whatness
will no longer arise again. This can
be accomplished by following
the eightfold path, restraining oneself, cultivating discipline, and practicing mindfulness and meditation.
The Four [Noble] Truths
One of the most edifying and demystifying teachings I have received about these truths is that they are not noble in the sense that we generally ascribe nobility to, say, royalty. They are noble in the sense that understanding them leads to gracious behaviour.
The Four Truths are among the many Buddhist doctrines described as being the essence of Buddha's teachings ~ I mean, people say that if we only understand the teachings about the four truths, we understand Buddhism and are on the Path, but they say this about other doctrines as well ... a quandary that remains unresolved in my poor little struggling heart-mind.
The Four Truths (unlike other essence-teachings, such as emptiness, compassion and bodhicitta), does actually also happen to contain mention of a path:
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the truth of suffering
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the truth of the origins of suffering
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the truth of the cessation of suffering
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the truth of the path of cessation
In case the above presentation is not sufficiently cumbersome and ineloquent, try this paragraph I lifted from Wikipedia:
The Four Noble Truths refer to and express the basic orientation of Buddhism in a short expression: we crave and cling
to impermanent states and things, which aredukkha, "incapable of satisfying" and painful. This craving keeps us caught in samsara, the endless cycle of repeated rebirth and dying again, and the dukkha that comes with it. There is, however,
a way to end this cycle, namely by attainingnirvana, cessation of craving, whereafter rebirth and associated dukkha