| 苦集灭道 | kǔ jí miè dào | the Four Noble Truths (Budd.), namely: all life is suffering 苦, the cause of suffering is desire 集, emancipation comes only by eliminating passions 灭, the way 道 to emancipation is the Eight-fold Noble Way 八正道 / also called 四谛 | 
| 苦 | kǔ | bitter / hardship / pain / to suffer / to bring suffering to / painstakingly | 
| 集 | jí | to gather / to collect / collected works / classifier for sections of a TV series etc: episode | 
| 灭 | miè | to extinguish or put out / to go out (of a fire etc) / to exterminate or wipe out / to drown | 
| 道 | dào | road; path (CL:条,股) / (bound form) way; reason; principle / (bound form) a skill; an art; a specialization / (Daoism) the Way; the Dao / to say (introducing a direct quotation, as in a novel) / (bound form) to express; to extend (polite words) / classifier for long thin things (rivers, cracks, shadows etc), barriers (walls, doors etc), questions (in an exam etc), commands, courses in a meal, steps in a process / (old) circuit (administrative division) |