Dharma:

The Four Noble Truths:

Buddha's earliest teachings include the Four Noble Truths. The first truth is that of dukkha, that life is filled with suffering. The second truth states the cause of suffering as our self centered desires and attachments. The third truth states that there is a state of no desire and no suffering called nirvana. The fourth truth is the eight-fold path, which shows us the way to end suffering.

Explanation of Dukkha

The Eight-fold Path:

The eight-fold path includes right wisdom (right understanding, right intentions), right morality (right speech, right action, right livlihood), and right meditation (right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration). The five precepts of the Buddhist life are part of the moral aspects of the path. These include no killing, no lying, no stealing, no illicit sexual acts, and no use of intoxicants.

Buddhist texts:

Within several hundred years after the Buddha died, his teachings were collected in the earliest written texts of Buddhism: the Tripitaka, or "three baskets". It is called this because there were three different kinds of teachings: the discipline for monks and nuns is called vinaya, the discourses of the Buddha are called sutras, the more abstract metaphysical teachings, called Abhidhamma make up the third part of the collection. These earliest writings were composed in the Pali language. There are many other Buddhist writings, among them a short collection of the sayings of the Buddha known as the Dhammapada.

Metaphysical Teachings:

Buddhist teachings include the principle of anicca, that everything in this world is impermanent. This also includes the notion of anatta, that even the soul or self is impermanent. We are a composite of our parts (skandhas), no more and no less. When one who has achieved the highest enlightenment (as the Buddha did) dies, this person will enter nirvana, thus ceasing not only desire and suffering but also one's own personal existence – being "blown out" like a candle flame. Until then, Buddhism teaches, we will be reborn. As with other Indian based religions, Buddhism does accept the premise of karma and reincarnation.

Explaining Anicca