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Question :The Buddha offers a specific diagnosis of the suffering that is part of humanexistence. Explain the Buddha's diagnosis. Does this diagnosis ring true to you, or hasthe Buddha ignored some aspect of human life, or made some other mistake? ffert!o specific reasons or experiences that support your ans!er, and explain ho! they

support it.

"ns!er:To ans!er this #uestion, $ shall first gi%e a description of first t!o no&le truths asthey represent !hat the Buddha offers as the specific diagnosis of the suffering that is

part of human existence. $ !ill then argument in fa%our of this diagnosis &eing true.

ere, $ shall descri&e the first t!o no&le truths.

(irst no&le truth defines !hat is suffering. )econd no&le truth specifies the origin orcause of suffering. "s per translations from Dhammacakkappa%attana )utta &y

*iyadassi Thera+, Buddha addressed fi%e monks &hikkhus- in the Deer *ark at$sipatana the esort of )eers- near /aranasi Benares- and said:0The 1o&le Truth of )uffering dukkha-, monks, is this: Birth is suffering, aging issuffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, association !ith the unpleasant issuffering, dissociation from the pleasant is suffering, not to recei%e !hat one desires issuffering 2 in &rief the fi%e aggregates su&3ect to grasping are suffering.0

0The 1o&le Truth of the rigin cause- of )uffering is this: $t is this cra%ing thirst-!hich produces re4&ecoming re&irth- accompanied &y passionate greed, and findingfresh delight no! here, and no! there, namely cra%ing for sense pleasure, cra%ing forexistence and cra%ing for non4existence self4annihilation-.0

Buddha further talks a&out three phases of first and second no&le truth respecti%ely asper follo!s.

Quoting from translations of Dhammacakkappa%attana )utta &y 5anamoli Thera6, thethree phases for first no&le truth are:+. 0)uffering, as a no&le truth, is this.06. 0This suffering, as a no&le truth, can &e diagnosed.07. 0This suffering, as a no&le truth, has &een diagnosed.0

)imilarly three phases of second no&le truth are:+. 0The origin of suffering, as a no&le truth, is this06. 0This origin of suffering, as a no&le truth, can &e a&andoned.07. 0This origin of suffering, as a no&le truth, has &een a&andoned.0

Before gi%ing the examples to support that this diagnose of suffering is correct, it isimportant to understand that these t!o no&le truths should not &e seen as a&solute. $nteachings of "3ahn )umedho7 08ou can see that the (irst 1o&le Truth is not ana&solute statement &ecause of the (ourth 1o&le Truth, !hich is the !ay of non4suffering. 8ou cannot ha%e a&solute suffering and then ha%e a !ay out of it, can you?0ence examples discussed &elo! may seen to &e not e#ually applica&le to all. $n fact

"3ahn )umedho7

says 0"s !e a!aken to this dukkha, !e &egin to find the !ay out0.

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ence a person !ith deeper understanding of suffering in all three phases mentioned&y Buddha may handle these examples in &etter !ay and may not suffer as such.

1one the less, as my first example, $ shall use the experience of a person oursu&3ect- looking for a partner to support that it is true that dissociation !ith pleasant,

association !ith unpleasant and further clinging to pleasant makes them suffer.)uppose a person looking for a partner comes across another person that they like.They start dating each other &ut it does not !ork. The su&3ect liked the person and!as looking for!ard to relationship, it !ould &e #uite saddening for the person todissociate !ith the relationship. n the other side if su&3ect got into long termrelationship !ith someone they liked in the start &ut later as they spend more timetogether into relationship, persons liking may fade a!ay. But their 3oint commitmentmay ha%e gro!n mean!hile like they &ought property together or had a &a&y !hichmakes !alking a!ay from relationship harder. ere association !ith unpleasant or a

person that su&3ect does not like may cause them suffering. n a su&tler le%el,suppose the su&3ect finds a partner of choice and their relationship gro!s !ell and

there liking increases, still su&3ect may de%elop strong cra%ing for other person andthe relationship, leading to fear of loosing that person !hich !ould again lead tosuffering of the su&3ect.

"s my second example to support Buddha's correct diagnosis of suffering !e maylook at the experience of an employee in a ne! 3o& that they like initially &ecause ofthe challenges and learning in%ol%ed in the 3o&. "s they learn more and more and 3o&tasks start &ecoming mundane, they start loosing interest in it and slo!ly the same 3o&

&ecomes unpleasant. $t may &e &ecause in start they ha%e some specific experience ofthe challenge and pleasant feeling of successfully o%ercoming it. But the employee ifde%elop cra%ing for this feeling of success o%er ne! challenges, it may not &e fore%errepeata&le. $n fact their is impermanence attached to e%erything and cra%ing for a

pleasant experience can not &e fulfilled for e%er that leads to suffering.

$mportance of impermanence as central theme to understand the no&le truth ofsuffering is clear from these lines mentioned in Dhammacakkappa%attana )uttatranslated &y 5anamoli Thera6.!here 9ondaa descri&es his understanding ofBuddha's teachings as0;hate%er is su&3ect to arising is all su&3ect to cessation.0"t !hich Buddha says: 09ondaa kno!s< 9ondaa kno!s

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=ooking at three phases of first no&le truth it is clear that it is not sufficient to &e a&leto define suffering &ut to really understand the teaching of first no&le truththe su&3ect student- has to ha%e the experience that de%elops the understanding thatsuffering can &e diagnosed in real !orld. Taking that practice further the su&3ect alsoneed to de%elop real understanding !here they ha%e actually diagnosed the suffering.

"s an analogy a medical student may read a &ook and learn a&out characteristics of +>different diseases. The student has thus theoretical kno!ledge to talk a&out thosediseases &ut that kno!ledge is still not of real practical significance. $n second phasestudent also needs to understand that there are specific tests like &lood test forexample through !hich all the diseases can &e diagnosed. (urther progression throughthird phase !ould ena&le a student to look at a &lood test and specify the exact diseasefor patient. ence only after progressing through all the 7 phases can a practitionerclaim that they understand the first no&le truth.

$mpermanence:1o! during this utterance, there arose in the %enera&le 9ondaa the spotless,

immaculate %ision of the True $dea: 0;hate%er is su&3ect to arising is all su&3ect tocessation.0