Inner peace combinepdf | Page 4

Teachings of Buddha B uddhism sees life as a process of constant change, and its practices aim to take advantage of this fact. It means that one can change for the bet- ter. The decisive factor in changing oneself is the mind, and Buddhism has developed many meth- ods for working on the mind. The Four Noble Truth There is Dukkha Nothing is lost in the Universe : The first universal truth of Buddha found was nothing is lost in this universe. Old solar systems disintegrate into cosmic rays. We are the child of our parents and we will be the parents of our children. If we destroy something around us, we destroy ourselves. If we lie to another, we lie to ourselves. Learning and understanding these truths, Lord Buddha and his disciples never killed any animal. Everything changes : The second universal truth is everything changes and keeps on changing continuously . Dinosaurs, mammoth used to rule this planet but now we hu- mans rule the planet. Life is like a river, it keeps on flowing, ever-changing. The first truth is that there is dukkha. We often translate dukkha into English as suf- fering, but a more appropriate word may be stress, dissatisfaction, or dis-ease. The Bud- dha points here that part of life is experienc- ing discomfort. There is a Cause of Dukkha The second truth is that there is a cause to our stress. Traditionally, these causes are ignorance and craving. There is Cessation of Dukkha The third truth points out that the cessa- tion of dukkha is possible. Specifically, it is through non-clinging and wisdom that we can end the cycle of suffering. This is a practice in non-clinging, or let- ting go The Path to Cessation of Dukkha The fourth truth is the path to ending suffering, or the Noble Eightfold Path. This is a bit like a prescription. The Buddha offered the Eightfold Path as the steps we take toward ending suffering.