Siddharta Gautama abandoned his family at the age of twenty-nine to search for a way to bring to an end suffering in the world. He studied meditation with many teachers. At the age of thirty-five, Siddharta Gautama sat down beneath the shade of a tree to meditate, and stayed under it until he received enlightenment seven weeks later. He received the Great Enlightenment: the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Path. From this day on he was known as the Buddha. In "The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching", Thich Nhat Hanh provided a quote from the Buddha: "I teach only suffering and the transformation of suffering." When we acknowledge our own suffering, the Buddha, the Buddha within us, will look at it, learn what has caused it, and advise a combination of actions that can change it into tranquility, happiness, and liberation. Suffering is the means by which the Buddha liberated himself and as he taught, it is also the way through which we can uncover freedom. (Thich Nhat Hanh 3) The teachings of the Buddha revolve around the "Four Noble Truths". The Four Noble Truths represent the roots of the Buddha's teaching and form the basis of Buddhism. In history, it is said that Lord Buddha Shakyamuni lectured on these noble truths during his first public speech after his enlightenment.
The First Noble Truth states "Life is Dukkha". Dukkha is said to be the natural and collective way of human beings. The word Dukkha is often translated in English into "suffering". So in other words Dukkha means that suffering exists in our everyday life. Life is about suffering. Its about learning how to tolerate physical suffering like illness, injury, fatigue, aging, death and psychological suffering such as solitude, disappointment, fear, humiliation, frustration, rage, etc. We are subject to constant change and ambiguity. This is why; in his view, it is better to disassociate oneself with pleasure, because it is unsatisfactory and causes our pain.
