The "First Noble Truth" is not so Noble

Of the "Four Noble Truths" upon which Buddhism is largely based, the first is surely a mis-quote or misinterpretation of what Buddha actually said.

It is said that;

"At the core of the Buddha’s enlightenment was the realization of the Four Noble Truths: (1) Life is suffering. This is more than a mere recognition of the presence of suffering in existence. It is a statement that, in its very nature, human existence is essentially painful from the moment of birth to the moment of death. Even death brings no relief, for the Buddha accepted the Hindu idea of life as cyclical, with death leading to further rebirth. (2) All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality and the craving, attachment, and grasping that result from such ignorance. (3) Suffering can be ended by overcoming ignorance and attachment. (4) The path to the suppression of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-mindedness, and right contemplation. "

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Life is NOT suffering. Life is what you make of it, according to right intent and right action. If you closely observe the creatures of the forest, or small children naturally at play, or those who lead simple, spiritual lives, you will note that they do not inherently suffer. If anything, life is joy, or at least en-joy-ment.

I strongly suspect that what Buddha actually said was something to the effect of;

"Life in human society is suffering, due to wrong intention and wrong life focus".

If one were to make this clarification from the start, then Buddhism makes a great deal of sense. The Four Noble Truths are then based on coherent truth, and the eightfold path a sure way to embody truth itself.

Otherwise, modern Buddhism is self defeating, since it is based on ignorance of reality and wrong intent, which will most often result in wrong action, by assuming something about life that life is not. Tweet