Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Ven Jampa Ignyen addresses a widespread misconception head-on in this 46-minute introduction to the Four Noble Truths: that Buddhism is pessimistic. Understanding suffering—dukkha, the unsatisfactory nature of our condition—is in fact the liberating first step, not a gloomy one. He breaks down the first truth into three layers, using everyday examples: a jackhammer, harsh music, the impermanence of physical pain. The core practice he teaches is mindfulness of feeling—learning to observe what you’re feeling, at what object it’s directed, whether it’s positive, negative, or neutral. Throughout he emphasizes impermanence as grounds for hope and stresses the Buddha’s practical approach: liberation comes through understanding and your own sustained effort, not through external salvation. For those new to Buddhism seeking grounding in its central teaching.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 Intro to B 2001 05 14.mp3
UUID: 2d0d235f-c84f-4466-a3d3-ffd4b7929ffa
Teacher: Ven Jampa Ignyen
Collection: y Introduction to Buddhism (Ven Jampa Ignyen)
Date: 2001-05-14
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 46.0 minutes
Words: ~5,259
Patience is really a great benefit, and it’s something we can practice anywhere, anytime. What one of the great benefits of this type of meditation is is simply to lessen our thoughts and, in a sense, enable us to be more relaxed and so forth. So this we can do at any time. And especially living in a modern world that’s very busy, we do tend to be swept up by events around us all the time without even noticing it. And we do need to relax the tendency just to sit down really and do very little.
It’s a misconception to think that to be productive, have to be busy. We need also to rest and relax. Otherwise, being busy becomes an obstacle in itself. So we do need this type of meditation which just allows the mind to stop engaging in its normal activity of thinking about things. Because if the quality of our thinking is not very good or productive or practical, then probably better not to think too much.
So this type of meditation gives us the ability just to stop and let the mind rest where it is. Although, of course, we have lots of doubts about should I do it in do it for more than five minutes or is it very beneficial? I’m bored. I wanna do something else. I’m gonna fall asleep, and so on.
These are just preconceptions. These are just conceptions that arise that don’t necessarily have any benefit. And the mark of wisdom is being able to discern, especially within the mind itself, what’s a benefit and what’s not a benefit. And if we’re not able to discern what thoughts are beneficial, what types of thoughts are not beneficial, then it means we lack wisdom in that area. The capacity to generate wisdom depends on quietening the mind down so that when things are quieter, then when things are stiller, it’s possible to begin to see the process of the mind itself and what leads to happiness, what doesn’t lead to happiness.
So in that sense, a quiet mind is a useful mind, a practical mind. So here, we’re dealing with the four noble truths. And last week, we did a little bit of discussion on the life of the Buddha and the twelve deeds of a Buddha. Now the point of this is just to give some background to the four truths because the four truths are really what a Buddha does does teach. They’re the mark of a Buddha.
In fact, if someone comes into the world and teaches the four truths at a time when they’re not taught, then that person is a Buddha. And there was a Buddha appeared on this planet about two and a half thousand years ago. And their the first sermon, their first teaching, they taught the four noble truths, and that was in a small place just outside of Varanasi. And Śākyamūni Buddha, his name was Śākyamūni or the sage of the Shakya clan. And he is said to be the fourth Buddha of this fortunate eon of which there will be one thousand.
And the next Buddha, the fifth Buddha, will be Maitreya, and Maitreya will come in the distant future. Prior to this fortunate eon, I think there were sixty one eons when there were no Buddhas that appeared. Prior to that, there were a number of Buddhas who appeared. Then prior to that, there were eons that went by without Buddha appearing and so forth. But in the course of these long periods of time, many Buddhas do appear.
And in future, again, many Buddhas will appear. And the mark of each of these Buddhas will be that they teach the four truths. Understanding the four truths, therefore, is central within Dharma or the teachings of a fully awakened being. And so in this four week period, four week block on Monday nights, we’re dealing with these four truths. Now, also, if anyone has any points they wish to make, please bring them up at any time.
