Since first entering the monastery, we have studied the Four Noble Truths (Suffering, the Cause of Suffering, the Cessation of Suffering, and the Path), but our initial understanding is often shallow and naive. The practice of study and contemplation must help us to deepen our understanding day by day; we should never affirm that we have fully understood the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Five Faculties, the Five Powers, the Seven Factors of Awakening, or the Three Jewels, because the more we study, the broader and deeper the teachings become. Recognizing our own suffering through direct experience helps us to transform; we do not see suffering as a pessimistic indoctrination, but as a noble truth that brings about the capacity to grow and to elevate the mind of loving kindness and wisdom.

To be relevant to the 21st century, the first truth (the Noble Truth of Suffering) needs to be presented based on the real suffering of people today, for example:

• tension and stress in body and mind due to deadlines, busyness, and lack of relaxation
• deadlock in communication within the family, the sangha, and the workplace
• more than 12,000 young people commit suicide each year in France, with many phenomena of collective suicide
• storms in Myanmar causing over 100,000 deaths, and the Sichuan earthquake causing more than 30,000 deaths
• the greenhouse effect, global warming, and climate change are creating collective suffering

Each person needs to establish their own list of the Noble Truth of Suffering through direct experience, then share and supplement it within the sangha in order to move on to the Truth of the Cause of Suffering, the Truth of the Cessation of Suffering, and the Truth of the Path in a practical and scientific way.