original-notes.txt

"Whatever perfected ones, fully awakened Buddhas truly wake up—in the past, future, or present—all of them truly wake up to the Four Noble Truths." [SN 56.24]
"It is because he has truly woken up to these Four Noble Truths that the Realized One is called ‘the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha’" [SN 56.23]
"When my true knowledge and vision about these Four Noble Truths was fully purified... I announced my supreme perfect awakening in this world." [SN 56.11]

The Four Noble Truths:

  1. Suffering

    "This is the noble truth of suffering: Rebirth is suffering; old age is suffering; illness is suffering; death is suffering; association with the disliked is suffering; separation from the liked is suffering; not getting what you wish for is suffering. In brief, the five grasping aggregates are suffering." [SN 56.11]

    1. The five grasping aggregates: [SN 56.13]
      1. Form/physical matter
      2. Sensation/feeling
      3. Perception
      4. Volitional formations
      5. Consciousness
    2. The six internal sense bases: [SN 56.14]
      1. Eyes
      2. Ears
      3. Nose
      4. Tongue
      5. Body
      6. Mind

    See: SN 56.11, SN 56.13, SN 56.14, SN 35.28, AN 6.63

  2. The origin of suffering

    "This is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: It’s the craving that leads to future rebirth, accompanied by relishing and greed, seeking delight here and there." [SN 56.11]

    Dependent Origination:

      1. Ignorance: [SN 56.17]
        1. Not knowing suffering
        2. Not knowing the origin of suffering
        3. Not knowing the cessation of suffering
        4. Not knowing the path leading to the cessation of suffering
      2. Volitional formations:
        1. By body (actions)
        2. By speech
        3. By mind (thoughts)
      3. Consciousness:
        1. Eye consciousness
        2. Ear consciousness
        3. Nose consciousness
        4. Tongue consciousness
        5. Body consciousness
        6. Mind consciousness
      4. Mind and matter:
        1. Sensation/feeling
        2. Perception
        3. Intention
        4. Contact
        5. Attention
        6. The 4 primary elements and the form derived from them:
          1. Earth element/solidity
          2. Water element/fluidity
          3. Fire element/temperature
          4. Water element/cohesion
      5. The Six Sense Bases:
        1. Eyes
        2. Ears
        3. Nose
        4. Tongue
        5. Body
        6. Mind
      6. Contact: (objects sensed by the 6 sense bases)
        1. Sights
        2. Sounds
        3. Odours
        4. Tastes
        5. Touches
        6. Thoughts
      7. Sensation/feeling:
        1. Pleasant sensations
        2. Unpleasant sensations
        3. Neutral sensations
      8. Craving/thirst:
        1. Craving for sense pleasures:
          1. Pleasant sights
          2. Pleasant sounds
          3. Pleasant odours
          4. Pleasant tastes
          5. Pleasant touches
          6. Pleasant thoughts
        2. Craving to continue existence
        3. Craving to end existence
      9. Grasping/taking up: (activities, habits, and lifestyles that quench our thirst/craving)
        1. Grasping at sensual pleasures
        2. Grasping at views
        2. Grasping at precepts and observences
        2. Grasping at theories of a self
      10. Becoming/continued existence:
        1. Existence in the sensual realm
        2. Existence in the real of luminous form
        3. Existence in the formless realm
      11. Birth/rebirth
      12. Old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress

    See: SN 12.2, SN 56.17

  3. The cessation of suffering

    "This is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: It’s the remainderless cessation of craving." [SN 56.11]
    "When ignorance fades away and ceases with nothing left over... That is how this entire mass of suffering ceases.” [SN 12.1]
    
    Dependent Cessation: 

      1. When ignorance ceases, volitional formations cease
      2. When volitional formations cease, consciousness ceases
      3. When consciousnesss ceases, mind and matter cease
      4. When mind and matter cease, the six sense bases cease
      5. When the six sense bases cease, contact ceases
      6. When contact ceases, craving/thirst ceases
      7. When craving/thirst ceases, sensations/feelings cease
      8. When sensations/feelings cease, grasping/taking up ceases
      9. When grasping/taking up ceases, becoming/continued existence ceases
      10. When becoming/continued existence ceases, birth/rebirth ceases
      11. When birth/rebirth ceases, old age and death cease
      12. When old age and death cease, suffering ceases

