LEARNING TASK 1

TEN COMMANDMENTS NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH

SAYS WHAT NOT DO SAYS THE RIGHT THING TO DO

FOCUSES ON: HONOURING PARENTS, FOCUSES ON: INTENTION, VIEW, SPEECH
STEALING, LYING, MURDER, ADULTERY GIVE ACTION, LIVELIHOOD, EFFORT
INNER LEADS TO OUTER GOOD SOME OUTER LEADS TO INNER GOOD
JUDAISM/ CHRISTIANITY SORT OF BUDDHISM
RULES ON HOW TO FORM THE INSTRUCTION OR TEACHINGS OF BUDDHA
CORRECT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD GUIDE TELL HOW TO END SUFFERING
PROHIBIT STEALING, DESCRIBE HOW TO HAVE A BETTER
LYING, AND MURDERING AND MORE PEACEFUL LIFE
SHOWS A PATH OR A WAY
OF LIFE
PROVIDES CODES OF
BEHAVIOUR
PATTERNS FOR ETHICS
BOTH WERE TOLD BY AND OR
GIVEN BY THE GOD OR TEACHER
THAT THE FOLLOWERS
BELIEVE IN
LEARNING TASK 2
The First Noble Truth
This identifies the origin of the problem dukkha. Suffering can be
experienced throughout the different stages of a person’s life-from
birth, sickness, old age, to ultimate death. When one clings to one of
the previously stated aggregates, this leads to suffering. When one
unites with the unpleasant, it causes suffering. When one dissociates
from the pleasant, it also results in suffering. The first Noble Truth is
that life contains inevitable, unavoidable suffering. (Some translators
use the word, “stress,” to convey the broad meaning of the original
word used by the Buddha in the Pali language: dukkha.)
This suffering encompasses the gross forms of pain, illness, and
trauma we can all imagine, such as a broken leg, stomach flu,
grappling with the devastation of a hurricane or the violent death of
a loved one — or getting the diagnosis of a terminal disease.
It also includes milder but common forms of discomfort and distress,
like long hours of work, feeling let down by partner, a headache,
feeling frustrated, disappointed, hurt, inadequate, depressed, upset,
etc. And it includes the subtlest qualities of tension in the mind,
restlessness, sense of contraction, preoccupation, unease, boredom,
sense of being an isolated self, something missing in life, something
just not fulfilling, etc.

FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

The Second Noble Truth

This explains the cause of suffering or the samodaya- in craving or
desire (or tanha), in the perpetual thirst of humans to consume
things, experiences, or ideas. People are never satisfied as they
always want more or something else, want something new, or just
discontinue something. People crave for existence or non-existence
and seek sensual pleasures. People search for self-satisfaction from
things they believe they can experience. However, since the nature
of all three things is impermanent, people become attached to these
things due to ignorance that leads to desire and eventual suffering.
There are lots of words that get at different aspects of clinging. For
example, the original Pali word is “tanha,” the root meaning of which
is thirst. Here are some related words, and you might like to pause
briefly after each one to get a sense of the experience of it: Desire.
Attachment. Striving. Wanting. Craving. Grasping. Stuck. Righteous.
Positional. Searching. Seeking. Addicted. Obsessed. Needing. Hunger.
As a general statement, clinging causes suffering by causing it
to arise in the first place or to increase further, and by blocking
 factors that would reduce or end it.
The way to end suffering in life is to understand what causes it.
Craving and ignorance are the two main causes of suffering. People
suffer with their craving for the pleasures of the senses and become
unsatisfied and disappointed until they can replace their cravings
with new ones. People suffer too when they are unable to see the
world as it really is and live with illusions about life and fears, hopes,
facts and behaviours based on ignorance. Craving and
misunderstanding can be solved by developing the mind, thinking
carefully and meditating. Solving these main causes of suffering will
lead a person to true happiness

The Third Noble Truth

This asserts that there is cessation or nirodha to suffering and
bondage by eliminating craving and desire. By dropping the bonds of
FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS craving, one gets to be released from the fundamental nature of
reality.  It is the remainder less fading and cessation of that same
craving; the rejecting, relinquishing, leaving and renouncing of it. We
reflect as we see suffering; as we see the nature of desire; as we
recognize that attachment to desire is suffering. he truth of the end
of suffering, has dual meaning, suggesting either the end of suffering
in this life, on earth, or in the spiritual life, through achieving
Nirvana. This is the utter quenching through the disappearance of
that craving, letting go and release, with no longing after that
craving. These insights can only come through reflection; they cannot
come through belief. You cannot make yourself believe or realize an
insight as a willful act; through really contemplating and pondering
these truths, the insights come to you. They come only through the
mind being open and receptive to the teaching - blind belief is
certainly not advised or expected of anyone. Instead, the mind
should be willing to be receptive, pondering and considering.

Fourth Noble Truth

This directs an individual to the path or magga leading to the
termination of cravings and desire, and to eventual cessation of pain.
The final Noble Truth is the Buddha's prescription for the end of
suffering. This is a set of principles called the Eightfold Path. Likewise,
one must not avoid self-indulgence and self-torture since both are
pointless. This is the path toward the moderation or the “Middle
Way” aimed at ending suffering. Known as the “Noble Eightfold
Path” which is an entirely practical path- and each described as “right
or samma- it is divided into three aspects, namely, wisdom, morality,
 and meditation of morality. The Buddha described the Eightfold Path
as a means to enlightenment, like a raft for crossing a river. Once one
has reached the opposite shore, one no longer needs the raft and can
leave it behind.

LEARNING TASK 3
 Right View
Understand the “Four Noble Truths”

Right Intention
Free one’s self from ill-will, cruelty and
untruthfulness

Right Speech
Abstain from untruthfulness, tale-bearing, harsh
language, and vain talk.

Right Action
Abstain from killing, stealing and sexual misconduct

Right Livelihood
Eight-Fold Earn a living in a way not harmful to any living thing
Path
Right Effort
Avoid evil thoughts and overcome them, arouse
good thoughts and maintain them

Right Mindfulness
Pay vigilant attention to every state of the body,
feeling and mind

Right Concentration
Concentrate on a single object so as to induce
certain special states of consciousness in deep
meditation