“Have you ever inquired what is the central concept of Buddhist Philosophy?”
Since the historical Buddha (563 – 483 BCE) began to exchange his realization from the Deer Park (Mṛgadāva), Isipatana, in the region of Varanasi (present-day Sāranāth), the teaching had rapidly spread across the whole of ancient India. Throughout his 45-year teaching career, the Buddha explored sixteen great states (Soḷasa Mahājanapadā) of ancient India, referring to the Pāli text, Aṅguttara Nikāya (AN I.213). The Buddha’s insight was so profound that the teachings have been carried on for over 2600 years in South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and beyond with their glories, practices, and acclamations.
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Despite the fact that Buddhism has evolved in a variety of ways as a result of numerous Buddhist philological notions in various regions, the central philosophy of the teachings remains the same, as the Buddha thought throughout his lifetime. From the Buddha’s first sermon, “Setting the Wheel in the Motion” (Pāli: Dharmacakkappavattana Sutta; Sanskrit: Dharmachakrapravartana Sūtra) to his final discourse, “Last Days of the Buddha” (Pāli: Mahāparinibbāna Sutta; Sanskrit: Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra), the central message was the Four Noble Truths (cattāri ariyasaccāni) include: what is suffering (dukkha), its [suffering] origin (samudaya), its cessation (nirodha) and the path of its elimination (magga). Referring to the Saṃyutta Nikāya (SN 22.86), we can find the Buddha’s own summarization of his teachings; he encapsulated his teachings in one sentence as follows: “Throughout my teachings, I (the Buddha) express two things: the origin of suffering and the cessation of suffering”.
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Several Buddhist philosophical schools arose within a few hundred years of the Buddha’s demise, according to a survey of Buddhist doctrinal evolution. Buddist scholars, such as Nalinaksha Dutta in his book, “Buddhist Sects in India”, calculated that there were approximately eighteen Buddhist sects between the second and the third Buddhist councils. In a historical survey of eighteen Buddhist schools, the Four Noble Truths continue to be the mainstream ontological foundation of each group (Dutta 1998, pp.17-51). Aside from the Abhidhammika revolution, four major Buddhist philosophical schools dominated ancient India for nearly a thousand years, including Sarvāstivāda, Sautrāntika, Yogācāra, and Madhyamaka. To achieve the spiritual goal, these four Buddhist schools applied the Four Noble truths as their doctrinal methodological approaches.
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In the modern era, Buddhist traditions are divided into three: Theravāda, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna. Despite the fact that the three traditions choose different rites and ritual approaches to their practice, they all agree on the importance of realizing the Four Noble Truths in order to achieve spiritual fulfillment. The Four Noble Truths, on the other hand, have been acknowledged by Buddhist practitioners since the beginning of Buddhist propagation. It is worth noting that Buddhist pivotal teaching, the Dependent Origination (Pāli: paṭiccasamuppāda; Sankirt: pratītyasamutpāda), and the Buddhist way of the life, the Eightfold Noble Path (Pāli: ariya aṭṭhaṅgika magga; Sanskrit: āryāṣṭāṅgamārga), were both taught in the noble teaching of the Four Noble Truths. As an outcome, in a historical and doctrinal landscape like the one described above, the Four Noble Truths are regarded as the central concept of Buddhist philosophy.
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Dr. Sanjoy Barua Chowdhury is a lecturer and serves a foreign expert position at the College of Religious Studies (CRS) of Mahidol University (MU), Thailand. He holds a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (MCU). His research interests include South Asian Buddhist scriptures, religion-psychology, global mindful movements, and a socio-cultural anthropological approach to religions. He contributes several academic papers on Buddhist philosophy, psychology, and contemporary religious studies.
