Reading guide
Suffering identified with the aggregates
This project's own cross-reference: “the five grasping aggregates” (pañcupādānakkhandhā) named here as the definition of the first noble truth are the same five aggregates — form, feeling, perception, choices, and consciousness — this project has already treated at length elsewhere, now placed directly within the four-truths framework.
A complete definition, in one place
This project's own reading: unlike most of this vagga's own companions, which name a single truth's own definition or restate the formula compressed, this discourse spells out all four truths' own definitions together in a single, complete statement.
Key terms
The text
§1“Mendicants, there are these four noble truths. What four? The noble truths of suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering.
§2And what is the noble truth of suffering? You should say: ‘The five grasping aggregates’. That is: form, feeling, perception, choices, and consciousness. This is called the noble truth of suffering.
§3And what is the noble truth of the origin of suffering? It’s the craving that leads to future lives, mixed up with relishing and greed, taking pleasure there wherever it alights. That is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, and craving for nonexistence. This is called the noble truth of the origin of suffering.
§4And what is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering? It’s the fading away and cessation of that very same craving with nothing left over; giving it away, letting it go, releasing it, and not clinging to it. This is called the noble truth of the cessation of suffering.
§5And what is the noble truth of the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering? It is simply this noble eightfold path, that is: right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right immersion. This is called the noble truth of the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering. These are the four noble truths.
§6That’s why you should practice meditation to understand: ‘This is suffering’ … ‘This is the origin of suffering’ … ‘This is the cessation of suffering’ … ‘This is the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering’.”
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