After his enlightenment the Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths, which became the foundation for all Buddhist practice. The first truth diagnoses the nature of our existential illnesses and neuroses. The second explores their causes and conditions for arising. The third shows that the causes of our problems can be removed and that we can be free from suffering. The fourth includes the many paths of practice that Buddhism offers to realize that goal. The Buddha has shown that the spiritual path is pragmatic and works directly with everyday experience in order to fundamentally transform the practitioner.

The Four Noble Truths, Ven. Lobsang Gyatso, Snow Lion Publications, 1994, 96 Pages, $12.95

Ven. Lobsang Gyatso (1928 - 1997) was born in a small village in eastern Tibet. He became a monk at age eleven and later traveled to central Tibet to study at Drepung Monastic University. Fleeing Tibet in 1959, he went on to found the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala, India. He was murdered at his residence there.