The Four 'Noble' Truths, R.H. Robinson and W.H. Johnson. The Buddhist Religion (BR). Belmont: Wadsworth (1982). J. Kitagawa & M.D. Cummings. Buddhism and Asian History (BAH). New York: Macmillan (1989).
1. SUFFERING: Often described as threefold: a. the suffering of suffering/pain; b. the suffering of change, c. the suffering of conditioned existence. see BR 24: "the truth of suffering...found in every aspect of existence. Birth, illness, decay, death, conjunction with the hated, and separation from the dear -- in short, the experienced world, made up of the five skandhas..." (aggregates).
The five aggregates (skandhas) (cf. BR 24):
1. form: sense organs and their objects; the physical body
2. feeling/sensation
3. conception/will
4. dispositions/discriminations/habitual behavior patterns
5. consciousness
"...the Buddha declared that the five skandhas -- that is, the phenomenal world-and-person -- are duhka. His first Holy Truth states essentially that all conditioned states involve this dukha, experienced either as physical or psychological pain or as the various concomitants of attachment to conditioned states that result from the five skandhas making up the fiction of a "real self." These concomitants include all human insecurities and anxieties, which are present even during states of happiness." (BR 28)
This first Truth is regarded as an effect of the second Truth, ignorance.
2. IGNORANCE: "...the Truth of the source of suffering. This is thirst or craving for sensual pleasure, for coming to be, and for ceasing to be." (BR 24) This 'thirst' is usually called 'ignorance' (see BR 28), and is explained as 'selflessness.' (see BR 69: "Early Buddhism had ascribed to all conditioned dharmas" -- n.b. above 'all conditioned states' -- "suffering, impermanence, and no-self (anatman)."
In its causal sense, 'ignorance of the selflessness of all conditioned states' -- including especially the human 'self' or Vedic/Upanishadic 'soul' (atman) -- is described as the fundamental of the "...propelling forces of the cycle of existence, in which karmic retribution determines where on the wheel (of life, i.e. in this world, called samsara, traditionally divided into six realms, iconographically represented as being held in the clutches of the demon death, or impermanence, meaning, again, ignorance or denial of the non-enduring quality of all conditioned states/things/"dharmas") each individual will be reborn." (BR 19) "The propelling forces are desire, hatred, and delusion (ignorance)." (BR 19). "The fortunate destinies reward good karma," and vice versa, etc. (BR 19)
Thus ignorance of the real nature of the self/soul propels, or causes action (karma).
"The idea of moral causality seems only in the 6th century B.C.E. to have ben disassociated from notions of the efficacy of ritual and ascetic acts." (BR 15)
3. CESSATION: (of 'suffering'), an effect of the fourth Truth. This is Buddhist nirvana, or enlightenment. In early Buddhism, prevailing (presently) scholarship maintains that enlightenment was aimed at individuals, according to the above data, and being thus restricted in scope, was later referred to as the "Lesser Vehicle" (Hinayana). It is important, however, to note that the teachings of this system are better thought of as merely prescriptive for an individual, rather than being substantively different in content. That is, the later Mahayana merely refocuses the same teachings. (see BAH 72 ff; 195; 216-217)
Enlightenment (cessation):
"Later doctrine elaborates the idea of the 'silence of the saints' and holds that nirvana is indescribable; but nowhere does the early Canon say that the content of the Enlightenment is nonintellectual or that it is inexpressible." It is, first, "the realization in trance of the specific destinies of all living beings and of the general principles governing these destinies," second, "perception of living beings everywhere dying and being reborn," the third "...is a philosophical theory (Greek theoria, a 'seeing a vision, a contemplation.') It is presented not as the fruits of speculation but as a direct perception..." (BR 13)
See: extended description of enlightenment/cessation, BR 28-30:
"The frequent charge of Buddhism is pessimistic because it declares life to be suffering is inaccurate." (BR 28)
"The Third Truth affirms that there is a happy state free from suffering. When craving ceases, suffering ceases. (BR 29)
"In the earliest Indian thought, being was the solid, reified state of things, and nonbeing was their subtle, unmanifested state. ...being came to mean that which endures as against that which changes, the ground or essence in contrast to its modifications. The Buddha is reported to have denied the two-widespread extremes of eternalism and annihilation, saying that the Enlightened One, seeing how the world arises, rejects the idea of its nonbeing, and seeing how it perishes, rejects the idea of its being. The Middle Path that avoids these extremes is "dependent co-arising"...The formulation of the twelve preconditions is the usual elaborations of this principle. (See BR 16-18)..." (BR 29)
"The term exist has been used here in two senses: (1) to occur at one time after arising and before ceasing and (2) to exist at all times without beginning or end. The second sense is impossible given the Buddhist sense..." (BR 29; see BAH 201 ff)
"He returned to the world...to share these new values." (BR 36)
4. The PATH to cessation/enlightenment, the fourth Truth, a causal model.
The Eightfold Path is divided into three subjects, or trainings, or lit., "studies": wisdom, morality, and concentration (BR 27).
[1] Correct views and [2] intentions involve the study of wisdom, which is found in the Buddhist Sutras ("Gautama's words..., the primary source of the Dharma, (doctrine, teaching)" BR 38-9; "Wisdom here means clear understanding of the doctrine...BR 27; BAH 205), [3] correct speech, [4] action, and [5] livelihood involve the study and exercise of morality, which is found in the Discipline sections of the Buddhist Canon (BR 36-38), and [6] correct effort, [7] mindfulness/attentiveness, and [8] concentration involve the study of meditation and concentration, found in the Abhidharma section of the Buddhist Canon. ("Abhidharma literature defines and explains both materials presented in ordinary language in the other texts and the experiences generated in meditations on the dharmas." (BR 40)
"If a spiritual reality dwells in and suffuses this world, then worldly and secular activities...have inherent worth. But if the wordly and the spiritual realms are mutually exclusive, the profane things and activities have no intrinsic value...Buddhism preferred an enigmatic MiddleWay against the easy-to-understand, dead-end extremes of mere worldliness and mere other-worldliness." (BR 44)
"One novel feature of early Buddhist ethics is that it gives primacy to intention. Good and bad are not quasiphysical as in Jainism but are assigned to a distinct moral dimension. Unintentional deeds have merely common-sense consequences, not karmic ones. (BR 15) Hence the formulation describing what constitutes karmic action: basis, intention, function, result.
"...individual identity. One's identity (i.e. one's sense of' 'self') is morally determined by the influence of karma..." (BR 15)
"What is striking about the...moral drama of creation is the central place human volition holds in it."..."The human person stands at the center of creation with the assurance that whatever destiny is suffered or enjoyed is fully merited. The image accounts for every turn of one's life experience. (BR 20)
Thus, the ten wrong deeds (karma), propelled by ignorance (these are of course the opposites of the ten RIGHT deeds, contained in the Eightfold Path, BR 27).