Around the fifth century BCE

Early Buddhism — Suffering, its cause, cessation, and a path

What changes if suffering is read not as a pessimistic verdict on all life but as a diagnosis with causes and a possible cessation?

Early Buddhist tradition Early discourses on the Four Noble Truths

Evidence-backed account

The Four Noble Truths distinguish dukkha, its arising centered on craving, its cessation, and a path leading toward cessation.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

Mind in Indian Buddhist Philosophy
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Locator: §1 Early Buddhist conceptions of mind; Four Noble Truths and dependent arising
Open source

Reducing the teaching to “life is only suffering” misses its therapeutic structure, which allows pleasant experience while analyzing the conditioned arising and cessation of dukkha.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

Mind in Indian Buddhist Philosophy
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Locator: §1–§2, dukkha, impermanence, craving, and liberation
Open source

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