For Theravada Buddhists the Four Noble Truths are of central impoartance.
For Mahayana Buddhists the Four Noble Truths are not so central but not without importance. Importantly Sunyatta is a much more important teaching. In Mahayana, Sunyata refers to the idea that “all things are empty of intrinsic existence and nature”. For example, there is no “plantness” behind your experience of a plant, it is just a temporary amalgam of things coming together: likewise, there is no inherent nature to any of us, no “selves” (or souls) exist. Early Mahayna writings called the perfection of Wisdom literature were summed up in the Heart Sutra. It say that "There is no suffering, no cause of suffering, no end to suffering, no path to follow. There is no attainment of wisdom, and no wisdom to attain. The Bodhisattvas rely on the Perfection of Wisdom, and so with no delusions, they feel no fear, and have Nirvana here and now" Mahayana understand the four Noble truths as not gon far enough. Sunyatta means that that no thing, including human existence, has ultimate substantiality, which in turn means that no thing is permanent and no thing is totally independent of everything else. In other words, everything in this world is interconnected and in constant flux. A deep appreciation of this idea of emptiness thus saves us from the suffering caused by our egos, our attachments, and our resistance to change and loss. Thus Dukkha is not as Theravada claim based on physical Suffering, or being troubled by impermanance but on the deeper ideas that even the parts or skhandas are themselves empty.
The Buddha’s awakening is extremely relevant to modern day Buddhists because it is the foundation upon which the whole religion is built.
The first reason to support this is that the Buddha’s awakening shows Buddhists a way that they too can reach enlightenment. Reaching enlightenment is the ultimate goal for a Buddhists as they attempt to find a way to escape from the cycle of samsara that Buddhists believe they are trapped in and end their suffering. The Buddha himself left home on a journey to seek enlightenment for this reason. This is a strong line of reasoning because ultimately enlightenment is the main goal for all Buddhists and therefore learning how the Buddha reached enlightenment must be significant.
Secondly, the Buddha’s awakening is important for modern day Buddhists because the Buddha is one of the three refuges. The three refuges are the three main sources of comfort for a Buddhist who is attempting to navigate their way through life’s sufferings and also includes the Buddha dharma and the sangha. Therefore learning more about any aspect of the life of the Buddha is going to be significant for a Buddhist. This is a strong argument because the 3 refuges are often known as the 3 jewels of Buddhism which shows their fundamental value to all Buddhists.
On the other hand it could be claimed that the story of the Buddha’s awakening is not significant to all Buddhists because for some schools of Buddhism e.g. Theravada Buddhists, enlightenment is not the immediate goal. Theravada Buddhists believe that only monks and nuns can reach enlightenment in this lifetime, and so for the average lay Buddhist the immediate goal is to focus on living an ethical life and therefore achieving good karma and having a good rebirth. However, this is a weak argument because even for Theravada Buddhists enlightenment is still the ultimate goal even if they are not working directly towards it in this lifetime.
Another claim against my thesis would be that the story of the Buddha’s awakening cannot be all that significant because there are so many historical and logical inconsistencies in the Buddha’s story. For example it is unrealistic to believe that an educated young man in his twenties would have no experience of suffering whatsoever and so the story of the four sights, which provided a catalyst for the Buddha’s journey to enlightenment, is unrealistic. However, this is a weak argument because most academics would argue that the Buddha’s life story is not meant to be understood literally, and instead should be interpreted as a hagiography, meaning that the literal truth of the story is less important than the meaning behind it. Therefore, the meaning of the story of the Buddha’s awakening is more important than the historical truth.
In conclusion, the Buddha’s awakening is extremely relevant to modern day Buddhists because it is the foundation upon which the whole religion is built. Without the Buddha embarking upon his journey for enlightenment, and ultimately achieving this goal there wouldn’t be a religion at all.
The 3rd noble truth is Nirodha, it is the teaching that the cessation from Dukkha is possible in by doing so one will ultimately achieve Nibbana which is the most important object of following the Buddhist path. This truth can be said to be the most important because the possibility to end one’s suffering and to become enlightened is what can be said to provide the inspiration for one to embark upon the Arhat Path. However one can also say that the 4th noble truth is the most important because it provides us with the 8 fold path which are the necessary steps one must undergo in order to achieve enlightenment, therefore the 4th noble truth is more practical therefore more important. It can also be said that 1st Noble truth is the most important because it is the initial diagnosis which leads to the further investigation into the problem of Dukkha and that once one has truly comprehended the concept of Dukkha will he be able to embark on the Buddhist path, the 2nd noble truth can be said to be important because it goes in depth as to what are the root causes of Dukkha. In conclusion none of the 4NT are more important that the other because the 4NT are interdependent on each other so as to provided a coherent path which eventually will lead to the attainment of Nibbana.