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3. TIME LINE
The Dhamekh Stupa. It is believed that Buddha first preached his sermon here
Catvāry Aryasatyāni (Pali: Cattāri Ariyasaccāni), or the "Four Noble Truths".
1. Suffering: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union
with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get
what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering. 2. The cause of suffering: The craving which leads to renewed existence (rebirth) (the cycle of
samsara) Reincarnation of Buddha was different from the modern Hindu understanding of
reincarnation. 3. The cessation of suffering: The cessation of craving. 4. The way leading to the cessation of suffering: The Noble Eightfold Path;
Noble Eightfold Path:
1. Right Speech 2. Right Actions 3. Right Livelihood 4. Right Effort/Exercise 5. Right Mindfulness/Awareness 6. Right Concentration/Meditation 7. Right Understanding 8. Right Thoughts
The oldest reference to writing is in a tract called the Silas, embodied in each of the thirteen Dialogues which form the first chapter of the first division of the Suttantas, or conversational discourses of the Buddha. This tract must therefore have been already in existence as a separate work before those Dialogues were put together by the early disciples within the first century after the Buddha's death. The tract on the Silas may be dated, therefore, approximately about 450 B.C.