I’ve been sitting with the intention to write up a dharma talk. It’s my homework. For weeks now I’ve been talking ideas over with friends, listening to other people’s dharma talks and writing unending notes, getting nowhere.
Not nowhere exactly. I got nowhere writing the kind of talk I thought I should be writing, but I’m getting everywhere looking at clips of little videos, which I LOVE. I could do this all day. I have actually. I present the fruits of my labor: The Four Noble Truths in video clips.
part one: there is dukkha (suffering), it is to be understood
part two: the origin of dukkha is craving (thirst, clinging) it is to be recognized
part three: dukkha ceases with the relinquishment of craving, this is to be known
part four: there is a path leading to the cessation of dukkha (=eightfold path) it is to be cultivated
Read/hear more about it:
There’s so much to learn and study about the Four noble/ennobling truths. Here are a few links to start with:
- Lion’s Roar has a nice overview & links: https://www.lionsroar.com/what-are-the-four-noble-truths/
- Sylvia Boorstein elaborates: https://www.lionsroar.com/pay-attention-for-goodness-sake/
- A talk about the Four Noble Truths by Larry Yang on Dharma seed: https://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/107/talk/9323/
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu explains what’s noble about the Four Noble Truths: https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/four-noble-truths-thanissaro-bhikkhu/
- Access to Insight has texts from the Pali Cannon: https://accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sacca/index.html
- Bhikkhu Bodhi breaks texts down here: https://accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/bps-essay_20.html