The Four Noble Truths, the foundation of all Buddhist thought, describe the beginning and end of suffering, as well as the process of ending it. The Buddha's thesis of emptiness (Sunyata) states that our world is not real. Our lives are a realistic dream; furthermore, we only assume that our environment and experiences are real. Moreover, we cannot wake up from this dream until we realize that reality is an illusion. At this point, we can then “end our attachment, our discernment, our perception, our conception and enter the realm of emptiness (nirvana)” (Liu 210). Buddhist denial of our perception of the world is based on a "dogmatic belief that only enlightened beings (Buddhas) know the Truth, and that the Truth is simply not what we, as sentient beings, come to know." to be believed to be true through our sense perception and belief. » (Liu 211). The Four Noble Truths are: (1) The Truth of Suffering, (2) The Truth of the origin of suffering, (3) The Truth of the cessation of suffering, and (4) The Truth of suffering. the path that leads to the cessation of suffering. The Truth of Suffering teaches that life inevitably involves suffering. “Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering, sorrow and lamentation is suffering; association with what is not loved is suffering, dissociation from what is loved is suffering, not getting what one wants is suffering - in short, the five aggregates affected by “attachment is suffering” (Dhammacakka-ppavattana-sutta). The Truth about the Origin of Suffering teaches that suffering is caused by desire and rooted in ignorance. “It is the craving which produces renewal to be accompanied by delight and lust, and to savor this and that; in other words, desire for sensual desires, desire to be......middle of paper......possibility. However, his third argument contradicts this teaching of the Buddha. Chuang Tzu's third argument states that "when we are awake, we can also dream" (Liu 161). Furthermore, Chuang Tzu's final teaching regarding dreams states that "we can never be sure of our judgment that we are awake" or dreaming (Liu 161). If Chuang Tzu is indeed correct in his teachings, how then can Buddha be certain that our reality is a dream? Could it not also be true that our reality is real? Couldn't flying freely like a butterfly or living in a state of nirvana be a dream? Buddha would argue that neither what I perceive as real nor the butterfly are real. My ignorant desire for a sense of self creates a delusional fantasy in which I am real. Perhaps he is right; however, if that is the case, then I would need proof that I, Chris, am not real. If Chris isn't real, then who wrote this article ??