The Role of the Four Noble Truths in the Buddhist Religion

Four Noble Truths is one of the essential dogma of Buddhism advocated by the founder of the religion, Buddha. The Buddha claimed in his first sermon that he attained spiritual insight and freedom from future birth when he obtained absolute and intuitive knowledge of the four truths. These four principles are welcome by the entire Buddhism schools and have been liable to a comprehensible dissertation. The four noble truths are Dukkha, Samudaya, Nirodha, and Magga. The summarization of these teachings is as follows.

Suffering is the first truth. It is called dukkha (pali) and duhkha (Sanskrit). Suffering exists in our lives causes us to be stressed. It was identified in Buddha's last sermon that suffering comes with a form of birth, sickness, death, aging, unpleasant situations and experiences, not achieving what one aimed for, and any other unsatisfactory conditions of our minds and bodies.

Now, if suffering exists, then the origin of it, what causes the suffering existed too, which on the other hand becomes the second truth, Samudaya (Pali and Sanskrit). 

Buddha associated Samudaya, in his first sermon, with craving or attachment. In addition, it was understood by other Buddhists that the causes of suffering are rooted in bad habits or negative actions as they will lead to unpleasant consequences. Therefore, committing crimes, dishonesty, robbery is one of the causes of suffering. 

Even having an unhealthy or unstable mental state that forced one to do the illegal actions is included because having a negative mindset will lead one to see the pleasure in pain, beauty in ugliness, permanence in impermanence, and the self that didn't exist. 

However, there is still hope in the third truth because it is explained that suffering does have an ending which is called the cessation of suffering or Nirodha (Pali and Sanskrit). This principle focuses on ending the suffering by resisting the causes of all the negative desires. Preventing one from causing such bad behaviors will end the suffering. That is to say, not starving oneself will prevent suffering in sickness.    

  

To end the suffering, one should follow the process to stop such. The fourth truth is the Path to the Cessation of Suffering or Magga (Pali) and Marga (Sanskrit). Among all the noble truths, this one is more complex as this has something to do with how to end suffering since it is believed that any form of suffering can end indefinitely.   

These four principles of truth go around with the existence of suffering, which served as the foundation of Buddhism.  

Source: Lopez, Donald S.. "Four Noble Truths". Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Mar. 2017, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Four-Noble-Truths. Accessed 8 August 2021.

Francisco Baltazar [Balagtas] the Soul of my Desire

The pen is the tongue of the mind (Horace). 

The message drawn in that quote is that our minds cannot speak, but we can write with a pen in our hands and start expressing the things that run in our minds. Certainly, we are capable of being heard as we are capable of creating ideas in our minds. The same way how Francisco Baltazar used his pen in expressing his thoughts and emotion during his imprisonment, which leads to the creation of his best poem, “Florante at Laura.”

Do you still remember him? The “King of Tagalog Poems.” He is probably one of the best in Philippine Literature. Well, what amazed me most is that he’s not only good at organizing his thoughts using the Filipino language, but he also made sure that his works are not just ordinary write-ups that a reader can relate to. Florante at Laura depicted the Filipino history wherein injustices Filipinos suffered at the hands of the Spaniards and the evils that beset them during the Spanish regime (King, J.). Indeed, he integrates history into poetry. 

That is why Balagtas is one of the famous historical figures who inspire me to be a good poet. He indirectly taught me to not only rely on the meters, figurative languages, and forms. Yet, I should also consider the subject, the message, and the intention of my writings. He indeed inspired me to read more, explore more about anything worth remembering, and worth spreading to the public to give them the value and honor that they deserved through poetry. He became one of the reasons I started writing poetry reflecting history, government system, societal issues, and even the impact of religion on humanity.  

Therefore, I consider Francisco Baltazar [Balagtas] the Soul of my Desire, because he gives hope to my dream of being an influential poet someday that no matter how difficult life can be, our capability to write is never limited with time. We can write wherever we are and whenever we wanted to, as long as we stand on our belief and we know where we stand on every thought we would express.   

Reference:

King, J. (2001). Heroes of the Philippine Revolution. Great and Famous Filipinos.  Worldlink Books.

Horace Quotes. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved August 7, 2021, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/horace_118837