ABSTRACT
Dukkha, Atman, Reincarnation, Karma; these formed the conceptual framework in the Buddha's world, the framework within which he formulated his doctrine.
The Buddha began his teaching with four foundation principles. These are of such importance that they have come down to us as the Four Noble Truths (Rahula, 1974).1 They are the roots ofBuddhism. Virtually everything that follows in the succeeding years-the Buddha's sermons, books written through the centuries, commentaries on earlier writings--can be regarded as flowering from these Four Noble Truths. We will present these here in outline, with an expanded description in the next few chapters.
