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THE DOCTRINE OF LIBERATION IN INDIAN RELIGIONS
men to seek eternal peace, bliss and freedom from this transitory world. He urged men to get rid of the root of dukkha. The first noble truth concerns with suffering and the third noble truth with the emancipation from suffering. After attaining enlightenment the Buddha's first sermon at Sarnatha was about the universal suffering. There the Blessed One addressed the five monks thus:
"Now this, monks. is the noble truth of pain: birth is painful, old age is painful, sickness is painful, death is painful, sorrow, lamentation, dejection, and despair are painful. In short, the five groups of grasping (khandhas) are painful.
Now this, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of pain, the cessation without a remainder of craving, the abandonment, forsaking, release, non-attachment."
This shows that the whole worldly process is based upon the frightful sequence of death and rebirth and unbroken chain of the five khandhas. This dukkha teaches to all beings that they are not living as they ought to live. Lord Buddha sought to show a way beyond the realm of dukkha. The enlightenment which Lord Buddha realized was indescribable and transcendental.
Soon after attaining enlightenment, Lord Buddha is reported to have uttered the following words: "This Truth (dharma) that I have realised is profound, difficult to see, difficult to comprehend, excellent, supreme, transcending discursive thought, subtle and to be known by the sages alone." That the Truth is subtle to comprehend is emphasised by the Buddha.
Now the question arises why the Buddha made dukkha the starting point for the realization of Ultimate Truth or the establishment of the concept of nirvāṇa? Here two points deserve mention. Everybody has the experience of pain and suffering in the world and from that very painful experience both the philosophical inquiry and religious aspiration arise. Secondly, man is more emotional than rational in character. It is his emotions, feelings, passions and desires which ultimately determine his character. Bhikshu Sangharakshita has pointed out that:
"By beginning with the fact of pain Buddhism involves the whole nature of man from the very outset. Recognition of the first noble truth comes not as a pleasant intellectual diversion but
3.
Samyuttanikaya, V. 420; Early Buddhist Scriptures, Tr. by E. J. Thomas, pp. 29-31; Bhikshu Sangharakshita, A Survey of Buddhism, p. 125.
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