Paul Sivert on Buddhism…
My fascination in Buddhism began early in my spiritual education and training. I still study the concepts because of their application in my life. Below is a short but powerful text regarding The Four Noble Truths. This is from Andrew Harvey’s book Mystics: The Soul’s Journey into Truth.
The Four Noble Truths
Monks, what is the noble truth about suffering?
Birth is suffering, old age is suffering, death is suffering, grief, lamentation, discomfort, unhappiness and despair are suffering; to wish for something and not obtain it is suffering; briefly, the five factors of attachment are suffering.Monks, what is the noble truth about the origin of suffering?
Just this craving, leading to rebirth, accompanied by pleasure and emotion, and finding satisfaction now here now there, namely, the craving for sense-pleasure, the craving for new life and the craving for annihilation.Monks, what is the noble truth about the cessation of suffering?
Just the complete indifference to and cessation of that very craving, the abandoning of it, the rejection of it, the freedom from it, the aversion toward it.Monks, what is the noble truth about the way that goes into the cessation of suffering?
Just this noble eightfold way, namely, right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.The Buddha