Noble Truth

"The Buddha's teaching starts with an assault upon the shame we feel about our suffering. He says that dukkha - imperfection, suffering - is real and we do not need to be ashamed of it. In fact, facing inevitable affliction is noble. A noble person is one who accepts the reality of adversity and is not investing energy either in avoiding the necessity to deal with it or in exacerbating it. The salvation of humankind will be found in the practice of a noble response to existential reality. That is enlightenment."

Taken from "The Feeling Buddha" by David Brazier