FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS. All strands of the Buddhist tradition recognize in the four noble truths (Skt., catvāry āryasatyānī; Pali, cattāri ariyasaccāni) one of the earliest formulations of the salvific insight gained by the Buddha on the occasion of his enlightenment. For the Theravāda tradition, the discourse on the four truths constitutes part of the first sermon of the Buddha, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, delivered in the Deer Park near Banaras to his five original disciples. The standard formulaic enumeration of the four truths as found in this discourse is as follows:

This, monks, is the noble truth of dukkha ["suffering"]: birth is dukkha, old age is dukkha, disease is dukkha, dying is dukkha, association with what is not dear is dukkha, separation from what is dear is dukkha, not getting that which is wished for is dukkha; in brief, the...