The Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering

“We say 'Truth of the Cause of Suffering’. A person does not truly know the Wonderful Dharma and receives what is impure. This is the case of the humble. Non-Dharma is called Wonderful Dharma. A person annuls what is right and does not want to heed it to live. On account of this, that person will not know the 'Dharmata' [the Essence of Reality]. Not knowing this, it recycles between birth and death, and suffers greatly. It does not get the birth in heaven or gain the right emancipation. If a person has a deep Wisdom and does not transgress against Wonderful Dharma, as a result, it will be born in heaven and attain the right emancipation. If a person does not know from where the suffering arises and says that there can be no any Wonderful Dharma or what is Eternal, and that all return to nothingness, that person, as a result, will repeat the transmigration through countless kalpas to come, suffering all kinds of sorrow. If a person says that the Dharma is Eternal and that there is no change, that is knowledge of the cause, and this is the Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering. If one does not practice thus, this is the cause of suffering and not the Noble Truth of the Cause.”

Read More on the Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 10 - On the Four Noble Truths.

The Dharma and the Person

The Buddha said: "Being based on Dharma means nothing more than basing oneself on the Mahaparinirvana of the Tathagata. All Buddhist teachings are nothing more than 'Dharmata' [essence of Dharma, essence of Reality]. This 'Dharmata' is the Tathagata. Hence, the Tathagata is Eternal and Unchanging. Any person who says that the Tathagata is non-Eternal does not know the 'Dharmata'. Such a person is not someone to base oneself upon. All the four (kinds) of persons mentioned above appear in the world, protect, act and become a refuge [for all beings]. Why? Because they thoroughly understand the deepest points of what the Tathagata says and know that the Tathagata is Eternal and Unchanging. It is not good to say that the Tathagata is non-Eternal and that He changes.

The four (kinds) of people, when they (appear) as such, are the Tathagata. Why? Because such kinds (of people) well understand and speak about the undisclosed words of the Tathagata. Someone who well understands what is deeply hidden and knows that the Tathagata is Eternal and Unchanging, will never, for profit, says that the Tathagata is non-Eternal. Such a person is someone to base oneself upon - why not on those four (kinds) of people?”

Read More on the Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 8 - On the Four Dependables.