Abstract
The Buddha's method of spiritual release is crystallized in the Four Noble Truths. The Four Truths profile the condition of an individual's life. It explains the cause of suffering, the means through which an individual residing in a transient world can extract oneself from samsara and propel oneself into an abiding spiritual reality or nirvana. This four stage method parallels the principles of diagnosis, etiology, recovery or health, and therapeutics, which are employed by physicians in their clinical practice. This article is a reflection on this method and its practical application.
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Reference notes
Arahant Upatissa (1977).The Path of Freedom [Vimuttimagga] (N.R.M. Ehara, Soma Thera and Kheminda Thera, Trans.). Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society, xlii-xlvi.
Bhadantacariya Buddhaghosa (1964).The Path of Purification [Visuddhimagga] (Bhikkhu Nyanamoli, Trans.). Colombo, Ceylon: A. Semage, xxvii-xxviii. The relationship between Upatissa'sPath of Freedom which is extant only in the Chinese and Buddhaghosa'sPath of Purification is not clear. There is some evidence to suggest that Upatissa may have writtenThe Path of Freedom before Buddhaghosa's celebratedPath of Purification. Although there are points of dispute, these differences are not schismatic. Evidence also indicates that both are probably derived from the same sources. I appeal to the insights of both documents.
Nakamura, H. (1971).Gotama Buddha. Los Angles and New York: Buddhist Books International, 78–79. According to Professor Nakamura the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Noble Path were not yet formulated at the time of the Buddha's first sermon, but were systematized at a later period.
Upatissa,Path of Freedom, 269–273. In listing the Four Noble Truths I have omitted the detailed exegesis which follows each question and answer. Buddhaghosa'sPath of Purification has a similar listing. Upatissa's rendering is more compact. Also I have taken the liberty to replace the term “ill” with “suffering” for the translation ofduhkha (Pali: dukkha). This is done simply for consistency and so as not to confuse the reader.
Buddhaghosa does not list “sickness,” because according to a not “... there are persons in whom sickness does not arise at all ...; otherwise it may be taken as already included by suffering itself.” See Buddhaghosa.Path of Purification, 567.
Buddhaghosa.Path of Purification, 573.
Rahula, W.Zen and the Taming the Bull, Towards the Definition of Buddhist Thought. London: Gordon Fraser, 38 (1978).
Buddhaghosa.Path of Purification, 568.
Soni, R. L. Buddhism in relation to the profession of medicine. In D. W. Millard, D. W. ed.Religion and Medicine 3. London: SCM Press, 136, (1976).
Rahula, W.Zen and the Taming the Bull, 31 (1978).
Kubler-Ross, Elizabeth.On Death and Dying. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., 116 (1969).
Omodaka, H.I no rinri [Medical Ethics]. Tokyo: Seishin shobo, 16–17 (1971). Dr. Omodaka believes that the physician's duty to relieve suffering is identical to the Four Noble Truths.
Buddhaghosa.Path of Purification, 586.
The retelling of Parable of the Mustard Seed is based on the passages from theBuddha-Dharma. Buddha-Dharma. Berkeley, California: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, (1984).
Upatissa.Path of Freedom, 303.
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Nakasone, R.Y. Suffering and healing: An interpretation of the Buddhist doctrine of the four noble truths. J Med Hum 14, 81–87 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01140208
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01140208