They are clear and useful and nonparochial. Truth is truth. Mind-tangles and suffering are universal, and the desire for happiness and the end of suffering is also universal. The principal map of the Buddha used for teaching about the journey to happiness is called the Four Noble Truths. Life is difficult.
Life is mysterious.
Regardless of our planning, it is essentially unpredictable. I had somehow managed to keep hidden from myself the tenuous balance in which our happiness hangs from moment to moment. I had grown up and I had done all the things meant to guarantee happiness. Somehow, I never thought about how vulnerable it all was, and so I had never thought about any questions of ultimate significance. They were six and seven years old, and they were sisters.