The History of Buddhist Thought c12.4

c12.4

One list which remained unchanged, and was recognized in all schools, was that of the four Truths. To know these, not to accept them by faith in another, but to realize their truth by an inner conviction, was the goal of the disciple. The list in its simplest form appears as : this is pain ; this is the cause of pain ; this is the cessation of pain ; this is the way leading to the cessation of pain.¹ We may attempt to go further and ask in what sense the formula was originally meant, but that in some sense is the fundamental teaching of Buddhism. It implies what is called a pessimistic view of life, for " this " is man's existence. It is not more pessimistic than other religions that have called life a vale of tears, and it is definitely optimistic in teaching that the cause of pain can be known, and that there is a way by which it can be removed. But in being pessimistic it is consistently so, and it requires that one who really knows that existence is pain shall devote all his efforts to stopping it, that is, to understand what the cause is, and then to remove himself from all contact with it. The ordinary man does not believe that existence is pain. Even when he despairs about ever attaining pleasurable ends, he is still under he impulse, the thirst for pleasure. Evidently such a one is incapable of admitting or understanding even the first Truth. He can only come to realize the Truths by a course of moral and intellectual training.