The Four Noble Truths

The first noble truth is ‘suffering’ or ‘Dukkha’. On Buddha’s first adventure out of his palace he witnessed three main types of common suffering, old age, sickness and death. According to Buddha suffering goes much deeper than those three examples. He says that life is not ideal and constantly fails to live up to our expectations. Humans are full of desires, when you satisfy these desires the pleasure only lasts a small amount of time. When we are not suffering from illness or obvious suffering, we feel unfulfilled. Buddha teaches this as the truth about what it is to suffer.
The second noble truth is ‘the origins of suffering’ or ‘Samudāya’. In day-to-day life we experience minor examples of suffering. Buddha claims to have found the genuine
The first noble truth is important because the Buddhists need to know what suffering is to know they want to be rid of it. If they know what it is, they will know what they want in life. The second noble truth is valuable to a Buddhist because if they know what causes suffering, they will know what to remove from their lives. This is valuable to them because it leads them to what Buddha teaches about how to remove all physical and material desire from your life. The third noble truth is very important to Buddhists because it is how they remove all desire. Without this step they would never reach nirvana. Nirvana is the act of extinguishing the three fires of greed, delusion and hatred. To do this you need to remove desire of material things. The fourth noble truth is the most important in a Buddhists life. This is the given path to Nirvana. The eightfold path is taught by Buddha for his followers to use to reach Nirvana. Nirvana is a Buddhist’s life goal – therefore the path to the goal is of utmost
Buddhists know life as ‘Samsara’, a perpetual wandering. The prime goal in a Buddhists life is to break ‘Samsara’ to reach Nirvana. Nirvana is a very misunderstood term in the world. It is thought of as the Heaven of Buddhists. This is very wrong; it is a state of mind. Buddha reached Nirvana during his enlightenment. He describes it as the ultimate goal of a Buddhist. He chose to teach his followers how to reach Nirvana, so they too could experience this amazing state of mind. So when he died, forty-five years later, he experienced pari-nirvana. This means completed nirvana. Nirvana means unbinding, it is the freedom from whatever binds you are holds you back. It is the removal of desire, jealousy and ignorance. Once these traits have been totally overcome you reach a state of bliss. All karmic debts are settled. You would then be at peace and will no longer have the need to be born again. This word literally means: to extinguish. Buddhists live simple day to day lives. They do not value expensive and material things. They live with what is essential and live to please Buddha. They do not own lots of material items due to suffering. Suffering comes from desires and attachment. If there is little to be attached to, then nirvana will be easier to achieve. In daily life it is very good for a Buddhist to meditate. This can be as little as 15-30 minutes. Although this needs to be slotted into a Buddhist’s daily time schedule.