Truth exposed: The Four Noble Truths have often been misunderstood as a pessimistic message. But the opposite is true. The main message of The Buddha in giving these Truths is that suffering, or ‘dukkha’, can be overcome, and that there is a way to that freedom.

When Shakyamuni Buddha realized that the unenlightened did not know that their normal state was suffering compared to nirvana, why that is even so, or that there is a complete cure and how it works, he gave his teaching on the Four Noble Truths. They are:

• the truths of suffering
• the cause of suffering
• the cessation of suffering
• the path to the cessation of suffering

While the first two noble truths deal with the diagnosis and cause of dukkha, the third noble truth is Nirvana, the means of freedom from dukkha, and the fourth is how to attain it.

“The Door to Nirvana is open.” ~The Buddha

In a series of lectures given in 1977 in England, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama spoke on the Buddha’s teachings on suffering and its cure. He said, “One must recognize the illness of suffering before one can attempt the cure. Recognizing the cause, one realizes that there is a cure. And then one can aspire to gain freedom from suffering.”

At one point during questions and answers on The Four Noble Truths, The Dalai Lama giggled over the Western interest in finding the “quickest, cheapest, and most efficient” way to enlightenment.

The video, below, is part one of four in that series of lectures. For better quality I recommend getting the video in DVD format.