Four Noble Truths
The foundational Buddhist teaching that identifies suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path leading to its cessation.
Dukkha: A Pali term for suffering, unsatisfactoriness, and instability in conditioned existence. The first truth identifies dukkha as the condition Buddhist practice seeks to understand.
Paticcasamuppada: The Pali formulation of dependent origination, describing a conditioned sequence that sustains suffering. Its links give a detailed account of how conditions produce suffering.
Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: A Pali discourse in which the Buddha presents the Middle Way and the Four Noble Truths. It is the canonical account of the teaching's first proclamation.
Madhyamaka: A Mahayana Buddhist philosophical tradition that analyzes phenomena as empty of inherent existence. Its account of emptiness reframes how suffering, cessation, and the path are understood.
Vipassana: A Buddhist meditation practice cultivating insight into experience, especially impermanence, suffering, and not-self. Insight practice examines the processes described by the first two truths.
Taṇhā: Craving or thirst that sustains suffering through attachment to desired experiences and resistance to unwanted ones. The second truth names craving as a principal origin of suffering.
Threefold Training: A Buddhist framework grouping practice into ethical conduct, concentration, and wisdom. It organizes the path's practices into three mutually supporting forms of training.
Gautama Buddha: The Indian spiritual teacher traditionally regarded as the founder of Buddhism. Buddhist tradition attributes the Four Noble Truths to his awakening and teaching.
Yogacara: A Mahayana Buddhist philosophical tradition examining consciousness and the construction of experience. Its analysis of consciousness offers a distinct framework for explaining suffering and its transformation.
Samatha: Buddhist meditation that develops calm and concentrated attention. Calm and concentration support the mental discipline cultivated on the path.