The First Noble Truth

The First Noble Truth is "All things are suffering." Life is suffering. The word in Sanskrit is duḥkha. Sometimes it is translated as unsatisfactory." Situations in this world and our lives are not what we want them to be. There's almost always a gap between what we want and what is. As much as we cannot accept that gap, we suffer.

Our inability to accept life as it is and our desire for things to be different create suffering in our lives. Out of that gap grow all the coping mechanisms that we individually create to try to heal the pain or disappointment. We lose ourselves in a dream because we're hoping that it will take away that fundamental pain

By Zen Master Bon Soeng