The subject of this thesis is：「" The Research of Four Noble Truths - based on Abhidharma Philosophy of Earlier Scholastic Buddhism "。What are the「Four Noble Truths」？As Abhidharma-sajgīti-paryāya-pāda says, “The truths are that （1）all existence entails suffering;（2）suffering is caused by ignorance, which gives rise to desire and illusion;（3）there is an end to suffering, and this state of no suffering is so called Nirvana and （4）the way to end suffering. The fundamental doctrines of Buddhism, such as the Three Dharma Seals, the Eightfold Noble Path, the Thirty-seven Aspects of Enlightenment and the Dependent Co-arising the twelve nidanas can be all included in these Four Noble Truths. Needless to say, they play very important roles in the main concept of Buddhism. There is a huge amount of Buddhism sutras. Abhidharma is the scripture that systematically abstract those sutras. It is worthwhile to make a research of how the Abhidharma masters explain the Four Noble Truths. Hence, the scope of this thesis is to research on the theoretical system of earlier Vaibhaa.sika and its philosophical thinking of the Four Nobel Truths. As far as the historical development of Buddhism is concerned, Abhidharma of earlier Scholastic Buddhism inherit and expand the theories of the early Buddhism. It is thus so important to have a true understanding about the early Buddhism while we are making research on Scholastic Buddhism. To neglect the early age of philosophical development will definitely lead to the incompleteness of the research result. In order not to make this mistake, I will compare the texts of the《Sajyuktāgama》and 《Madhyamāgama》 in Chinese。. With the expectation of organizing the sophisticated theories, I would like to present the characteristics of the early Buddhism and earlier Vaibhaa.sika’s thoughts about the Four Noble Truths in a logical and systematical way.
