ABSTRACT
This chapter compares two important empirical approaches to human suffering. One is more typical of Eastern culture, the other is more typical of Western. The Buddha's attitude is viewed as an example of an approach to suffering that grew out of empirical research. The First Noble Truth is the simple acknowledgment 'diagnosis' that suffering is an inevitable part of existence: There is suffering. The Second Noble Truth-there is a cause of suffering-unveils that cause. It involves three phenomena that are called the 'three poisons' in Buddhism. They are greed, aversion and delusion. The Third Noble Truth offers a 'prognosis', namely that liberation or inner freedom from suffering is possible. The Fourth Noble Truth prescribes the Eightfold Path, the reatment, as a way to liberation from suffering. This is a path of practice and self-inquiry that everyone can follow. The Eightfold Path involves cultivating insight, ethics such as right speech, right action and right livelihood and meditation.
