Four Noble Truths

One of the most important teachings of the Buddha, and one of the most often cited, is that "Life Is Suffering." This is the first of what are described as the Four Noble Truths. However, most people tend to focus on that one and not bother with the other three. Whenever something unpleasant happens to them, they just say "life is suffering," and go on their way. What was designed as the opening to a series of statements about how to live happily has become, ironically, an excuse to remain in misery. The exchange goes something like this:

A: "I'm miserable."
B: "Why don't you do something to change that?"
A: "Because life is suffering, so even if I did do something about my current situation, something else would just come along to make me unhappy. In fact, it might even make me more unhappy than I am now. No, I might as well just stay where I am and save my energy."

The thing I don't understand about that is, for what are they saving their energy? To suffer more later?

( Find out more about the other three... )