Not The Buddha's Four Noble Truths

There is an ancient and honorable tradition of commentary on the teachings of the Buddha. Actually, the teachings of the Buddha are commentaries on the teachings of the Buddha since the first written texts of his teaching appeared a century and a half after his death. Even so, learned scholars, spiritual masters, charlatans and fools, have all offered their respectful commentaries on the Buddha's teachings for more than 2,000 years. I herewith offer, with deep obeisance at the lotus feet of the Enlightened One, a most disrespectful commentary. Indeed, I think the Buddha got it mostly wrong, and I am just foolish enough to say so. Here then, is my commentary on the Buddha's Four Noble Truths, and my alternative set.

1. All Life is Suffering

   The chillingly poetic way Buddha put it was: "Lo! as the wind is, so is mortal life:/ A moan, a sigh, a sob, a storm, a strife."

   Actually, this is not right. And it's not helpful either. Not all of life is suffering. There are some distractions and pleasures and sweet moments. It is certainly true that LOTS of life is suffering, but even this observation is not terribly useful. The more pertinent observation is that some suffering is unavoidable and some is highly avoidable. And it is in this distinction that all that is important in the First Noble Truth really resides.

   Now what the Buddha actually said was life has several major sufferings which are unavoidable, he listed in particular: birth, illness, old-age and death. He also observed that even the good things of life pass away and because they are impermanent in this way we could say that their inevitable loss is another cause of suffering. And putting these two ideas together, we often interpret the Buddha's message as being that All Life is Suffering. I'm not certain that this is really what he meant to say. But I am certain that if this is what he meant to say, then he was wrong.

   So some suffering is unavoidable and some is optional. My observation is that somewhere around 99.8% of all human suffering is optional--although I may be wrong, it might be 99.9%.

    

2. The Cause of Suffering is Attachment

   Well, not really. Certainly, if we are attached to something which will pass away, then its passing is likely to produce suffering. But this point is at once too broad and too narrow.

   First we must distinguish between avoidable suffering and unavoidable suffering.

   Birth, illness, old-age and death are unavoidable forms of suffering. There are some others as well. The first important point is that the cause of unavoidable suffering is probably unknowable. Why we are born, get sick, grow old and die, is a cosmic mystery. There is no answer to any "why" question about unavoidable suffering. Why do bad things happen to good people? Who knows? Why did God create this universe with its unavoidable suffering? Who knows? I don't. The Buddha didn't. Nobody ever has and nobody ever will. It just IS. Forget about it.

   Avoidable suffering, on the other hand, is avoidable, and so there is much to understand and much to learn about why human beings create so much unnecessary suffering for themselves. 99.8% of all suffering in this world is optional. Unnecessary. Avoidable. That's where we ought to focus our attention. That's where liberation lies. In overcoming all that optional suffering we inflict on ourselves. The causes of this optional suffering are many and varied. Two big causes I often notice in operation are: righteous indignation, in which we become disturbed when other people do not behave the way we think they should; and the obsession with being right rather than being happy. But there are lots of other causes, feel free to add to the list to your heart's content.

   The core point is: the cause of suffering is anything and everything which we choose over being happy, for any reason whatever, no matter how justified.

    

3. Non-Attachment is Liberation

    Liberation is an open possibility only when we decide that we want to be blissful, peaceful and happy--no matter what. NO MATTER WHAT. No matter what. No matter what. Get the point? It does not matter what story you tell yourself, what your justifications are, what rationalizations you adopt, the fact is 99.8% of all your suffering is optional and you choose to embrace it moment to moment. Your only chance is to decide you have no interest in choosing any optional suffering--NO MATTER WHAT.

    

4. The Way to Liberation is the Eight-Fold Path

   The Buddha was probably right about this. Oh well, one out of four ain't bad!

   ---

 And so I offer my alternative:

Afterword: Even though I think the Buddha only got one out of four of his truths right, I have to admit that I don't really believe my set either. The first two of my four noble truths seem persuasive (at least to me) but I have to admit that the second two are beyond me. But the insight presented itself to me as a set; I was not given any Chinese menu of choices. So this is my alternative set. We would probably both be well-advised to stick with the original.