The Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths were arranged by Siddhartha Gautama as the substructure of all of his teachings. Although, many Buddhist have many differences in the way they practice Buddhism, Siddhartha's teachings are honored and respected by all. For many Buddhist, the main goal in their current life time is to be freed from the cycle of rebirth "The Samsaric cycle" and reach Enlightenment.1 Rebirth can be explained as the renewal or renewed existence of one's soul. Buddhist believes that people do not possess a soul or have a "permanent self." It is believed, that who we are at any given time is made up of the five skandhas. These five skandhas include; Physical factors, feelings, perceptions, volitions and awareness of consciousness. As long as these "forces are held together, a distinct separate being exists." These skandhas forces are held together with Karma, and are the law of action that keeps one from dissipation. Karma is powered by desire and desire is what gives karma its power. The Buddhist believe in order to break the Samsaric cycle, one must reach Enlightenment. .
The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold path is the path to follow to help rid the body and mind of desire and reach the state of nirvana. The first noble truth is "life is all suffering," this can be defined that life and rebirth is ultimately unsatisfactory and is all suffering. In Buddhist terms this noble truth translates into Dukkah. Dukkah is most commonly translated into suffering, and suffering is by each person individually, and does not really mean physical suffering. Suffering in this case can mean emotional or physical suffering and more to the fact that no human is ever satisfied in their life. Humans may enjoy good times and satisfying relationships but as a whole the good times never last, relationships will all come to an end, and the sense of unhappiness is felt throughout life.
