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The teaching of The Four Noble Truths is common to all schools of Buddhism and it looks directly at the way things are.
From edited talks given by Venerable Sumedho Bhikku (Ajahn Sumedo)
THE FIRST NOBLE TRUTH
The First Noble Truth is the simple fact that we experience dissatisfaction, or discontent, or suffering, or sorrow. This suffering, referred to as dukkha in the Pali language, is something we can see directly. There's no one who hasn't recognised some kind of disappointment, dis-ease, discontent, doubt, fear, or despair at some time in their life. The First Noble Truth means that things are always incomplete or imperfect, even when you get everything that you want. Suffering doesn't necessarily mean that your mother doesn't love you and everybody hates you and you're poor and misunderstood and exploited. You can be loved by everybody, have wonderful parents, be blessed with beauty, wealth and all the opportunities that any human being could possibly experience in life. And still you will be discontented. Still you will have this feeling that something is incomplete, something is not yet finished, something is unsatisfactory.
No matter how much wealth, position, privilege, and opportunity you might have in your life, there is still this sense of doubt, of despair. There is still the aging process of the body; there is still the body's sickness and death. And the metaphysical questions persist: Why am I born? What happens when I die? What is death? These are the questions that we can't answer: Why was I born? What happens when I die? Will I go to heaven or hell, or will I just be wiped out? Do I have a soul that goes on? Will I be reincarnated as an ant or toad? We all want to know what happens when we die. We might be afraid to find out, but the question still haunts us.
The First Noble Truth points to the common human problem of suffering. We have the suffering of having to separate from what we love; having to be with what we don't like; wanting to get something we don't have; and just enduring natural changes of our body getting old, getting sick, and dying. These are common human conditions that we can reflect on. So the teaching says "There is the Noble Truth of suffering (dukkha)." In this, the Buddha pointed to something that can be realised by all of us right now. It's not a matter of believing in suffering, it's the direct penetration of suffering - your own misery, your own pain, fears and worries.
Is there anyone who has never suffered in any way? This direct experience of suffering is what is meant by the way of realisation. You start on the path by realising what you can realise. You're not trying to realise nirvana at first, or the Deathless; you're not taking a philosophical position, or a metaphysical position. If you were to take a position, you would tend to see everything through a bias. For example, if you believe in God, then you see God in everything, but if you don't believe in God, then you can't see God in anything. Whatever position you take, it always biases your view, and you tend to interpret your experiences through that bias. But the Buddha's way is pointing to something that can be easily recognised in our own lives, rather than giving us a position from which to view everything.
Some of us have unfortunate circumstances to deal with, maybe a difficult family situation. In this case, we have an object we can point to and say, "I'm unhappy because of that person. If that person weren't here, I'd be alright." We might think that if we got rid of everything that made us unhappy, we'd be happy. But it still wouldn't be right. Most people interested in Buddhism as a religion these days have a certain amount of privilege. They've had a good education, opportunities for wealth and travel, and so forth. But even though they've had comforts, sensual delights, and opportunities, they are still discontented.
First, dukkha has to be realised, made real in our mind; in other words, it has to be made a fully conscious experience. You're in this very limited condition, an earthbound body. A body is subject to pain, to pleasure, to heat, and cold; it gets old and the senses fade; it has illnesses, and then it dies. And we all know this, that death is waiting there for all of us. Death is here. It's something that people don't like to consciously reflect on or recognise - but it's something that can happen at any moment.
As long as we don't know the cycles of birth and death, as long as we don't understand ourselves, as long as we are heedless and selfish, we're going to suffer. When we start suffering enough we suddenly ask, "Why am I suffering?" That's when we suddenly awaken.
The First Noble Truth is not a doctrine; it's a pointer. It's not saying everything is miserable, sorrowful, and disgusting; it's not a negating kind of teaching. It does not say that everything is suffering; but it says (in the Buddha's words) that "There is suffering." And this suffering is here within our experience. We are not trying to blame our suffering on something outside. It's not because of my wife or husband; it's not because of my mother and father; it's not because of the government or the world. We're looking at that very suffering within the mind, the suffering that we create ourselves.
PRACTICE..
Sometimes, people see meditation as something that's just going to add another responsibility to take on in an already busy, active life. But instead of looking at it as an added task, you can take a different attitude. As long as you think of meditation as something you have to do, it becomes another duty added to your burden, it becomes something you should be doing, but that you don't have time for because you are so overworked already. If you just change the attitude, you can decide that meditation is as important as getting rest at night, or having something to eat during the day. In fact, meditation is the most important thing in the long run, even though at times it can seem like the least important. It's important because it allows you an opportunity to have a rest from all the burdensome duties and responsibilities you have. It allows you to let go of things, to take time out during the day to just stop and watch yourself. It helps you to observe the obsessions you might be feeling - all the energies and emotions, the restlessness, the doubts, and the worries - rather than be absorbed in them. Meditation helps you to stop following these mental conditions and to begin noticing them. It allows you to let them be as they are, to let them go. When this happens, meditation becomes something you look forward to, like a good meal. It's something you really enjoy doing because it gives you a chance to break the compulsive cycles in which you can get caught up in your daily life.