Now, the Four Noble Truths can be stated in the following terms:
- To be person (sakkaya) = suffering
- Person is dependently arisen
- Cessation of personal existence = cessation of suffering
- There is the way leading to the cessation of the person.
My question is: what is a direct relation between this knowledge and the social problems? Because, unlike you I don’t perceive any such direct relationships.
For the most part, Dhamma deals with the ethics on individual level, which is connected with question: “what should I do”. It is quite different problem than question: “what should be done, to mentain society in more or less helthy state?”
In fact, there are Suttss which deal with that question, but the Four Noble Truths offer the escape from suffering “merely” for this rare individuals, who are intelligent enough to understand them.
Even 5 precepts you do not keep in order to build better society, but on the first place in order to avoid unnecessary personal suffering usually associated with breaking precepts.
Of course society will be in better state if most of its member kept moral precepts, but it is rather “side effect” of practicing Dhamma on individual level.
Dhamma is for wise, not unwise. By practicing Dhamma properly you can realize your own immortality now and here. While on the level of society, even if one is able to improve something, such improvement is temporal and will not last forever.
Also, by arrival at right view, one immediately improves the state of society. Yes, that improvement may not be perceived by the society, but that is a different story.