-By Vipassana Research Institute
The Four Noble Truths are the essence of the Buddha's teaching. In the Aṅguttara Nikāya, the Buddha said:
Vediyamānassa kho panāhaṃ bhikkhave, idaṃ dukkham ti paññāpemi, ayaṃ dukkha-samudayo ti paññāpemi ayaṃ dukkha-nirodho ti paññāpemi, ayaṃ dukkha-nirodha-gāminī-paṭipadā ti paññāpemi. 1
To one who experiences sensations, meditators, I teach the truth of suffering, I teach the truth of the arising of suffering, I teach the truth of the cessation of suffering, and I teach the truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering.
In this passage the Buddha clearly states that the Four Noble Truths can be understood, realised and practised only through the experience of vedanā (sensations).
He further analysed the Noble Truths in the light of vedanā by saying:
Yaṃ kiñci vedayitaṃ, taṃ pi dukkhasmiṃ.2
Whatever sensations one experiences, all are suffering.
Not only are dukkha vedanā (unpleasant sensations) suffering, but sukha vedanā (pleasant sensations) and adukkhamasukha vedanā (neutral sensations) are also suffering because of their impermanent nature. Arising and passing away, anicca (impermanence) is the characteristic of vedanā. Every pleasant sensation has a seed of dukkha in it because it passes away sooner or later. We are so bound by ignorance that when a pleasant sensation arises, we react to it by developing craving and clinging towards it, without realising its real nature of impermanence. This leads to suffering: 'taṇhā dukkhassa sambhavaṃ' – craving is the origin of suffering.3
Craving is not only the origin of suffering but suffering itself. As craving arises, suffering arises. The Buddha elucidated the second of the Four Noble Truths not as taṇhā-paccayā dukkha but instead as dukkha-samudaya. In other words, craving is not merely the precondition of suffering; it is itself inseparable from suffering. The same emphasis is apparent in the statement taṇhā dukkhassa sambhavaṃ. Indeed, taṇhā and dukkha are sahajāta (conascent). As soon as taṇhā arises, one loses the balance of the mind, becomes agitated and experiences dukkha.
Similarly, when vedanā arises and results in taṇhā, it is dukkha. Thus whenever the term 'vedanā' is used in relation to the practice of Dhamma, it conveys the sense of dukkha. Even a neutral sensation is dukkha if its impermanent nature is ignored. Therefore, not only for dukkha vedanā but also for sukha vedanā and adukkhamasukha vedanā as well, the Buddha correctly used the word 'vedanā' as a synonym for 'dukkha'.
Emphasising this fact again in relation to the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha said in the Dvāyatana Sutta of the Suttanipāta:
Yaṃ kiñci dukkhaṃ sambhoti sabbaṃ vedanāpaccayā ti, ayamekānupassanā. Vedanānaṃ tveva asesavirāganirodhā natthi dukkhasssa sambhavo ti, ayaṃ dutiyānupassanā.4
Whatever suffering arises, it is because of sensations—this is the first anupassanā (observation). With the complete cessation of sensations, there is no further arising of suffering—this is the second anupassanā.
The first anupassanā is the constant observation of vedanā as dukkha. The second anupassanā consists of the reality which is beyond the field of vedanā as well as beyond the field of phassa (contact) and saḷāyatana (the six sense doors). This is the stage of nirodha-samāpatti of an arahant (fully liberated one), the experience of the state of nibbāna. By this second anupassanā, the meditator realises the truth that in the field of nirodha-samāpatti, there is no dukkha, because there is no vedanā. It is the field beyond the sphere of vedanā.
The Buddha continues in the same sutta:
Sukhaṃ vā yadi vā dukkhaṃ, adukkhamasukhaṃ saha;
Ajjhattañca bahiddhā ca, yaṃ kiñci atthi veditaṃ.
Etaṃ dukkhanti ñatvāna, mosadhammaṃ palokinaṃ;
Phussa phussa vayaṃ passaṃ, evaṃ tattha vijānati;
Vedanānaṃ khayā bhikkhu, nicchāto parinibbuto ti.5
Whatever sensations one experiences in the body, pleasant, unpleasant or neutral, inside or outside, all are suffering, all are illusory, all are ephemeral. A meditator observes that wherever there is a contact in the body, sensations pass away (as soon as they arise). Realising this truth with the extinction of sensations, the meditator is freed from craving, fully liberated.
A person fully established in this truth becomes liberated from the habit of craving and clinging towards sensations and reaches the state where there is no more vedanā (vedanā-khaya). (This is the stage of nibbāna reached in the second anupassanā.) A meditator who has experienced this state of arahatta-phala becomes nicchāto (freed from all desires). Such a person becomes parinibbuta (totally liberated).
Therefore, to experience and understand dukkha-sacca (suffering), samudaya-sacca (its arising), nirodha-sacca (its cessation) and dukkha-nirodha-gāminī-paṭipadā-sacca (the path leading to the cessation of suffering), one has to work with sensations and realise the truth of vedanā (vedanā-sacca), the arising of vedanā (vedanā-samudaya-sacca), the cessation of vedanā (vedanā-nirodha-sacca) and the path leading to the cessation of vedanā (vedanā-nirodha-gāminī-paṭipadā-sacca).
This process is clearly described in the Samādhi Sutta of the Vedanā-saṃyutta:
Samāhito sampajāno, sato buddhassa sāvako;
Vedanā ca pajānāti, vedanānañca sambhavaṃ.
Yattha cetā nirujjhanti, maggañca khayagāminaṃ;
Vedanānaṃ khayā bhikkhu, nicchāto parinibbuto ti.6
A follower of the Buddha, with concentration, awareness, and constant thorough understanding of impermanence, knows with wisdom sensations, their arising, their cessation, and the path leading to their end. A meditator who has reached the end (has experienced the entire range) of sensations (and has gone beyond) is freed from craving, fully liberated.
The Buddha further says that the purpose of the practice of the ariyo aṭṭhaṇgiko maggo (the Noble Eightfold Path) is to understand vedanā and to reach the state of vedanā-nirodha (cessation of sensations):
Tisso imā, bhikkhave, vedanā. Katamā tisso? Sukhā vedanā, dukkhā vedanā, adukkamasukhā vedanā. Imā kho, bhikkhave, tisso vedanā. Imāsaṃ kho, bhikkhave, tissannaṃ vedanānaṃ abhiññāya pariññāya parikkhayāya pahānāya...ayaṃ ariyo aṭṭhaṇgiko maggo bhāvetabbo ti.7
There are these three types of bodily sensations. What are the three? Pleasant sensations, unpleasant sensations, and neutral sensations. Meditators, the Noble Eightfold Path should be practised for the complete knowledge, the full realisation, the gradual eradication and the abandonment of these three bodily sensations.
Sensations (vedanā) are the tools by which we can practise the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, and by realising the characteristic of anicca-bodha (impermanence), we free ourselves from the bonds of avijjā and taṇhā and penetrate to the ultimate truth: nibbāna, freedom from suffering, a state which is beyond the field of vedanā, beyond the field of nāma-rūpa (mind and matter).
Notes: (All references are to the VRI edition.)
- Aṅguttara Nikāya 1.3.62 Mahāvaggo Titthāyatanasutta
2. Majjhima Nikāya 3.299 Mahākammavibhaṅgasuttaṃ
3. Suttanipāta 746 Dvayatānupassanāsuttaṃ
4. Ibid. 742
5. Ibid., 743 - 744
6. Saṃyutta Nikāya 2.4.249 Vedanāsaṃyuttaṃ, Samādhisuttaṃ
7. Ibid. 2.4.250 Sukhasuttaṃ