For this summary of The Four Noble Truths by The Dalai Lama. I’ve gone through the ‘popular highlights’ section of the Kindle version to extract the sections that were most highlighted by readers from all over the world.
These passages were highlighted hundreds of times. If that many people took the time to highlight these words, it means there is some value or wisdom therewithin.
For the first part of this summary of The Four Noble Truths by The Dalai Lama, I’ll quote the popular highlights and provide some commentary on what each means to me. Then, in the second part, I’ll provide what I feel are the most practical or salient points from the book in a quick bullet format.
In this summary, I’ll not delve into the concept of The Four Noble Truths in much detail. To learn more about those, check out our article The Eightfold Path: Guidance For Life’s Challenges.
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Summary of The Four Nobles Truths by The Dalai Lama
“Non-violence essentially means that we should do our best to help others and, if this is not possible, should at the very least refrain from harming them.”
We’re all imperfect, so even if we strive to help others and act with compassion, we will fall short. When this happens—when we fail to help others—we must at least refrain from harming them or making a bad situation worse. To do this, we can remove ourselves temporarily from the situation or stay silent.
“Whatever identity we give things is contingent on the interaction between our perception and reality itself. However, this is not to say that things do not exist. Buddhism is not nihilistic. Things do exist, but they do not have an independent, autonomous reality.”
This is useful commentary on the nature of interconnection, which is the idea found in Buddhism (and, to some extent, in Stoicism) that we are all fundamentally connected. Here, The Dalai Lama is reminding us that our perceptions of reality and reality itself are vastly different things.
But, without contemplating this, it’s easy to go through life feeling as though the interpretations our brain makes about reality are reality itself. Even in the scientific literature, we can find many studies showing that our brain’s interpretation of reality is often false, largely due to the fact that it tries to make everything fit within the confines of language.
So, although your perceptions are uniquely yours, we ultimately share one single reality, which should be a binding and unifying realization for humanity.
Related article: No Self In Buddhism & Science: Tame The Ego, Start Living
“When you realize that everything we perceive and experience arises as a result of the interaction and coming together of causes and conditions, your whole view changes.”
Cause and effect comes up a lot in Buddhist philosophy, especially as it pertains to Karma. Essentially, everything has a cause or a reason behind it. Contemplating this can change your perspective, because when things happen to you, whether good or bad, you can accept them more gracefully with the understanding that there were causes and conditions that pushed them into your life.
Related article: Karma In Buddhism: Sowing The Seeds Of Love
“Our negative emotions are so powerful that constant effort is needed in order to counteract them. If we practice consistently, then we can definitely change.”
This passage reminds me of Right Effort, which is one of the paths of the Noble Eightfold Path. This teaching is useful because we may be deceived into thinking that living mindfully is a soft and easy exercise that simply happens by reading about mindfulness and by meditating. This is a delusion, because in reality mindfulness and one’s ability to observe emotions non-judgmentally rather than clinging to or rejecting them is not easy to practice consistently. It requires effort, determination, and discipline. But, I believe that this is better than the alternative, which is a life of rushing, endless striving, bottomless craving, and fearful aversion.
“The second level of suffering, the suffering of change, refers to experiences we ordinarily identify as pleasurable. However, in reality, as long as we are in an unenlightened state, all our joyful experiences are tainted and ultimately bring suffering.”
At first glance, this passage seems incredibly depressing. All our joyful experiences ultimately bring suffering? Then what’s the point? What he’s saying here is akin to something we’ve all heard before: money can’t buy you happiness. We know that people get used to having luxurious and comfortable things. The bar for what is exciting or exotic rises ever so slightly with each acquisition or purchase.
This isn’t just about money and the things it can buy, either. This teaching also pertains to relationships. We all know about the honeymoon phase of a sexual relationship. In the first weeks or months of a new relationship with someone you’re attracted to physically and emotionally, you’re practically high on a drug. To avoid this futile pursuit of happiness, we must recognize the impermanent nature of all things. We must temper our lusting and longing with the sincere recognition that this will change or end sooner or later.
Summary of The Four Nobles Truths by The Dalai Lama: The Key Takeaways
- There are three levels of suffering: 1) the suffering of suffering (the resistance rather than acceptance of suffering); 2) the suffering of change; 3) the suffering of conditioning (habits, routines, and trauma).
- Intention is a critical aspect of karma. Also, how we feel about our actions (e.g. remorse) after having committed them also affects karma.
- “The most important thing to know is that afflictive emotion is our ultimate enemy.”
- Realizing that there is no intrinsic reality to events and things (the Buddhist concept of emptiness) automatically helps you realize that no matter how strong emotions feel, they have no valid basis.
- Following the Buddhist path is not about creating and forging new qualities in ourselves. Instead, it’s about uncovering the existing potential for wisdom that naturally resides within us.
- True compassion comes at a cost. We must be willing to take on the responsibility to help others, and doing this usually costs us our time.
- True compassion does not entail pity. Looking down at others, even if from good intentions, is not an effective way of acting compassionately. We must approach compassion with respect for the other, with a sense of equality between all beings.
- True compassion should be unbiased. If we feel more compassionate towards our close friends than we do towards strangers, then our compassion is incomplete.
- To take on the immense challenge and responsibility of attempting to reduce the suffering of others, we must be confident and fearless in our approach.
- Thinking that compassion is selfless is wrong. Love must first be directed towards oneself in order to act outwardly with compassion.
I hope you enjoyed this summary of The Four Noble Truths by The Dalai Lama. For more book summaries, click here to check out our book summaries playlist on YouTube.
I’ll leave you with a quote from the book, which I feel encapsulates the ultimate simplicity and utility of Buddhism:
“The Buddhist approach presents a very clear method. First, we try to consider all sentient beings as equal. Then we consider that the lives of all beings are just as precious as our own, and through this we develop a sense of concern for others.”