I think this is more useful. Otherwise, I think a discussion can be very, very very useful for bringing up points that might otherwise not be brought up. And, of course, the point of the Buddha teaching is simply to deal with this issue of existence, that our existence is a little bit problematic. There are certain features of it that we don’t like. In fact, we go into it, there’s probably quite a number.
We probably have quite a long list of things that we’re dissatisfied with. This in brief is the first truth, the truth of suffering. Now the four truths, as I said, are just probably, initially, it’s useful to discuss the four truths. They’re really given in two sets of cause and result. The first is the truth of suffering.
The second is the cause of that, which is called the truth of origin of suffering. The third truth is the truth of the cessation of suffering, and the fourth fourth truth is the path leading to the cessation of suffering. So in fact, there’s two causal sequences. The first two are suffering and its cause, so they’re cause and result. And the second two are the cessation of suffering and the cause of that, which is the path leading to the cessation of suffering.
So there’s two causes, two results, nominally speaking. The reason why they’re taught in this way is that unless we understand the first truth, the truth of suffering, then we’d never bother to investigate the second truth, the cause or the origin of that suffering. Unless we’re convinced that the truth of suffering exists, in other words, we would never bother to investigate why dissatisfaction or suffering exists. So, therefore, the first, first of the four truths that is taught is the truth of suffering. Understanding the truth of suffering may take many lifetimes.
It’s not something that’s obvious to us. It’s not something that we naturally have an understanding of. And in fact, there’s one great Chinese monk, Rinzai said, these matters are not naturally the understanding of these matters is not naturally born to a person. They’re not born with this understanding. We don’t just you know, at the age of two or three, we just discover that we have a natural understanding of all these issues.
They’re not a not something that we’re naturally born with. There’s something that come to an understanding of through our own effort. It really all depends on our own effort. As with many things in our existence that we can see around us, effort is required in order to attain a goal or what we seek. On the other hand, also, it sometimes seems that people achieve things without much effort.
But this we need to investigate on a deep level because often how things appear is not actually how they exist. So, anyway, the first noble truth is a truth of suffering. Now it’s called suffering. It’s actually a of this Sanskrit term called dukkha, which means, like, unsatisfactoriness or problematic nature of existence, fly in the ointment, etcetera. It’s really referring in Tibetan, the term is, also has just this type of connotation.
The problematic way that we tend to see as being the nature of our existence. In fact, none of us would be here if our existence were were fine. And in fact, it in one way, it should shock us that we’re just not naturally born with everything that we require. We’re not born in a state that is happy, blissful, wise, contented, and so forth. In fact, when we examine ourselves and other people around us, we see that our experience is not what we we would hope it to be.
And the experience of others is just like that. This is really the truth of suffering or the truth of unsatisfactoriness. Now some also interpret that because the Buddha taught the first truth as to be the as being the truth of unsatisfactoriness or suffering, then Buddhism is quite pessimistic. But in fact, it should have been you know, something else would have been put first and then, you know, to make it appear a little bit less pessimistic or a little bit more optimistic or whatever. Here, there is a great purpose for this.
It’s not to say that our existence cannot be improved. It’s that at the bottom line of our existence at present is unsatisfactory, and we haven’t established a ground within us that is beyond that state. In a sense, we don’t find a point of contentment at present that has all the features that we really are seeking. So this really indicates that our present state of existence is unsatisfactory. The what we seek is, in a sense, beyond our current experience.
Now when it said that here we’re talking about the truth of suffering, generally, suffering is just referring to our feelings. And the feeling of suffering is, you know, we quite easily understand to be you know, if we stand on a thorn, we have a a suffering feeling. If a bee stings us, we have a suffering feeling. That’s a physical feeling of pain, and that means suffering. Also, mentally, we also experience negative mental feelings quite often.
You know, we’re we sometimes we feel a little depressed. Sometimes in thinking about this or that thing, we have a negative mental feeling. This quite it quite often occurs, and we don’t necessarily comprehend why in one particular moment of time we have a negative mental feeling and so on. That’s the truth of suffering. That, in fact, is suffering as well.