      "Trust me on this; be convinced. Have no doubts or uncertainties in this matter. Just this is the end of suffering." [SN 12.51]

    See: SN 12, SN 12.1, SN 12.23, SN 12.51, AN 10.92

  4. The path leading to the cessation of suffering

    "This is the noble truth of the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering: It is simply this noble eightfold path." [SN 56.11]

    The Noble Eightfold Path:

      1. Right View:
        1. An undistorted perspective: [MN 41]
          1. There’s meaning in giving, sacrifice, or offerings
          2. There’s fruit/result of good and bad deeds
          3. There’s an afterlife
          4. There’s mother and father (and their feelings should be considered)
          5. There's beings who are reborn spontaneously
          6. There's well attained meditators who describe the afterlife after realizing it with their own insight
        2. Understand at least one of these, their origin, their cessation, and the way to their cessation (the noble eightfold path):
          1. The 4 Noble Truths: [SN 45.8]
            1. This is suffering
            2. This is the origin of suffering
            3. This is the cessation of suffering
            4. This is the path leading to the cessation of suffering
          2. Dependent Origination: [SN 12.15]
            ...
          3. The Wholesome and the Unwholesome: [MN 9]
            1. Unwholesome roots
              1. Greed
              2. Hate
              3. Delusion
            2. Wholesome roots
              1. Non-greed
              2. Non-hate
              3. Non-delusion
          4. Nutriment: [MN 9]
            1. Physical food
            2. Contact (sense bases making contact with sense objects)
            3. Mental volition
            4. Consciousness
          5. The Taints: [MN 9]
            1. Sensual desire
            2. Desire for being
            3. Ignorance
        
        See: MN 41, SN 45.8, SN 12.15, MN 9

      2. Right Intention:
        1. Renunciation
        2. Good-will/Non ill-will
        3. Harmlessness

      3. Right Speech:
        1. Abstaining from false speech
        2. Abstaining from slanderous/divisive speech
        3. Abstaining from harsh speech
        4. Abstaining from idle chatter/nonsensical speech

        See: MN 41, MN 139

      4. Right Action:
        1. Abstaining from killing sentient beings
        2. Abstaining from stealing
        3. Abstaining from sexual misconduct (rape, infidelity, or any sexual activity that causes harm)

        See: MN 41

      5. Right Livelihood:
        1. Lay people:
          1. Abstain from trading in weapons
          2. Abstain from trading in sentient beings
          3. Abstain from trading in meat
          4. Abstain from trading in intoxicants
          5. Abstain from trading in poisons
        2. Monks/nuns:
          1. Abstain from making predictions
          2. Abstain from offering protective charms
          3. Abstain from acting in a servile capacity for lay people

        See: ???

      6. Right Effort:

        "Generate enthusiasm, try, make an effort, exert the mind, and strive to..."

        1. Prevent arising of unarisen unskillful states of mind
        2. Abandon arisen unskillful states of mind
        3. Cultivate unarisen skillful states of mind
        4. Maintain and develop arisen skillful states of mind

        See: ???

      7. Right Mindfulness:
      
        "Meditate observing [in yourself, others, or both] an aspect of the body, sensations/feelings, the mind, or principles... while keen, aware, and mindful, rid of desire and aversion for the world:" [MN 10, DN 22]

