and possessiveness or greed.

The Eight Limbs  

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