Third and Fourth Noble Truths

Date: 2022-08-04 Thursday

The four noble truths are one of the first teachings of the Buddha and at the bedrock of Buddhist understanding in all traditions. This is a good time to open into these four: the unsatisfactory nature of un-awakened life, the reason why we’re not awake or free, the possibility of freedom, and how to become free.

Knowing these four deeply is important for long-term practitioners, to keep our sight focused on what’s at the root of this path. It’s often said if we truly realized these four, we’d be freed. The four also are very important for people newer to the path, to clearly see the way ahead.

Last week we explored the first two, and on Aug 4 we’ll review the first two briefly, for anyone who wasn’t there, and continue to the second two. In a sense these last two are the most uplifting of the four, because in them the Buddha shows us the possibility of awakening, or freedom from clinging, and then how to do it.

Click here to listen to or download the talk on the Seattle Insight page.