"I teach suffering, its origin, cessation and path. The Four Noble Truths contain the essence of the Buddha's teachings. ... It was these four principles that the Buddha came to understand during his meditation under the bodhi tree.
The Four Noble Truths are a contingency plan for dealing with the suffering humanity faces -- suffering of a physical kind, or of a mental nature. The First Truth identifies the presence of suffering. The Second Truth, on the other hand, seeks to determine the cause of suffering.