In a sense, these these two types of suffering, mental feeling of suffering and the physical feeling of suffering. But the truth of suffering is much broader than that. The truth of suffering is not just those two types of feeling. In fact, it includes everything, all the form that we see and so forth. All of this is included within, say, the truth of suffering.
But in fact, our experience in a sense is contaminated because our experience is associated with, objects that are included within the truth of suffering. So this sounds quite pessimistic, I guess. Everyone would would agree with that. Sometimes it sounds as if, you know, in the beginning we have something and we have a certain degree of happiness. And if we start talking about these Buddhist truths, the first truth, the truth of suffering, then it’s almost as if something’s been taken away from us.
I had some had some happiness to begin with. And if we start talking about the truth of suffering, then previously what I had, which was a little bit of happiness, now that’s being taken away from me. It’s not really intended to do that at all. Here, by stating the truth of suffering, the Buddha is simply setting out how things are. In a sense, it’s he’s saying we have to remove our rose colored glasses and just examine things as they are.
That’s not for the purpose of saying there’s, you know, it’s not possible that we attain happiness or we really achieve what we want to achieve. But until we understand where we where we actually exist and what what our nature is at present, it’s very difficult for us to get beyond this state. At time, when the Buddha was alive, people would go around criticizing the Buddha and say that all this monk does is walk around talking about suffering and the way leading to the cessation of suffering. That’s you know, there there were many at the time of the Buddha who criticized him. And the monks that were followers of the Buddha and we’d come to the Buddha and say, look there.
You know, we went down to the market and the people down there, you know, are saying that all this does, all this mendicant does does is talk about suffering in this in a way for overcoming suffering, that this is what you teach and nothing else. And what should we do? Should we go and refute them? Or and the Buddha would say, no. Actually, what they say is quite true.
All I teach is suffering and the way leading from the cessation of suffering. They’re actually praising me by saying that because that’s all I teach. There’s nothing in a way more profound than that. It’s quite simple. In fact, the the teachings, when summarized, they’re very, very simple.
We’re the ones that are very complicated. We’re incredibly complicated. We’ve got, you know, all manner of emotions directed to all manner of objects in the universe. Some that we’re aware of, some that we’re not aware of, and so on. It’s hard for us to really be simple and just see what our situation is.
But here, the Buddha, by teaching the four noble truths, is teaching them in order that beings attain happiness. That by attaining happiness or by comprehending what the four truths are, it is possible to actually attain uncontaminated happiness or happiness that’s uncontaminated by the least problem. In fact, what we want to attain is the third truth, the state of the cessation of all that’s unsatisfactory. In fact, that’s probably our inner aspiration in whatever we do, whether we recognize that or not. But really, what whatever we’re doing day to day is in order to be happy.
We get up in the morning to go to work. The aspiration is that we gotta pay the bills. We’ve gotta eat. We gotta finance the car, finance the payments on the house. Gotta play with the kids, I’ve gotta look after my spouse, gotta look after my parents.
By doing all this, I’ll I’ll be happy. I’ll make other people happy, that I’ll achieve a level of happiness. Most of this and that’s good. This this is something that is a natural and and worthy goal. But unless we understand the first noble truth, it’s hard for us to discern what the causes of our happiness are and what the causes are are not.
Does that make any sense? In a way, unless we understand the first truth, which is what our limitations are at present, we’re never gonna try and get beyond those limitations. We’re never gonna try and get beyond the cause those limitations, which is the second truth. And as long as we never get beyond the cause of those limitations, we can never achieve the third truth. So in a sense, we’re we’re seeking to overcome our current limitations.
So we talk a lot about our current limitations in order to recognize them, in order to establish that they actually exist. Oh, that’s what I need to overcome. When we, you know, we’re just sitting down, we’re always we have feeling. Feeling is what’s called an omnipresent mental factor. Our feelings are what experience the world.
