One day, a member of this mission told me that Rev. Kanko Mochizuki, who used to be here long time ago, told her, “SHINKO WA CHIE”. That Japanese sentence means that faith is wisdom. I completely agree. So, today I’d like to share with you a Buddha wisdom called the Four Noble Truths to deepen your faith.

What are the four noble truths? Please open the green book, HASU NO OSHIE (The Teachings Of The Lotus), and go to page 35.

Let’s read page 35 together, please.

“Leader: The Four Noble Truths are the most complete summary of the entire Dharma. So, if we understand them, we will be good Buddhists. Let us remember there are only two paths in life. One, the way of happiness; the other, the way of suffering. The Four Noble Truths clearly point this out.

Leader: The truth of suffering.

Class: Man cannot escape from his destiny of death and suffering unless he finds a new way of life. Let us awaken to these facts.

Leader: The truth of the origin of suffering.

Class: The causes of suffering are the three defilements: greed, hatred and ignorance. Let us cleanse ourselves of these errors.

Leader: The truth of the extinction of suffering.

Class: It is true that we can attain perfect happiness and deliverance from suffering, if we cleanse ourselves of sin, and gain a new life. Let us live in this hope.

Leader: The truth of the path that leads to the extinction of suffering.

Class: The path of practice that leads to cessation of sins is the Noble Eightfold Path; namely, Right View, Right Emotion, Right Conversation, Right Conduct, Right Living, Right Effort, Right Meditation, and Right Faith. If we follow this path, we will attain Buddhahood. So let us practice these in our daily lives.”

It is said that right after the Buddha attained Buddhahood, he preached the Four Noble Truths for his five disciples as his first preaching at Sarnath, India about 2500 years ago.

What do you think about this Dharma? Do you think this is useful? You should try to apply this to your daily life to solve problems.

Let me tell you an example.

If you are a child, you go to school everyday. One day, suppose you get into a fight with your best friend. You must feel very bad. So, that becomes your suffering. You suffer from the bad feeling. At that time, the Buddha inside you asks you what your suffering is. You answer to the Buddha inside you that, yes, Buddha, I’m suffering. Then the Buddha asks you, “What’s the cause of the suffering?” You answer, “I got into a fight with my best friend.” The Buddha asks you, “What’s the cause of the fight?” You answer, “Because, when I wanted to talk to my friend, he was talking to another guy, and I waited and waited. But, he just kept talking to the guy and seemed like he ignored meÉ” The Buddha says to you, “You know that you are not his only friend. He has other friends, too. Sometimes, he may need to talk to others. He never ignores you. He must think that you understand it. So, your suffering is from your greed. You might have wanted to have him to yourself. Blow out the flame of the greed in your mind by practicing the Right Meditation. Then, you’ll understand your friend.” As a result, his best friend came to be aware of his generosity and they became better friends.

Another example. If you are a husband, you might get in fight with your wife. The Buddha inside you asks you, “Are you suffering?” You answer, “Yes. I got into a fight with my wife last night, and I’ve been very angry since then.” The Buddha asks, “What was the cause of the fight?” You answer, “ÉOh, I already forgotÉ.” The Buddha says to you, “You are just being burnt by the flame of anger. Blow out the flame of anger inside you by the Right Emotion.”

Likewise, you can apply the Four Noble Truths to your daily life. The Four Noble Truths are the best method to solve any kind of problem for yourself and others, too. The Buddha inside you is called the Buddha-nature in your mind. It is said in Buddhism, everyone equally has the Buddha-nature with no exception.