Editing Four Noble Truths (section)

===Mahayana===
The four truths are less prominent in the Mahayana traditions, which emphasize insight into [[Śūnyatā]] and the [[bodhisattva|Bodhisattva path]] as a central elements in their teachings.{{sfn|Carter|1987|pp=3179–3180}} If the sutras in general are studied at all, it is through various Mahayana commentaries.{{sfn|Williams|1989|p=103}}

According to Makransky the Mahayana Bodhisattva ideal created tensions in the explanation of the four truths.{{sfn|Makransky|1997|p=345}} In the Mahayana view, a fully enlightened Buddha does not leave ''samsara'', but remains in the world out of compassion for all sentient beings.{{sfn|Makransky|1997|p=346}} The four truths, which aim at ending ''samsara'', do not provide a doctrinal basis for this view, and had to be reinterpreted.{{sfn|Makransky|1997|p=346}} In the old view, ''[[Kleshas (Buddhism)|klesas]]'' and ''karma'' are the cause of prolonged existence. According to Makransky, "[t]o remove those causes was, at physical death, to extinguish one's conditioned existence, hence to end forever one's participation in the world (Third Truth)."{{sfn|Makransky|1997|p=346}} According to Makransky, the question of how a liberated being can still be "pervasively operative in this world" has been "a seminal source of ongoing doctrinal tension over Buddhahood throughout the history of the Mahayana in India and Tibet."{{sfn|Makransky|1997|pp=346–347}}

====Tibetan Buddhism====
[[Atisha]], in his ''[[Bodhipathapradīpa]]'' ("A Lamp for the Path to Awakening"), which forms the basis for the [[Lamrim]] tradition, discerns three levels of motivation for Buddhist practitioners.{{sfn|Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche|1996|p=17}} At the beginning level of motivation, one strives toward a better life in ''samsara''.{{sfn|Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche|1996|p=17}} At the intermediate level, one strives to a liberation from existence in samsara and the end of all suffering.{{sfn|Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche|1996|pp=17, 66–67}} At the highest level of motivation, one strives after the liberation  of all living beings.{{sfn|Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche|1996|p=17}} In his commentary on the text, Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche explains that the four truths are to be meditated upon as a means of practice for the intermediate level.{{sfn|Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche|1996|pp=66–67}}

According to [[Tashi Tsering (Jamyang Buddhist Centre)|Geshe Tashi Tsering]], within [[Tibetan Buddhism]], the four noble truths are studied as part of the Bodhisattva path. They are explained in Mahayana commentaries such as the ''[[Abhisamayalamkara]]'', a summary of and commentary on the [[Prajna Paramita]] sutras, where they form part of the lower [[Hinayana]] teachings. The truth of the path (the fourth truth) is traditionally presented according to a progressive formula of [[Five Paths|five paths]], rather than as the eightfold path presented in Theravada.{{sfn|Geshe Tashi Tsering|2005|loc=loc. 2187–2190}} According to Tsering, the study of the four truths is combined with the study of the [[sixteen characteristics]] of the four noble truths.{{sfn|Geshe Tashi Tsering|2005|loc=loc. 741–743}}

Some contemporary Tibetan Buddhist teachers have provided commentary on the ''Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta'' and the noble eightfold path when presenting the dharma to Western students.{{sfn|Geshe Tashi Tsering|2005|loc=loc. 241}}{{sfn|Ringu Tulku|2005|pp=36–54}}{{sfn|Lama Surya Das|1997}}

The truths are used extensively within [[Sowa Rigpa (Traditional Tibetan medicine)|Sowa Rigpa]] (traditional Tibetan medicine) theory.{{source?|date=September 2024}}

====Nichiren Buddhism====
[[Nichiren Buddhism]] is based on the teaching of the Japanese priest and teacher [[Nichiren]], who believed that the [[Lotus Sūtra]] contained the essence of all of Gautama Buddha's teachings.<ref group=web>{{Cite web |title=Nichiren Shu Buddhist Temple of UK Newsletter |date=September–October 2008 |website=Nichiren Shu UK |url=http://www.nichiren-shu.org.uk/septoctnewsletter.html |access-date=30 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031180446/http://www.nichiren-shu.org.uk/septoctnewsletter.html |archive-date=31 October 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The third chapter of the Lotus Sutra states that the Four Noble Truths was the early teaching of the Buddha, while the Dharma of the Lotus is the "most wonderful, unsurpassed great Dharma".<ref group=web >{{Cite web |url=http://www.sokahumanism.com/nichiren-buddhism/Four_Noble_Truths_and_the_Lotus_Sutra.html |title=Quote from Watson (1993), The Lotus Sutra |access-date=2 April 2011 |archive-date=3 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103150647/http://www.sokahumanism.com/nichiren-buddhism/Four_Noble_Truths_and_the_Lotus_Sutra.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The teachings on the four noble truths are a provisional teaching, which Shakyamuni Buddha taught according to the people's capacity, while the Lotus Sutra is a direct statement of Shakyamuni's own enlightenment.<ref group=web name=nletter2>[http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=1039&m=3&q=four%20noble%20truths%20for%20voice-hearers Four Noble truths for Voice Hearers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101041513/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=1039&m=3&q=four%20noble%20truths%20for%20voice-hearers |date=1 November 2013 }}, see "Background" section</ref>