Our experience is what tastes the object, experiences the object, and our feelings are either positive, negative, or neutral. And really our aspiration is just to have positive feelings, isn’t it? We seek to be happy. Happiness is having positive mental feeling. Everyone wants to be happy.
Therefore, wants positive mental feeling. So, in a sense, what we try to do is to minimize the negative mental feelings, increase the positive mental feelings that we have. In a sense, we can say the negative mental feelings are the first truth. The cause of those negative mental feelings is the second truth. Positive mental feelings is really like the third truth.
But understanding how we bring these about is not easy. If we understood it, we would already put our understanding into practice. Actually, we already understand quite a lot about this process. But often, it’s out of other for other considerations that we don’t really practice what we understand. So anyway, here we’re talking about the first noble truth.
And these were first taught by the Buddha in Sarnath or in the Deer Park near Varanasi. And there he taught really the four truths and the first truth of suffering, etcetera, in three ways each. And he first taught to his five former students who had left him because he’d started, to eat food again after six years of austerity. And then he caught up with him again in Varanasi, and then he taught the noble truth of of suffering, the noble truth of the origin of suffering and so forth. And this also indicates to us that these truths are universal, and they are relevant at any time.
And in fact, the conditions that people faced in those days were just the same conditions that we face today. That and it was as difficult for them as it is for us, perhaps even more difficult for us. But unless we understand the first truth, we do not move to the second or the third. And so again, we need to investigate what this first truth of suffering is. So what we can do, I think, also is now just examine in a little bit of detail different categories of the truth of suffering.
Now the truth of suffering is divided up into, say, three different levels, which are some of them are obvious to us and some of them are not. Now the first level is the suffering of suffering, or in Tibetan, it’s or And this really refers to this negative feeling that we have as we were talking about before. This feeling that, you know, our physical pain or mental pain that we experience. However slight it is, that’s all called the suffering of suffering or the dissatisfaction of of the dissatisfactory nature of our existence in itself. These feelings, again, they occur quite often.
Negative physical feeling, negative mental feeling. The good thing is that they’re impermanent. We should rejoice in the fact that they’re impermanent. Otherwise, we’d if they were permanent, we’d be we’d be finished. There’d be no hope left for us.
So we should rejoice in the fact that they’re just impermanent. They just come and go. Nothing really to be worried about. And we see that. You know, if we’re sitting down and we have a negative physical feeling, we can move.
A leg goes to sleep or, you know, we get a cramp in the back or if we get a crick in our neck or if we bang our elbow against the door or something like this. It’s impermanent. It’s painful while it lasts, but it’s impermanent. So our negative physical feeling, which we can experience through the five senses, these are all impermanent, but we have to be able to recognize them as well. This is all called the suffering of suffering.
For instance, if we put our hand in hot water, that’s the negative physical feeling of the body. And if we see something very ugly, then color and shape that’s very ugly, that’s negative feeling of the eye or eye awareness. If we hear very coarse language or hard harsh sound or loud sounds, that’s a negative feeling associated with ear awareness. We smell something that’s not too pleasant. It creates a negative, feeling that’s associated with nose awareness.
And then if we touch something sharp or cut ourselves and so on, this is negative physical feeling, body feeling. In a sense, these are also called external feelings. And the negative ones are really the suffering of suffering. They’re all impermanent. They arise.
They remain for a certain period, then they fall away. In a way, this is the grossest level of suffering that we experience. You know, we burn ourselves. We cut ourselves. We hear harsh sounds or, you know, maybe we don’t like certain types of music when it’s played.
Anyone goes to India and wanders around India for a while, they noticed that’s that all the the latest, Hindi film music is being played at top volume wherever you go, and this can make one, a little impatient at times. One becomes impatient because the sound is has a, what, a negative feeling associated with it for us. Has anyone been to India and heard the music there? Think Michael has. You get used to it.
I miss it now, actually. But, and if we got a jackhammer outside, this we we really need to investigate. Someone’s got a jackhammer and we’re there and okay, ten minutes we think, okay. You know, they’ve got their work to do. I can can put up with that.
