The four noble truths are the truths of
dukkha—suffering and stress—its origination, its cessation, and the path to its cessation. The framework of these noble truths derives from the fact that there are two kinds of desires, unskillful—the forms of craving leading to suffering—and skillful, the forms of desire that give guidance to the path in the form of right resolve and right effort. Skillful desires find expression in terms of appropriate attention (right view) and intention (the practices of right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration). Of these factors, the Buddha gave prominence to right view. Unlike the first and second knowledges—which were expressed in terms of becoming, i.e., beings and worlds—right view on the level of the third knowledge dropped those terms, regarding experience in terms of events immediately present to awareness.
“Now this, monks, is the noble truth of stress: Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are stressful; association with the unbeloved is stressful, separation from the loved is stressful, not getting what is wanted is stressful. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are stressful.
“And this, monks, is the noble truth of the origination of stress: the craving that makes for further-becoming—accompanied by passion & delight, relishing now here & now there—i.e., craving for sensuality, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming.
“And this, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of stress: the remainderless fading & cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, & letting go of that very craving.
“And this, monks, is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress: precisely this noble eightfold path—right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.” —
SN 56:11