..续本文上一页hujjanabhūmi atikkanto - an arya is one who has crossed the field of puthujjanā (an ordinary worldly person).

　　The Noble Truths (ariyasaccāni) are similarly defined:

　　Ariyā imāni paṭivijjhanti, tasmā ariyasaccānīti vuccantī - those truths that are known to the ārya are ārya truths (Noble Truths).

　　Ultimate Truth

　　Siddhattha Gotama (Siddhartha Gautama) attained the ultimate self-enlightenment in Bodh Gaya and became a perfectly Self-enlightened One.

　　Later, he taught the Dhamma to the five Brahmin ascetics from Kapilavatthu in Varanasi. In his first discourse he expounded the practical aspect of the four Noble Truths. There he explained how the four Noble Truths lead to the ultimate reality of nibbāna, which is beyond the senses: eternal, everlasting and permanent. He clarified how the four Noble Truths if practised in all three aspects (in the complete twelve-fold manner) can lead to the experience of the ultimate reality.

　　According to the Buddha”s teaching, all four Noble Truths are also included in any one Noble Truth. Anyone who goes beyond misery does so by understanding the entire field of misery. Thus, the Noble Truth of suffering includes the other three.

　　Within a week, all the five Brahmin ascetics attained complete liberation by practising this benevolent teaching. Thus, they became the first five arahats after the Buddha. Vipassana proved fruitful!

　　From then on the Buddha wandered from the eastern border of Rajasthan to the western border of Bengal, ceaselessly serving people. He taught how to realize these Noble Truths through the practice of Vipassana, resulting in the experience of the eternal truth of nibbāna. Even in his lifetime, thousands of monks and nuns (bhikkhus and bhikkhunis) became arahats.

　　In addition, hundreds of thousands of both bhikkhus and householders had the first experience of the ultimate reality when they became sotāpannā (stream-enterer). Later, many became sakadāgāmī and anāgāmī. This technique of Vipassana benefited millions of people by liberating them from suffering in this very life through the realization of the four Noble Truths.

　　It was our misfortune that we lost this wonderful technique and all its literature from our country and as a result were deprived of its limitless benefit. Both the practice and the literature disappeared. With the teaching no longer available, people began to criticise it out of ignorance, declaring that they did not accept the noble truth of suffering. In the face of such an unfortunate historical development, how can one blame the Buddha or the Vipassana that he taught, for the currently accepted misconceptions about his teachings

《Was the Buddha a Pessimist

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