Fifteen minutes, we’re we’re getting impatient. That happens, doesn’t it? Why are we getting impatient? We have a negative physical feeling arising because of that sound. That negative physical feeling is generating dislike because it’s a negative feeling.
That’s right, isn’t it? Negative feelings generate dislike. True? And when we have dislike, then there’s a great foothold for impatience. True?
Then we can start to get impatient with the object, with the jackhammer, but probably more than the jackhammer, the person that’s operating it. Then we start to think, oh, that’s deliberate. They’re really, you know, using that jackhammer more than they actually need to. We start to get angry at the person. Anyway, that negative feeling that’s associated with your awareness, that’s the suffering of suffering.
From that, we we become impatient. We get angry. We develop negative mental feeling, which is even worse. Okay. So we have the grossest level of suffering is the suffering of suffering, and the suffering of suffering really refers to the negative feelings we have, with our sensory awareness.
These are all forms of suffering. This doesn’t really need to be explained to us. What we do need to investigate or check up on is the fact that it’s occurring. Often, we’re not even really clearly aware of why I’ve, you know, I’m feeling unhappy. Often, it comes down to a physical feeling we first have that then leads to a negative mental feeling.
And in the morning, we wake up and we’re quite bright and happy. We sit there trying to do something. We got this harsh noise in the background. After a while, we really get impatient and angry, and we don’t see the process of of how we got there. I was so happy when I first woke up.
I had a nice breakfast. I read the paper, and now I’m annoyed. Often we don’t realize the process. Anyway, the physical negative physical feelings are the suffering of suffering. Then also subtler, but more important is negative mental feeling.
Important is negative mental feeling. Negative mental feeling also we need to be able to recognize that level of the suffering of suffering. So negative mental feeling is the feeling associated with our mental awareness, non sensory awareness, our thinking awareness mainly. When we think about things, we often have negative mental feelings. We think about the state of the economy maybe.
Don’t like it. Even the dislike actually comes about through having first a negative mental feeling. And because of having a negative mental feeling, then we develop dislike. And dislike leads into potentially hatred, potentially anger, wrath, resentment, etcetera. So that negative mental feeling, also is the suffering of suffering.
It’s impermanent, but it’s arising all the time. It’s not something that’s easy for us to check up on to be aware of, But it’s all it’s it’s always there. Our feelings are always there. From the moment we get up in the morning, we have feeling. It may it’s often a feeling associated with the dream that we had that we may have forgotten.
Associated with the dream that we had that we may have forgotten. And then we have this feeling, and then we, you know, go and wash our face or have some breakfast or whatever. Then we have all sorts of feelings that come up. A lot of them are physical feelings, a lot of them are mental feelings. Especially the negative ones are what are called the suffering of suffering.
And as being the suffering of suffering, they’re the the noble truth of suffering. It’s not that they’re noble. It’s understanding them is noble. Being able to comprehend what these feelings are. These feelings are impermanent, and they arise.
Even at present, we have a certain feeling. The feeling may be neutral. It may be negative, may be positive, or it may vary from time to time. Our feelings are impermanent, but they’re ever present, always there, always functioning, and the negative ones are the suffering of suffering. It’s often very difficult for us to really be aware that we are feeling something.
It’s just so much a part of our existence. It’s just there. But to the extent that we can stand back and simply, observe, to that extent, it actually gives us some space and allows us not simply to be carried away by our feelings, which we are quite often. In a way, being carried away by the positive feelings is not so much fault, But we’re being carried away by our negative feelings, there is fault. There is danger for us.
Danger in the sense that it leads us the negative feelings are prolonged and become more ingrained and so on. But it is as much as possible if we can recognize feelings for what they are, they’re just feelings. They’re things that arise, they endure, and they pass away. And that actually the positive ones are like that, the neutral ones are like that, and the negative ones are like that, then it does help us to settle the mind to a degree. Because the truth of of our existence actually is deeper than our feelings.
