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 the breath came out. Then the breath came in again. Then went out again. Then it came in again; went out again. You adjusted it, then it came in again. Not much of a story. But when you get to nibbana, there are no stories at all; no suffering at all.

So the Buddha’s knowledge is a solvent for all the stories and all the suffering that we’ve been creating for ourselves and with other people. Now, other people may continue to want to create suffering, but you can’t say, “Well, I’m going to put my practice aside for their sake,” because they’re just going to keep on wanting to create suffering. You can’t keep on playing their games. There comes a point when you have to say, “Enough.”"

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Buddha’s Universal Solvent"