THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

The Four Noble Truths are the real heart of the teaching of the buddha.  The buddha's first discourse,  delivered to the five ascetics at the Deer Park, near Banaras,  was the
Dhammachakkappavattana Sutta,  which had as its subject the Four Noble
Truths and the Middle Way.  In the formula of the Four Nouble Truths:-that is,

i)      the truth of suffering,

ii)     the truth of the cause of suffering,

iii)    the truth of the cessation of suffering, and

iv)     the truth of the path

- we have a summary of the teaching of the Buddha in theory and in practice

One of the fundamental formulas evolved by practioners of the science of medicine in ancient India was the fourfold scheme of disease,  diagnosis,  cure,
and treatment. If you considered carefully these four stages in the practice of the science of medicine it will be apparent that they correspond very closely to the formula of the  Four Noble Truth :

1)   the truth of suffering clearly corresponds to the first element of disease;

2)   the truth of the cause just as clearly corresponds to the element of diagnosis;

3)   the truth of cessation corresponds to the achievment of a cure;  and

4)   the truth of the path just as clearly corresponds to the cause of treatment of the disease