The Cessation of Craving as the Path to Liberation: an Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path

Buddhist philosophy identifies tanhā (craving) as the root of suffering, moral decline, and existential instability. This article argues that the cessation of craving (tanhā-nirodha), a core Buddhist soteriological goal, extends beyond monastic practice into modern ethics, psychology, and social issues. Drawing on the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, and integrating moral psychology, contemplative science, and cognitive neuroscience, the authors contend that craving is not merely an individual problem but is deeply embedded in socio-cultural structures. The article proposes that the Eightfold Path systematically deconstructs dissatisfaction through ethical change, cognitive restructuring, and attention retraining, and applies this framework to contemporary concerns like digital addiction, consumptive desire, environmental degradation, and polarized identity politics.

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Abstract

Abstract In the Buddhist conceptualization of tanhā (a form of craving), it is seen as the main reason for suffering, the undermining of morals, and instability in existence. The goal of tanhā-nirodha (the cessation of craving) is Buddhist soteriology, but the goal is not limited to monastic practices and touches on many aspects of modern ethics, psychology, and social issues. In this paper, tanhā and the cessation of suffering will be examined jointly and inter-disciplined through the Buddhist philosophical tools of the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, integrating moral psychology, contemplative science, and cognitive neuroscience. The paper examines deeply-rooted craving in the socio-cultural system through the unconditioned process of perception, appraisal, affective reactivity, and cognitive bias, and identity construction. The study aims to identify craving as not simply an individual issue, but as a deeply interlaced issue in both the social and cultural structures as well as the individual. This article attempts to show how the Eightfold Path works systematically to deconstruct the dissatisfaction in life through ethical change, cognitive restructuring, and attention retraining, using Pāli canonical sources and contemporary empirical studies of attention. emotion regulation, reinforcement learning, and behavioral conditioning. The article further explores how Buddhist dissatisfaction relates to contemporary global concerns such as digital addiction, consumptive desire, environmental degradation and, polarized identity politics. The article seeks to enhance the field of Buddhist studies in the modern world by offering a detailed and complex system for the cessation of desire, to show the relevance of Buddhist wisdom in contemporary life. Keywords: craving; tanhā; cessation; Four Noble Truths; Eightfold Path; Buddhist ethics; moral psychology; cognitive science; mindfulness.