| thumb | Buddha Turning the Wheel of Dharma for the first time
The Four Holy Truths (Skt. catvāryāryasatyā; Tib. འཕགས་པའི་བདེན་པ་བཞི་, pakpé denpa shyi, Wyl. 'phags pa'i bden pa bzhi) or the Four Realities of the Aryas, were taught by Buddha Shakyamuni as the central theme of the so-called Three turnings | first turning of the wheel of the Dharma after his attainment of enlightenment. They are:
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In his Clear Words commentary, Chandrakirti says: :Therefore, since it is true only for the noble ones, it is called the truth of the noble ones.<ref>Tib. དེའི་ཕྱིར་འཕགས་པ་རྣམས་ཁོ་ན་ལ་དེ་བདེན་པའི་ཕྱིར་འཕགས་པའི་བདེན་པ་ </ref>
In his General Topics commentary on the Abhisamayalankara, Patrul Rinpoche explains: :The Compendium on Determinations<ref>The second section of the Yogacarabhumi | Yogacharabhumi</ref>says:
:What is the meaning of “truth”? It has the characteristic of not being in discord with the teachings, :And when seen it becomes the cause for complete purity. That is the meaning of “truth”.
The meaning of the first line refers to the object, that is, exactly as the Tathagata has taught [objects] to be impermanent and so on, that is how they are. The latter refers to the subject, that is, when [objects] are seen exactly as they are, an unmistaken mind is produced. That is the meaning of the term “truth” by itself. <br /> As for the meaning of “the truths of the noble ones”, since the noble ones see the truths exactly as the truths are, both their mind and the object [perceived] are true. Therefore they are [the truths] of the noble ones. <br /> For childish beings, although in reality things are “true”, since their minds do not realize this [reality], it is not presented as truth.
The four truths can be divided into two pairs of cause and effect, known as the cause and effect of 'thorough affliction' or samsara, and the cause and effect of 'complete purification' or nirvana.
We find the classical presentation of these four truths embedded in no fewer than seven individual works in the Kangyur<ref>Dharmachakra Translation Committee,
, Introduction</ref>:
, Introduction
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