What is the first noble truth?

 There is no relief or relaxation when we are in the samsaric world; there is always some kind of struggle going on. Even when we are supposedly enjoying life, there is still struggle and all kinds of discomfort. We may try to solve that problem by going out to restaurants or the cinema, or by enjoying our friends; nonetheless, nothing really helps. That is what is called the first noble truth, the truth of suffering. Seemingly we are trapped without hope or any way out. And once we are in that situation, we are always in that situation: we are in pain all the time…the more we understand our state of being, the more we will understand why we are in pain. What we find is that the more into ourselves we are, the more we suffer, and the less into ourselves we are, the less we suffer…the reality is that we are all trapped in samsaric neurosis, everybody, without exception. It is best that you work with reality rather than with ideals. That is a good place to begin.

—Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche