Buddhism if the Complexity of Essay

There are many ironies and paradoxes embedded within the Four Noble Truths. For example, it is ironic that one must desire liberation from desire. Such seeming contradictions are resolved easily by discerning the difference between the desire for truth, wisdom, and peace vs. The desire for things that are harmful to the psyche such as pride, revenge, or anger. The Four Noble Truths are essentially psychological in nature rather than spiritual or metaphysical. The Four Noble Truths are like a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy.

The Four Noble Truths can be understood as a consistent and coherent whole. In fact, the Four Noble Truths are best understood as a whole rather than being fragmented. When considered as a whole, the Four Noble Truths play themselves out in the person's mind each and every day, possibly each and every moment. The person who becomes more aware of how suffering arises in the mind is more able to eliminate the causes of that suffering by identifying the specific attachments or faulty thinking that caused the suffering.For example, if a student feels a sense of anxiety before coming to class, the first step would to identify or acknowledge the fact of feeling this anxiety: duhkha. The anxiety simply exists. The second step is to identify the specific cause (samudaya) of the anxiety. Is it craving attention and approval? Is it craving the sensation of being the best in class, or similarly, fearing being singled out or embarrassed? The third step is to eliminate (nirodha) the root cause -- such as by quieting the mind, taking a few breaths, and simply being willing to listen to the lecture rather than being worried about what other people think. Finally, the methods of the Eightfold Path such as Right Thought, Right Speech, and Right Action comprise a way of life that continues each day. The ultimate goal of the Four Noble Truths is to create a more peaceful human being who is of value to the world......