Introduction

Scholars are skeptical  that the earlier Sutras contain exactly the real teachings of Siddhartha Goutama. However, different traditions report the Four Noble Truths, which allegedly has been preached by the Buddha right after his enlightenment, with little discrepancies. And in fact these doctrines represent the kernel of the Buddhism's teaching that every subsequent traditions has dealt with.

Sacred texts and other main texts: the Sutras.

A Sutra is a sacred text of Buddhism said to contain the discourses of the Buddha as heard by his disciples. Apart from Sutra, Buddhist texts can also be classified as Vinaya, (monastic regulations) or Shastra, doctrinal treatises.

Acknowledged authority: the Incipit of a Sutra

Every Sutra, regardless of the origin, language, or date of production, starts with the phrase: "Thus I have heard". The Buddhist tradition holds that Ananda, the beloved disciples of Buddha, memorized each discourses, so that when time came to put them down in written form, he started his recitation with the phrase "thus I have heard (from the Master)". This is the traditional phrase that sanctions the authority of a Buddhist text as a Sutra, and it is found also in texts obviously postdating the death of Buddha. 

Main doctrinal tenets: Four Noble truths, Eightfold path, Enlightenment and Nirvana

See Analysis and Comment ofDhammacakkappavattana Sutta

Sources' Analysis and comment

Source 1. Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

Glossary

Blessed One: the most used epithet of Buddha.

One Attuned to Reality: Other epithet of Buddha.

Five bundles of grasping-fuel: the five psycho-physical constituent of the individual.

This Sutra contains the followings pivotal teachings of Buddhism:

1) The Middle Way

As the first and second paragraphs explain, Buddhism rejects the extremities of luxurious self-indulgence and inhuman self-mortification. In other words, being completely absorbed into the pleasures of this world, or alternatively being disgusted and willing to put an end to one's own mundane existence, are both wrong paths that will not lead to liberation.

2) The Four holy truth

These are explained in paragraph 3, 4 and 5. The First Truth enlightens one omnipresent aspect of existence: suffering. In the Buddhist view, suffering has three aspects: a)The obvious physical and mental suffering associated with birth, aging, illness and dying. b)The anxiety of trying to hold on to things we love, as well as the distress of being in contact with things we hate. c)A basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all forms of existence, due to the fact that all forms of life are changing.

The Second Truth explains the origin of this suffering, that is, craving. Moved by desire towards things, human beings suffer, produce Karman and continue to be reborn in the Samsara (the cycle of Rebirth). Craving is not only directed towards positive things, like the sense-pleasures, or the mere desire to live, but it is understood also as a craving for destruction of things we dislike, includeding one's own life. These two opposite attitudes, attachment towards things we like, and aversion towards things we dislike, are linked to the concept of Middle Way exposed above. Attachment and aversion are the two fires (or poisons) that fuel suffering and bad Karman.

After having identified the origin of suffering, the Third Truth affirms that suffering can cease once suppressed his cause, namely, craving.

The Fourth and last Truth explains the method for the cessation of suffering, the Noble Eightfold Path.

3) Impermanence

The First Truth, explaining the nature of suffering, has an important implication: everything is subject to change and decay. Everything human beings try to hold on to forever, will inevitably pass away.  In sum, one of the pivotal principle in Buddhism is that the true nature of every phenomena is impermanence. In the Buddhist view, nothing has a permanent nature.  The ignorance of this fact is the third fire (or poison)  that fuel suffering and bad Karman.

4) The Noble Eightfold Path

It summarize the way leading to the cessation of suffering  and the achievement of enlightenment. It is used to develop insight into the true nature of phenomena  and to eradicate attachments towards the world. It's steps can be divided in three basic divisions:

Wisdom          

1. Right view: a thoroughout understanding of the impermanent nature of phenomena and of the origin and cessation of suffering.

2. Right resolve: a persistent commitment towards liberation.

Ethical conduct           

3. Right speech: abstaining from lying, divisive speech, abusive speech, and  idle chatter.       

4. Right action: Abstaining from taking life, from stealing, and from illicit sex.

5. Right livelihood: abstaining from occupation that harms or exploits others, or earning more than one needs.          

Meditative practice

6. Right effort: a persisting effort to abandon all those thoughts, words, and deeds that hinder the path towards liberation.       

7. Right mindfulness:  being aware of one's thoughts, feelings, and actions so that one is not controlled by them.       

8.Right mental unification: the right methods of meditation.

5) Enlightenment and Nirvana

These two terms are strictly connected. Enlightenment means attaining the same experience and understanding of the nature of things as Buddha did. As a consequence of Enlightenment, Nirvana is attained. The term Nirvana literally means "extinguishing", namely the extinction of the aforementioned three fires of attachment, aversion and ignorance. When these fires are extinguished, suffering comes to end and Karman is no longer produced. Nirvana is then the goal of Buddhism, but it does not represent some sort of Absolute.

Source 2. Dharma wheel

A simple image of the Dharmachakra, the Wheel of the Law. It is recognized as the foremost symbol of Buddhism. Its roundness symbolizes the perfection of the Buddha's teaching, while the number of its spokes varies, with different meanings for each number. The most common version has eight spokes, symbolizing the Noble Eightfold Path.

To go Deeper

This link leads to a web page where the arguments presented in this page and in section 3 are explained in a interactive Image of a Wheel of Life. Other more-in depth-arguments are also provided.

http://languagecenter.emory.edu/languages/tibetan_samsara/

Intercultural and interdisciplinary information

(Other Modules, History of Philosophy)

1) Buddhism and Hinduism share a similar ideal of liberation, the liberation from Samsara. However, the Buddhist vision of Impermanence represents an important difference between Hinduism and Buddhism. For Hinduism there is a permanent Absolute behind a constantly changing world, the Brahman, and its equivalent in each human being, the Atman. In the Hinduist view, by awakening to this pristine union, man is liberated from Samsara. By Contrast, for Buddhism, these two principles have been rejected as two deceptive illusions of something permanent that hinder the way towards enlightenment.

See link to Hinduism's Module

2) In the early days of the study on Buddhism, many Western scholars were fascinated by rational outlook of the first Buddhist texts.

Buddhism drew the attention of European intellectuals for the first time during the course of the nineteenth century through the work of Christian missionaries, scholars and officials of the British Empire.

Among the first to take an interest in Buddhist thought  was Arthur Schopenhauer. In his major work, "The World as Will and Representation" (1819) are found several similarities with the preaching of the Buddha, such as  the omnipresence of pain in the lives of all beings or the identification of the "will" (which could be equivalent to the Buddhist 'attachment ') as the primary cause of suffering.

Also Friedrich Nietzsche openly praised this religion in his work Antichrist (1895), aphorism 20:

"Buddhism is a hundred times as realistic as Christianity -it is part of its living heritage that it is able to face problems objectively and coolly; it is the product of long centuries of philosophical speculation. The concept, "god," was already disposed of before it appeared. Buddhism is the only genuinely -positive- religion to be encountered in history, and this applies even to its epistemology (which is a strict phenomenalism)"

However, it should be noted that this extremely rationalistic interpretation of Buddhism was influenced by the intellectual milieu of the nineteenth century: rationalistic and often critical of Christianity. This has often hindered a full understanding of Buddhist traditions in their more devotional and ritual aspects (see for example sections 9 and 10).

Nonetheless, it is undeniable that Buddhism offers a long tradition of profound philosophical speculation, which increasingly draws the interest of contemporary scholars of philosophy.

Link to other modules:

Hinduism's Module, section 3