The Four Noble Truths by Venerable Guan Cheng
International Buddhist Society, Richmond, BC Canada
The Venerable Guan Cheng has been Abbot of our temple and President of the Society’s Board of Directors since 1999. Born in Hong Kong, the Venerable has studied Buddhism for more than forty years. In 1981, he founded the International Buddhist Society with five other devout Buddhists in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. Today, the International Buddhist Temple is run by the Society, and known world-wide as a landmark of Mahayana Buddhism and traditional Chinese architecture.
The Four Noble Truths are regarded as the central doctrine of the Buddhist tradition, and are said to provide a conceptual framework for all of Buddhist thought. These four truths explain the nature of dukkha (Pali; commonly translated as “suffering”, “anxiety”, “stress”, “dissatisfaction”), its causes, its cessation, and the path leading to its cessation.
The four noble truths are:
