FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS – part 3, Nirodha

Nirodha/Metsu 滅 – “cessation”

The Third Noble Truth is the most succinct. It can be summed up in a very simple statement, that is; “the cause of Duḥkha can be stopped”.

In the Pali Nikayas, the Buddha said;

“The remainderless fading away and cessation of that very craving, the abandoning of it, the relinquishing of it, the release from it, non-attachment to it.”
Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56.11)

So, more technically we can describe Nirodha as not only the cessation of duḥkha but also cessation of taṇhā (craving), and of attachment (upādāna), which leads to the cessation of becoming, of birth, old age, sickness, and death. Most importantly, we can describe nirodha as the cessation of ignorance, and the reversal of the chain of dependent origination.

Nirodha stems from the root word ‘rudh’, meaning ‘to obstruct, block, stop’. The prefix ‘ni’ means ‘completely’. ‘Nirodha’ is can then be translated as ‘completely stop’. The connotations of this word is the complete cessation of our ignorance, our attachments, our desires, and freedom from samsara. Thus, we can link nirodha directly with Nirvāṇa and say that nirodha isn’t necessarily the ‘end’ of something, but a release, or freedom. For this reason, nirodha is not nihilism.

Nirvāṇa is the cessation (nirodha) of or the freedom from craving, ignorance, karmic becoming, etc. Nirvāṇa is not nihilism or annihilation because it is unconditioned, not subject to birth or death. To put it another way, what ceases are defilements and conditioned processes, not existence itself.