Existence actually is deeper than our feelings. Our feelings are important, but they’re not. We have to function no matter what our feelings are in the world. Doesn’t matter how we feel when we get to work, we have to function. We have to perform.
If we’re happy, fine. If we’re neutral, fine. If we’re unhappy, fine. We gotta function. In a sense, this the more important issues of our existence are like that as well.
No matter how we feel about them, they they remain there to be resolved. They remain there to be comprehended. So it is good if we can take note to check on our feelings. And in fact, the Buddha recommended that in in teaching the four noble truths that in dealing with the path, the last truth, developing the path leading to liberation, then we should engage in mindfulness. And there are four objects of mindfulness, and the first is our physical body, just to be mindful of how we exist physically, just to keep track.
And one of the main objects to be physically aware of is our breath because our breath and our awareness are quite closely linked. So being aware of our breath, helps us to be aware of the mind itself. And the second object to be aware of is our feelings, our emotions, or just how we’re experiencing things. What our feelings are. What’s my feeling at the present?
What am I feeling? Not only what am I feeling, but what am I feeling that in relation to? What’s that feeling and where does it come from? Or what’s the feeling focused on? Is the feeling actually focused on another person or is it focused on a situation?
Or what’s that feeling focused on? What’s it generated in relation to? Because every feeling has an object that it’s holding. It’s true, isn’t it? No matter what feeling arises for us, it has an object.
And so if we have a positive feeling or a negative feeling or a neutral feeling, then we should, as much as possible, be aware of what that object is. I have this feeling in relation to that object. That should be evident to us. Often, it’s the case that we just have a some it seems like a general feeling, and it’s hard to discern what what I’m feeling this towards. But as much as possible, we should be aware of that as well.
Becoming aware of that is simply through being mindful. And then we have to take care that the negative feeling if it’s a negative feeling directed towards an object, say if it’s a first, it starts out as a negative sensory feeling, we don’t want it to progress to a negative mental feeling as well. But then again, if it starts out as a negative mental feeling, like a memory of someone, a memory of an enemy of ours, someone that stole something from me or criticized me or or whatever. Then we need to examine that feeling. Because while we have that negative mental feeling, we can’t have a positive mental feeling.
Impossible to have While we have negative mental feeling, that will displace positive mental feelings. And what we want for our just even for our current welfare is to have at least positive mental feelings established and at least see that negative mental feelings are the suffering of suffering. They’re the truth of suffering and that there’s something that we need to overcome. In other words, just having a negative mental feeling is gonna make is the essence of unhappiness for us. That is unhappiness for us.
That’s what we’re trying to overcome. Is this making any sense? The Buddha actually is was a very practical person. He the Buddha taught spirituality very much from a practical in internal, do it yourself point of view. As he said, that liberation a Buddha doesn’t wash away the sins of other beings.
He doesn’t lift them to the state of enlightenment with his hand. Instead, he teaches subjects to be meditated upon in order for those for beings to train themselves in in those things. If it were possible for a Buddha to liberate every sentient being, they would already have done it. There’s been countless Buddhas appear in the universe. Even on this earth, there’s been four Buddhas who have appeared.
If they could have liberated every sentient being, they would already have done it if it were possible because these beings have profound compassion. They don’t have any any resentment towards any being. It’s not as if, you know, they’d look at us as a group of beings and say, oh, well, I may liberate the rest of the beings in the universe, but I’ll leave these people out. If they can liberate any being, if can help any being, they would do so. But it’s in a sense, it’s not a limitation from their side that we remain unenlightened.
It’s really from our side where the limit limitation exists. And the only way that a Buddha or a fully awakened being can help is by, setting forth a system that we can study like a manual and then look within and say, okay. This is how I exist as a sentient being. I’m this mind body continuum just evolving along into the future. And I have a mind that’s like this.
I have a body that’s like this. I need to train myself in this way in order to progress. Because in a sense, the only way that any individual can progress is through the