“O brothers, this is the Noble Truth of Suffering. Birth is suffering; old age is suffering; illness is suffering; death is suffering; meeting people one hates is suffering; parting from people one loves is suffering; failing to get what one wants is suffering. In other words, all five aggregates of the body and mind, which have attachments to things and to people, and of the environment are suffering. This is the Noble Truth of Suffering.

“O brothers, this is the Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering. Craving – for sensual pleasure, continued existence, and annihilation; for happiness in all places, accompanied by joy and covetousness – which leads to rebirth, is the basic cause and reason for suffering. And this is the Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering.

“O brothers, this is the Noble Truth of the Extinction of Suffering. The Noble Truth of the Extinction of Suffering is the total elimination of craving, abandoning it entirely, being liberated from it, and no longer having any attachments.

“O brothers, this is the Noble Truth of the Path to the Extinction of Suffering. The Eightfold Noble Path – right view, right thinking, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right memory, and right meditation – is the Noble Truth of the Path to the Extinction of Suffering.” (Page 33-34)