The everyday world we live in is complex, often allowing joy and fulfillment along with pain and suffering. We as human beings can't help to ask the question why. Why do so many people get sick and die? Why are there natural disasters that destroy entire cities? Why do people have to work so hard just to have enough money to barely feed their families? In the Hindu and Buddhist teachings we learn that to live is to suffer. It is a key aspect in the balance of the universe.
             The four principles or truths of Buddhism are: The truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the way to the end of suffering. Speaking metaphorically, we have a disease, we know how we caught it, we know there is a cure and the treatment is tried and true.
             1. Existence is suffering. Whether we are talking about the acute pain of a wound or the chronic pain of toothache; about the death or loss of a parent or the abandonment by a lover; the passing of youth or the loss of income, there is no question that to live is to suffer.
             2. Suffering is due to desire: We know why we suffer. We constantly crave, or thirst for something, or we desire some satisfaction. Our very physiological systems are based on homeostasis, which is the constant readjustment to achieve ideal levels or balance.
             3. There is a way to put an end to suffering: The Buddha and others have managed to achieve nirvana, the absolute end to this continual round of misery.
             4. The way to accomplish the end of suffering is through moderation: The Eight-fold Path consists of right views or understanding, right thoughts, right speech, right deeds in action and in livelihood, and right effort, right concentration, and mindfulness including right meditation. It emphasizes moderation and the pursuit of virtue in all things.
             Right action includes five precepts:
             2. Not taking what is not given, ie. stealing
             4. Not behavi...