This is the teaching that Shakyamuni preached in his first sermon after attaining buddhahood.

The first of the Four Noble Truths is the Truth of Suffering, which instructs us to realize that human existence entails suffering and to face the true nature and condition of suffering, without seeking to flee or hide from it.

The second is the Truth of Cause, which teaches us to investigate suffering’s real cause and recognize it clearly.

The third is the Truth of Extinction. It tells us that if we eliminate ignorance and defilement, the fundamental causes of suffering, then suffering itself will inevitably be extinguished.

The last of the Four Noble Truths is the Truth of the Path, which assures us that the way to the Truth of Extinction lies in practicing eight ways of thinking and behaving rightly and the six practices (Six Paramitas).