page_title: Four Noble Truths
section_title: Ending rebirth
hierarchical_section_title: Four Noble Truths / Explanation of the Four Truths / Ending rebirth
caption_attribution_description: Tibetan chakra
context_page_description: In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths Pali: cattāri ariyasaccāni Sanskrit: catvāri āryasatyāni, "The four Arya satyas" are "the truths of the Noble Ones", the truths or realities for the "spiritually worthy ones". The truths are:
  dukkha is an innate characteristic of existence in the realm of samsara;
  samudaya of this dukkha, which arises or "comes together" with taṇhā;
  nirodha of this dukkha can be attained by the renouncement or letting go of this taṇhā;
  magga is the path leading to renouncement of tanha and cessation of dukkha.
  They are traditionally identified as the first teaching given by the Buddha, and considered one of the most important teachings in Buddhism.
  The four truths appear in many grammatical forms in the ancient Buddhist texts, and they have both a symbolic and a propositional function. Symbolically, they represent the awakening and liberation of the Buddha, and of the potential for his followers to reach the same religious experience as him. As propositions, the Four Truths are a conceptual framework that appear in the Pali canon and early Hybrid Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures. They are a part of the broader "network of teachings", which have to be taken together.
context_section_description: The four truths describe dukkha and its ending as a means to reach peace of mind in this life, but also as a means to end rebirth.
  According to Geoffrey Samuel, "the Four Noble Truths [...] describe the knowledge needed to set out on the path to liberation from rebirth." By understanding the four truths, one can stop this clinging and craving, attain a pacified mind, and be freed from this cycle of rebirth and redeath. Patrick Olivelle explains that moksha is a central concept in Indian religions, and "literally means freedom from samsara." Melvin E. Spiro further explains that "desire is the cause of suffering because desire is the cause of rebirth." When desire ceases, rebirth and its accompanying suffering ceases. Peter Harvey explains:
  Once birth has arisen, "ageing and death", and various other dukkha states follow. While saying that birth is the cause of death may sound rather simplistic, in Buddhism it is a very significant statement; for there is an alternative to being born. This is to attain Nirvāna, so bringing an end to the process of rebirth and redeath. Nirvāna is not subject to time and change, and so is known as the ‘unborn’; as it is not born it cannot die, and so it is also known as the "deathless". To attain this state, all phenomena subject to birth – the khandhas and nidānas – must be transcended by means of non-attachment.
  The last sermon, the Maha-parinibbana Sutta (Last Days of the Buddha, Digha Nikaya 16)", states it as follows:
  [...] it is through not realizing, through not penetrating the Four Noble Truths that this long course of birth and death has been passed through and undergone by me as well as by you [...] But now, bhikkhus, that these have been realized and penetrated, cut off is the craving for existence, destroyed is that which leads to renewed becoming [rebirth], and there is no fresh becoming.
caption: Tibetan Bhavacakra or "Wheel of Life"
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