The Impacts of The Four Noble Truths on Buddhists’ Lives and Thoughts

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The Impacts of The Four Noble Truths on Buddhists’ Lives and Thoughts
Buddhism is one of the oldest religions or philosophies in Eastern and Southeastern Asia. Siddhartha Gautama founded the religion over 2,500 years ago in ancient India. As such, this religion was significantly influenced by Hinduism. Today, Buddhism has over 350 million followers worldwide. The influence of this philosophy is growing in western countries, and its ideas and beliefs overlap with those from other religions. Gautama lived in the 5th century B.C. Although he was born in riches, he decided to live in poverty to understand individuals’ sufferings (History.com). The individual’s primary objective was to determine how people can live peacefully without pain regardless of their social classes. After six years, he was enlightened while meditating under a Bodhi tree. For this reason, he founded Buddhism as a way to enlighten people in the world, which occurs by utilizing wisdom, morality, and meditation. The paper focuses on The Four Noble Truths and their impacts on Buddhism believers’ lives and thoughts.
Although Buddha found the path to enlightenment, he did not want to be acknowledged as a deity. His primary mission was to help individuals find wisdom and inner peace. Buddhists who reach this spiritual state are said to experience nirvana. Buddha is considered as an extraordinary person whose focus on ending human pain on earth enabled him to come up with a proper way of life. Since Buddhism is a philosophy or way of life, individuals from other religions can practice it as well. Buddha’s most significant teachings are The Four Noble Truths, which are crucial in understanding Buddhism. Buddhists believe in reincarnation, which is life after death, and karma, the cause, and effect law (Zenlightenment). Believers can worship at homes or in temples. Due to Buddhism diversity, some followers interpret ideas differently, which resulted in the emergence of different types of this religion, namely Tibetan, Theravada, and Mahayana. Dharma refers to Buddha’s teachings, which emphasize virtues, such as compassion, wisdom, generosity, patience, and kindness. However, all Buddhists observe five core precepts that prohibit lying, the use of alcohol or drugs, stealing, killing living organisms, and sexual misconduct. Before Gautama was enlightened, he had traveled extensively. As such, he witnessed different forms of pain, and he was determined to alleviate it. Consequently, Buddhists believe that meditation enables one to acquire internal peace and wisdom.
Buddha’s primary objective was to teach how suffering occurs, its cause, how to eliminate it, and the right path to follow to attain internal peace. Based on him, the thing that matters the most in people’s lives is to live peacefully regardless of one’s wealth. On that note, The Four Noble Truths are significant in the teachings of Buddha, which he understood while meditating under a Bodhi tree. The first one is dukkha or the truth about suffering. Buddha realized that pain and misery exist in life, and it is not easy to avoid them. In the same way that the world i...