The Fourth Lesson
Cattāri Nāma Kim? What is Four?
What four concepts, when used to see things to their root with penetrating knowledge, and to understand them in their broadest limits, such that their disgusting nature is seen as it really is and one has released them in their entirety, can bring one to the uttermost freedom of detachment?
There are three acceptable answers to this question:
The Quartered Aristocratic Truth; [The 4 Aristocrats of Truths, the Four Noble Truths]
The Four Satipaṭṭhānas;
and The Four Foods.
The first of these is being used here as it is most satisfying in terms of the design of this course.
— p.p.
Cattāri Ariyasaccani — The Quartered Aristocratic Truth
Cattari = Four, but really "One, Quartered";
Ariya (Aristocrat/Noble) = ari = around the sun;
ya = whatsoever;
Sacca = true, of "one", d'accordo,
ni = set down
The Quartered Aristocratic Truth.
Well known for a long time here as:
The Four Noble Truths.
And What are The Four Aristocrats of Truths?
1 The aristocrat of truths with regard to pain:
Birth is pain,
Aging is pain,
Sickness is pain,
Death is pain;
Grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair are pain;
Being yoked to the unloved is pain,
Being separated from the loved is pain
Not getting the wished for, that too is pain.
To be concise:
the five stockpiles binding up individuality are pain.[1]
2 The aristocrat of truths with regard to the origin of pain:
Pain originates in whatever hunger/thirst there is
for the material things so loved
that are downbound to this world
which give pleasure,
and to which one is attached;
things own-made with lust and self indulgence,
that result in living, rebirth;
in whatever delight there is
for the material things so loved
that are downbound to this world
which give pleasure,
and to which one is attached;
things own-made with lust and self indulgence,
that result in living, rebirth;
in whatever lust for getting there is
for the material things so loved
that are downbound to this world
which give pleasure,
and to which one is attached;
things own-made with lust and self indulgence,
that result in living, rebirth;
in whatever seeking pleasure and delight now here, now there there is
for the material things so loved
that are downbound to this world
which give pleasure,
and to which one is attached;
things own-made with lust and self indulgence,
that result in living, rebirth.
It is just as well to say it is:
thirst for pleasures,
thirst for living,
thirst for escape.[2]
3 The aristocrat of truths with regard to the end of pain:
pain ends upon the ending of that hunger/thirst,
upon letting it go,
giving it up,
putting it away,
eradicating it,
eliminating it,
rejecting it,
burning it off,
burning it up,
burning it out,
doing away with it,
causing it to cease,
becoming disenchanted with it,
renouncing it,
upon the ending with nothing remaining of that hunger/thirst,
the freedom from it,
upon attaining utter objective detachment towards that hunger/thirst
for the material things so loved
that are downbound to this world
which give pleasure,
and to which one is attached;
things own-made with lust and self indulgence,
that result in living, rebirth.
4 The aristocrat of truths with regard to the way to get to the end of pain:
The Way to the End of Dukkha is through following the Aristocratic Eight-dimensional High Way:
Consummate Working Hypothesis
Consummate Principles
Consummate Talk
Consummate Works
Consummate Lifestyle
Consummate Self-control
Consummate Mind
Consummate Serenity
NOTE: : We suffer greatly here in written English as a consequence of our excessively prudish, hypocritical society. The Four Truths use the Words 'Dukkha' (the meaning of which is obvious to any child) and Taṇha, where other words were possible choices, for the reason that they relate, like a metaphor, to everyday activities and as such are very easy to remember and provide a constant reminder (or instruction) of the truth of the statement being made: Everything is ka-kha (Take a look folks, everything, even ideas, is waste product in a recycled state); K-kha comes from eating and drinking, or, originally, from hunger and thirst. If you want to bring k-kha to an end, stop eating and drinking. That is the way to do it.
[1] See The Fifth Lesson, next.
[2] Also known as 'The Āsavas', 'The Corruptions'.
