The Four Noble Truths: A Guide to Everyday Life

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Overview

The Buddha’s profound teachings on the four noble truths are illuminated by a Tibetan master simply and directly, so that readers gain an immediate and personal understanding of the causes and conditions that give rise to suffering as well as the spiritual life as the path to liberation.

The Four Noble Truths begins with an excellent elucidation of the nature of the mind and its role in creating the happiness we all seek. Lama Zopa Rinpoche then turns to an in-depth analysis of the four truths. The first truth is that we are suffering because we are in cyclic existence, or samsara, the beginningless cycle of death and rebirth characterized by three types of suffering: the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, and pervasive compounding suffering. These are not inflicted on us without cause, nor do they come from others. The second truth tells us that there is a cause for all this suffering—the delusions and karma that arise from the ignorance that fails to see the way in which things exist. Because there is a cause and because we can develop the wisdom realizing emptiness, the antidote to ignorance, we are able to actualize the third truth, the cessation of suffering. How we do that is explained in the fourth truth, the path to the cessation of suffering.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614293941
Publisher:	Wisdom Publications MA
Publication date:	07/24/2018
Pages:	312
Sales rank:	640,513
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Lama Zopa Rinpoche was one of the most internationally renowned masters of Tibetan Buddhism, working and teaching ceaselessly on almost every continent. He was the spiritual director and cofounder of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an international network of Buddhist projects, including monasteries in six countries and meditation centers in over thirty; health and nutrition clinics, and clinics specializing in the treatment of leprosy and polio; as well as hospices, schools, publishing activities, and prison outreach projects worldwide. He passed away in 2023.

Table of Contents

Editor's Preface vii

Introduction: Working with the Mind 1

1 The Truth of Suffering 15

2 The Truth of the Cause of Suffering 57

3 The Truth of Cessation 121

4 The Truth of the Path 153

5 Living in Awareness of the Four Noble Truths 243

Glossary 259

Bibliography 271

Index 273

About the Author 295

Editorial Reviews

05/14/2018
Using a mix of personal stories, familiar fables, simple analogies, and a touch of gentle humor, Zopa (How to Enjoy Death), a Tibetan Buddhist scholar, skillfully explains how Buddhism’s four noble truths (suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path to end suffering) offer hope for genuine happiness. As cofounder of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, Zopa is well positioned to illustrate the Buddhist view that delusion and karma (which literally means action) operate to perpetuate suffering through multiple lifetimes. In a sometimes stern tone, he explains that circumstances in one’s life are the result of actions in this life or previous lives, and that negative karma can lead to rebirth in the nonhuman realms. A well-organized master class based on 45 years of Zopa’s teachings, the book covers a range of key Buddhist ideas such as the five aggregates and interdependent origination. He also explains the basic Mahayana tradition of pursuing enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. Though treatments of some complex topics—such as Vajrayana and the path of tantra—are hard to follow, this useful book clearly explains the Buddhist belief that the mind creates suffering through the mistaken notion of the self’s inherent existence. Buddhists and readers looking to understand the four noble truths better will get much out of Zopa’s book. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"Lama Zopa Rinpoche is a true modern master of Tibetan Buddhism who has inspired thousands, including me. These fundamental teachings on the Four Noble Truths come from a wellspring of profound realizations and an equally vast commitment and capacity to help all beings."

Richard Gere