        1. Mindfulness of the body: 
          1. Mindfulness of breathing:
            1. Mindfulness of long/heavy breaths
            2. Mindfulness of short/light breaths
            3. Mindfulness of the entire length of each breath
            4. Mindfulness of calming the breath
            5. Breathe in/out experiencing rapture
            6. Breathe in/out experiencing bliss
            7. Breathe in/out experiencing perceptions and feelings
            8. Breathe in/out calming perceptions and feelings
            9. Breathe in/out experiencing the mind
            10. Breathe in/out gladdening the mind
            11. Breathe in/out stilling the mind
            12. Breathe in/out releasing the mind
            13. Breathe in/out observing impermenence
            14. Breathe in/out observing fading away
            15. Breathe in/out observing cessation
            16. Breathe in/out observing letting go
          2. Mindfulness of Posture: (and changing between)
            1. Walking
            2. Standing
            3. Sitting
            4. Lying down
          3. Situational Awareness: (performing all actions with full awareness and clear comprehension)
            1. Going out and coming back
            2. Looking ahead and looking aside
            3. Bending and extending limbs
            4. Dressing
            5. Eating
            6. Drinking
            7. Chewing
            8. Tasting
            9. Urinating
            10. Defecating
            11. Falling asleep
            12. Waking up
            13. Speaking
            14. Remaining silent
          4. The 31 Body Parts: 
            1. Head-hairs, 2. Body-hairs, 3. Nails, 4. Teeth, 5. Skin, 
            6. Flesh, 7. Sinews, 8. Bones, 9. Bone-marrow, 10. Kidneys, 
            11. Heart, 12. Liver, 13. Diaphgram, 14. Spleen, 15. Lungs, 
            16. Intestines, 17. Mesentery, 18. Stomach contents, 19. Feces, [Vism. adds Brain], 
            20. Bile, 21. Phlegm, 22. Pus, 23. Blood, 24. Sweat, 25. Fat, 
            26. Tears, 27. Grease, 28. Saliva, 29. Snot, 30. Synovial fluid, 31. Urine 
          5. Analysis of the 4 Elements: (examine in your own body)
            1. Earth element/solidity
            2. Water element/fluidity
            3. Fire element/temperature
            4. Water element/cohesion
          6. The Cemetery Contemplations: (compare with the fate of your own body)
            1. A bloated, livid, and festering corpse discarded in a charnel ground
            2. A corpse being eaten by birds, animals and insects
            3. A skeleton with flesh and blood, held together by sinews
            4. A skeleton without flesh but smeared with blood, and held together by sinews
            5. A skeleton rid of flesh and blood, held together by sinews
            6. Bones rid of sinews and scattered in every direction
            7. White bones, the color of shells
            8. Decrepit bones, heaped in a pile
            9. Bones rotted and crumbled to powder
        2. Mindfulness of sensations/feeling:
          1. Pleasant sensations
          2. Unpleasant sensations
          3. Neither pleasant nor unpleasant (neutral) sensations
        3. Mindfulness of the mind:
          1. Mindfulness of mind with/without greed
          2. Mindfulness of mind with/without hatred
          3. Mindfulness of mind with/without delusion
          4. Mindfulness of constricted/scattered mind
          5. Mindfulness of developed/undeveloped mind 
          6. Mindfulness of surpassable/unsurpassable mind
          7. Mindfulness of concentrated/unconcentrated mind 
          8. Mindfulness of freed/unfreed mind
        4. Mindfuless of principles:
          1. The 5 Hindrances: (their presence or abscence, how they arise, are given up, and dont arise again)
            1. Sensual desire
            2. Ill-will
            3. Dullness and drowsiness
            4. Restlessness and remorse
            5. Doubt
          2. The 5 Aggregates: (their presence, origin, and cessation)
            1. Form/matter
            2. Sensation/feeling
            3. Perception
            4. Volitional formations
            5. Consciousness
          3. The 6 Sense Fields: (and the arising and abandonment of the fetters/defilements dependent on them)
            1. Eye/sights
            2. Ear/sounds
            3. Nose/odours
            4. Tongue/tastes
            5. Body/touches
            6. Mind/thoughts
          4. The 7 Awakening Factors: (their presence or abscence, their origin, and their fulfillment)
            1. Mindfulness
            2. Investigation of principles
            3. Energy
            4. Rapture
            5. Tranquility
            6. Immersion/Concentration
            7. Equanimity
          5. The 4 Noble Truths: (truly understanding them)
            1. Suffering
            2. The origin of suffering
            3. The cessation of suffering
            4. The path leading to the cessation of suffering
      
        See: MN 10, DN 22

      8. Right Concentration:
        1. First Jhana
        2. Second Jhana
        3. Third Jhana
        4. Fourth Jhana

        See:

    See: SN 45.8