When you get down to the four noble truths — and that’s the third knowledge of the Buddha’s awakening — “beings” and “worlds” disappear. These truths are expressed just in terms of suffering and the acts of the mind that lead to suffering.
"This is what the Buddha’s awakening knowledge is. It’s a solvent, a universal solvent that can dissolve all the worlds, all the universes, all the stories we’ve been involved in. When you get down to the four noble truths — and that’s the third knowledge of the Buddha’s awakening — “beings” and “worlds” disappear. These truths are expressed just in terms of suffering and the acts of the mind that lead to suffering — in other words, the things that you experience directly inside that nobody else can experience. Each of us has to experience these things on our own: the suffering, the actions inside that lead to suffering, and also the qualities we can develop that can take us beyond suffering. There are no stories there. When you’re really with the breath, there’s no story there. You might make a little story about how, “Last night, I meditated really well. I stayed with the breath.” But if you were to give a really detailed story of your meditation, well, the breath came in. Then