The Buddha began his most central teaching, the Four Noble Truths, not with a claim about our true nature, but with the plain truth that pain, loss, dissatisfaction, and disappointment are part of what we get in this human life. Famously called “the great physician,” the Buddha’s formulation of the problem of suffering and his proposed solution takes the form of a medical diagnosis and prescription, in four parts: the symptom, a cause for the symptom, a potential end to the symptom, and a method to get to that end. The Four Noble Truths
~ Sean Oakes