A good touchstone for testing one’s understanding of Gotama’s teaching is a phrase that occurs in the earliest Pāli texts:
“All I teach & all I’ve ever taught is
suffering & the end of suffering.”1
pubbe cāhaṃ bhikkhave etarahi ca
dukkhañceva paññāpemi dukkhassa ca nirodhaṃ
By asking how our understanding of any teaching relates to the nature & ending of dukkha—suffering & stress—we can measure the depth of our success in study & practice. This depth combines both a felt sense & a confidence in describing it in words, especially as it relates to a specific situation. We can also measure our modesty about our success; Gotama advises us to avoid comparing ourselves to others, & to avoid the tendency to either think too much or too little.