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What is suffering, desire, impermanence and the eightfold path in Buddhism?

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In Buddhism, what are 'suffer and self', 'desire', and impermanence? What is the eightfold path?

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Solution Summary

The solution discusses suffering, desire impermanence and the eightfold path in Buddhism.

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Buddhism is derived from Gautama and his "middle way." The "middle way" is actually a summary label derived from the rest of Gautama's work. That understanding, perhaps consistent with its practices, is ordered in terms of how one becomes aware of them. In order:

1) Suffering & Self: all creatures suffer, but all creatures suffer due to attachment, to themselves or to other things.
2) Desire: the source of this attachment is desire, or wanting; it keeps people in an endless cycle of "getting that new thing" or "getting the next fix," whatever material possession they think meets that desire. This is pretty interesting, because in a round-about way, Buddhism therefore claims that even what we think are "needs" are essentially desires. All that one needs, one already has.
3) Impermanence: the reason this desire for attachment ...

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