“There is suffering.

There is a cause of suffering.

There is an end to suffering.

There is a way to the end of suffering.”

The Middle Way – suffering/no suffering.

In the Simsapa Sutra, it is said that, “The Buddha was once living at Kosambi in a wood of simsapa trees….”  We can guess that he was being grilled by his accompanying monks with many questions, because he picked up a few leaves in his hand and asked the bhikkhus, “How do you conceive this, bhikkhus? Which are more, the few leaves that I have picked up in my hand or those on the trees in the wood?”  “The leaves that the Blessed One has picked up in his hand are few, Lord; those in the wood are far more.”

“So too, bhikkhus, the things that I have known by direct knowledge are more; the things that I have told you are only a few. Why have I not told them? Because they bring no benefit, no advancement in the Holy Life, and because they do not lead to dispassion, to fading, to ceasing, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana. That is why I have not told them. And what have I told you? ‘This is suffering; this is the origin of suffering; this is the cessation of suffering; this is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.’ That is what I have told you. Why have I told it? Because it brings benefit and advancement in the Holy Life, and because it leads to dispassion, to fading, to ceasing, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana.

So bhikkhus, let your task be this: ‘This is suffering; this is the origin of suffering; this is the cessation of suffering; this is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.’”

These you will recognize as the Four Noble Truths, which are the subject of these few articles, and which, with the Middle Way, comprise the first sermon given by the Buddha

This is known as the First Turning of the Wheel. It is said all that we need to know for understanding the Buddha’s way and for enlightenment is to be found in these teachings.

When and how did this come about?

When the Buddha awoke after coming out of meditation and seeing the morning star, he felt that what had been seen into was too vast to pass on. He simply sat contemplating what had been seen into. However, he was visited by Brahma (the creator deity in Hinduism) who pleaded with him to teach those “with little dust covering their eyes”.

The Buddha thought first of his two meditation teachers, but they had already passed away. Then,  he thought of the five companions and ascetics who had been with him in the forest and he set off  to Benares by foot to speak to them. However, seeing him return, they were inclined to ignore him; but his appearance was such that, when he approached, they remained impressed and made a place for him and asked him to join them.

He then delivered the sermon of the Four Noble Truths; that there is suffering, a cause of suffering, an end of suffering, a way to the end of suffering (The Noble Eightfold path), and the Middle Way. In effect, the 4 Noble Truths are an expression of this Middle Way. The first two are about suffering and the last two about the end of suffering. No extremes, just harmony.