After living so many scripted years, Prince Siddhartha left his home and family to become a wanderer in search of "enlightenment" (Mitchell 10). .
One night Siddhartha sat down beneath a tree, refusing to move until he could find a way to "end the suffering." It was there, underneath a tree, that he became "enlightened," becoming the Buddha, or "enlightened one" (Mitchell 10). Buddha realized that life's suffering is caused by one's attempt to hold on to things that are impermanent. He saw that nothing in the universe is constant and the only way to relieve the suffering from loss is to eliminate one's desires (easier said than done). Buddha began to preach his "Dharma," or teachings, to others and over time, his principles became the ethical foundations for which later religions were based on. .
When the mind is balanced and fully present, it is open to new understanding, or insight. The Buddha taught that it is this insight into the nature of life that brings the greatest freedom. Again and again in his lifetime, when asked to summarize his teaching, the Buddha described what he called the Four Noble Truths. All the Buddha's teachings are contained within these truths, and these truths are common to all Buddhist traditions.
The First Noble Truth states "suffering is an integral part of normal life". Life as we know it always has its share of disagreeable experiences -- sickness, physical pain, and distress are obvious examples. The world at large is full of suffering, from hunger and war to injustice and environmental destruction. Moreover, agreeable experiences are few and far between. We suffer from the deaths of those we love or for the loss of an intimate companion, and we know that our own death can come at any moment. As human beings we are always vulnerable amid the uncertainties of life, and no manipulation of our outer situation can protect us completely from the possibility of sorrow.
