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… legged animals are encompassed by the footprint of the elephant, and the elephant’s footprint is reckoned the foremost among them in terms of size; in the same way, all skillful qualities are included in the four noble truths . In which four? In the noble truth of stress, in the noble truth of the origination of stress, in the noble truth of the cessation of stress, and in the noble truth of the path of practice leading to the …

… as process—and in particular, as an example of the process of dependent co-arising—can actually contribute to the end to suffering, because it gives guidance in how to apply the tasks appropriate for the four noble truths to all the factors in the process leading up to birth.

One of the salient features of dependent co-arising is its lack of outside context. In other words, it avoids any reference to the presence or absence of a …

5. This definition of right view—called “mundane” right view in MN 117—is a level of right view that is a preliminary to transcendent right view, i.e., right view in terms of the four noble truths . Mundane right view establishes two principles—that actions bear fruit and that death is normally followed by rebirth—as basic working hypotheses for the practice. MN 60 notes that if a person who does not accept these principles, “it can be …

… (a) The simile for clairaudience is different. (b) The simile for the ability to see beings passing away and being reborn is also different. (c) The discussion for the ending of the effluents here, unlike the discussion in DN 2, makes no mention of the four noble truths , even though the simile used for this knowledge is the same as in DN 2.

14. Reading, Devo ca kālena kālaṁ sammādhāraṁ anuppaveccheyya, with the Thai edition.

… there is nothing to indicate that this definition of right concentration refers to anything but jhāna.

2. See MN 41, note 5.

3. These various factors are all equivalent to knowledge in terms of the four noble truths . The relationship between these four truths and the issue of skillful and unskillful action is shown in SN 46:51, which notes that analysis of qualities as a factor for awakening is fed by paying appropriate …

… means that the mind state is to be perceived simply as an example of the presence and absence of stress. In other words, emptiness in this sense relates directly to the second of the three characteristics—stress or suffering. The pursuit of this emptiness relates to the four noble truths , as it looks for the causes of stress and uses tranquility together with insight to abandon those causes in a quest to put a total end to suffering.

… by contemplative or brahman, deva, Māra, or Brahmā or anyone at all in the cosmos: in other words, the declaration, teaching, description, setting-forth, revelation, explanation, and making-plain of the four noble truths . Of which four? The declaration, teaching, description, setting-forth, revelation, explanation, and making-plain of the noble truth of stress. The declaration, teaching, description, setting forth, revelation, …

… by contemplative or brahman, deva, Māra, or Brahmā or anyone at all in the cosmos: in other words, the declaration, teaching, description, setting-forth, revelation, explanation, and making-plain of these four noble truths .”

That is what Ven. Sāriputta said. Gratified, the monks delighted in Ven. Sāriputta’s words.

Notes

1. The Buddha declared Sāriputta to be foremost among his disciples in terms of discernment; Moggallāna, …

… this same story in greater detail and adds more incidents: After reciting the verse with which this discourse ends, the Buddha gives Anāthapiṇḍika a step-by-step teaching, culminating in an explanation of the four noble truths . At the end of the teaching, Anāthapiṇḍika attains stream-entry. He then returns home to Sāvatthī, purchases a grove from Prince Jeta at immense price, and establishes a monastery for the Buddha and the Saṅgha. …

This discourse describes the link between fabrications and consciousness in dependent co-arising, and shows how intention and underlying obsessions—with ignorance of the four noble truths being the basis for all obsessions—play a role in constituting awareness of the present moment.

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Staying near Sāvatthī … (the Blessed One said,) “Monks, what one intends, what one arranges, and what one obsesses about1: This is a support for the …

… abandon acquisition abandon stress. Those who abandon stress are released from birth, aging, death, sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs. They are released, I tell you, from suffering & stress.”

Note

1. The wording of this passage follows the wording of the discussion of craving found under the heading of the four noble truths in DN 22. The verb “settles” here (nivīsati) can also be translated as “gets entrenched.”