The Second of Four Noble Truths

The Second of Four Noble Truths

“ ‘I have sons, I have wealth’: thinking thus the fool is troubled. Indeed, he himself is not

his own. How can sons or wealth be his?”

The Second of the Four Noble Truths is Samudaya, translated as craving and greed. This

is a practice that is completely inescapable of all people. There is no one who does not want, no

one who could not think of just one more thing to make him self “happy”. It is the given nature

of all people to desire what the do not have, no matter who they are, what they say, or how

satisfied they seem.

Imagine a man attempting to find inner peace by meditating atop a mountain. He sits

there at peace with the beauty of the world around him, feeling harmonious with nature. He

thinks he desires nothing else but to sit there and be one with the world, but in actuality he

craves this time alone and desires this peace that he has found to make him feel blissful. Now

think of the man who sits behind a corporate desk all day earning more money than he is capable

of ever spending. He has every new gadget...