Describe the teachings of the Buddha.
The teachings of Lord Buddha, his preachings were simple, easy to practise and based on morality. It was also based on democratic principle, where everybody had equal rights without any distinction of caste, colour, creed or social status. His main teachings were the ‘Four noble truths’ and ‘Eight-fold path”.
(a) Four noble truths: When at Sarnath Gautama set in motion the wheel of the law, he specially stressed the four noble truths:
- The truth of suffering (dukkha)
- The truth of the cause of suffering (samudaya)
- The truth of the end of suffering (nirhodha)
- The truth of the path that frees us from suffering (magga)
(b) Eight-fold path:
(i) Right Views
(ii) Right Aspiration
(iii) Right Speech
(iv) Right Action
(v) Right Living
(vi) Right Efforts
(vii) Right Mindfulness
(viii) Right Contemplation.
The Buddha regarded the social world as the creation of humans rather than of divine origin. Therefore, he advised kings and gahapatis to be humane and ethical. Individual effort was expected to transform social relations. The Buddha emphasised individual agency and righteous action as the means to escape from the cycle of rebirth and attain self-realisation and nibbana, literally the extinguishing of the ego and desire – and thus end the cycle of suffering for those who renounced the world.
