[aspinswramymn]

"Now this, monks, is the Noble Truth of dukkha: Birth is dukkha, aging is dukkha, death is dukkha; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, & despair are dukkha; association with the unbeloved is dukkha; separation from the loved is dukkha; not getting what is wanted is dukkha. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are dukkha."

— SN 56.11

hi

it is important to examine the structure of words & theory with logic & appropriate intelligence

for example, the 4NTs teach the cause of suffering is desire for sensual pleasures, desire to be & desire not to be. these desires do not cause aging, illness & death, for example, nor do they cause birth, unless one overtly desires to have children. but this desire does not cause one's own birth

the very logic that your personal desire is not the cause of your personal life shows the 1st noble truth is not related to 'life' being suffering because the cause of the 1st noble truth is the 2nd noble truth

***

further, what does the phrase 'five clinging-aggregates' mean? the body is an aggregate. can it cling? painful feeling is an aggregate? can it cling? what exactly is clinging? obviously clinging is when you are in love with a man or woman and they leave you and you cry out: "Please do not go, I love you, you are mine!"

***

so the actually teaching is, as chanted in the monasteries by monks who are in training: "In short, clinging to the five aggregates is dukkha". Or "the five aggregates clung to is dukkha".

***

That being the case, if desire is not the cause of physical birth, sickness, aging & death, how are these things related to suffering?

The answer is these are events that are commonly involved with suffering, but it is the clinging to these events that generates suffering.

Example:

"I cannot handle life at the moment; why was I born; I wish i was not born".

"When I gave birth to my child, that was the most pain & suffering I ever experienced in my life".

"I was just diagnosed with a sickness; I am getting old; I might die; I am so scared; I will miss my loved ones. I feel so scared & depressed. Why is life so cruel to me? I do not want to die. I am too young to be sick & die."

***

if we can realise the reality of the examples above, then with ordinary comprehension & logic, we understand the Buddha taught:

"In short, clinging to the five aggregates is dukkha". "In short" means this is the entire teaching about suffering.

Birth, aging, illness, death, separation, association, etc, are only suffering when there is clinging to these natural & inevitable events.

Why was I born, I am sick, I am getting old, I am going to die, my loved one died, I am so sad, I am in pain, I am separated from what I love, I am associated with what I do not love, I want something and I cannot get it.

All of this dukkha. i.e., the unease, burden, unrest, spinning & torment of the mind, is the grasping, clinging & attachment itself.

Good luck