User:Dorje108/Dukkha

Dukkha (Pāli; Sanskrit: ; Tibetan phonetic: dukngal) is a Buddhist term commonly translated as "suffering", "stress", "anxiety", or "dissatisfaction". It refers to "a basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all existence, all forms of life, due to the fact that all forms of life are changing, impermanent and without any inner core or substance." The term indicates a lack of satisfaction, a sense that things never measure up to our expectations or standards. Dukkha is identified as the first of the Four Noble Truths.

Overview
Dukkha is identified as the first of the Four Noble Truths. The Pali term dukkha (Sanskrit: duhkha) is typically translated as "suffering", but the term dukkha has a much broader meaning than the typical use of the word "suffering". Dukkha suggests a basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all forms of life, due to the fact that all forms of life are impermanent and constantly changing. Dukkha indicates a lack of satisfaction, a sense that things never measure up to our expectations or standards.

The emphasis on dukkha is not intended to be pessimistic, but rather to identify the nature of dukkha, in order that dukkha things may be overcome. The Buddha acknowledged that there is both happiness and sorrow in the world, but he taught that even when we have some kind of happiness, it is not permanent; it is subject to change. And due to this unstable, impermanent nature of all things, everything we experience is said to have the quality of duh­kha or unsatisfactoriness. Therefore unless we can gain insight into that truth, and understand what is really able to give us happiness, and what is unable to provide happiness, the experience of dissatisfac­tion will persist.

Traleg Kyabgon explains:
 * Normally we think our happiness is contingent upon external circumstances and situations, rather than upon our own inner atti­tude toward things, or toward life in general. The Buddha was saying that dissatisfaction is part of life, even if we are seeking happiness and even if we manage to find temporary happiness. The very fact that it is temporary means that sooner or later the happiness is going to pass. So the Buddha said that unless we understand this and see how pervasive dissatisfaction or duhkha is, it is impossible for us to start looking for real happiness.

Etymology
Rupert Gethin explains:
 * Rich in meaning and nuance, the word duḥkha is one of the basic terms of Buddhist and other Indian religious discourse. Literally ‘pain’ or ‘anguish’, in its religious and philosophical contexts duḥkha is, however, suggestive of an underlying sense of ‘unsatisfactoriness’ or ‘unease’ that must ultimately mar even our experience of happiness.

Although dukkha is often translated as "suffering", its philosophical meaning is more analogous to "disquietude" as in the condition of being disturbed. Thus in English-language Buddhist literature dukkha is often left untranslated, so as to encompass its full range of meaning.

Jeffrey Po emphasizes that "suffering" is too narrow a translation with "negative emotional connotations" (Jeffrey Po), which can give the impression that the Buddhist view is one of pessimism. But, as another source notes, Buddhism is neither pessimistic nor optimistic, but realistic.

According to grammatical tradition, dukkha is derived from ' "uneasy", but according to Monier-Williams more likely a Prakritized form of ' "unsteady, disquieted" )

Sargeant, ''et. al''. (2009: p. 303) explains the historical roots of duḥkha and its antonym sukha: "It is perhaps amusing to note the etymology of the words sukha (pleasure, comfort, bliss) and duḥkha (misery, unhappiness, pain). The ancient Aryans who brought the Sanskrit language to India were a nomadic, horse- and cattle-breeding people who travelled in horse- or ox-drawn vehicles. Su and dus are prefixes indicating good or bad. The word kha, in later Sanskrit meaning 'sky,' 'ether,' or 'space,' was originally the word for 'hole,' particularly an axle hole of one of the Aryan's vehicles. Thus sukha … meant, originally, 'having a good axle hole,' while duhkha meant 'having a poor axle hole,' leading to discomfort."

Sanskrit prefix 'su' is used as an emphasis suggesting wholesome, high, evolved, desirable, strong and such. 

Dukkha was translated as kǔ (苦 "bitterness; hardship; suffering; pain") in Chinese Buddhism, and this loanword is pronounced ku (苦) in Japanese Buddhism and ko (苦) in Korean Buddhism, and khổ in Vietnamese Buddhism. The Tibetan (phonetic) is dukngal. In Shan, it is and in Burmese, it is.

Neither pessimistic nor optimistic
The concept of dukkha, and in particular the translation of "suffering", has frequently been interpreted in the West as pessimistic.

Jeffrey Po:
 * English dictionaries tend to define "pessimism" as "a tendency towards misfortune and gloom". Such a description surely does not fit the Buddhist context as nowhere can one find such tendencies in any of the teachings and philosophies of this way of life.


 * The notion that Buddhism is a pessimistic way of life came about because of the misrepresentation of the pali word "dukkha". [...] The term "dukkha" had originally been translated by Westerners to mean any one or even a combination of "suffering", "pain", "sorrow", "misery", "unhappiness" - all with negative emotional connotations. It was a sad misgiving because "dukkha" actually conveys deeper philosophical inferences. Today, the tendency to view "dukkha" as being in a "state of unsatisfactoriness" is favored. One need not have to travel far to realize the many "states of unsatisfactoriness". Just peek into oneself and one's surroundings - anxieties, tensions, stresses, disquietness, apprehensions, fears, dreads, dismays, and trepidations. In "dukkha" one recognizes that life and the process of living is really a struggle for existence. This struggle represents man's constant effort to satisfy his endless material wants. It means the never-ending fight to live, eat and breathe. "Dukkha" therefore needs to be looked from those perspectives. It is therefore a realistic perspective that relates to the meaning of life and living. Hence, the realization and understanding of "dukkha" is in fact a positive value to be greatly appreciated.

Zasep Tulku Rinpoche: "When I say a Buddhist is not optimistic, I mean the Buddhist view of life is not optimistic. Some people think that everything is so beautiful like a rainbow. Everything is so wonderful. This is not realistic. They think everything is wonderful and so they are not really careful. Some people say that if you are an optimist all the good things come to you. Maybe it will happen to you if you are lucky, if you have good karma. But that doesn’t mean that you don’t have to be careful about your practice. You need to practice mindfulness carefully. Some people use that view in order to be careless and not take responsibility. [...] Let us say there is a cobra snake in the house. It is no use saying ‘dear snake you are so beautiful pleas go away’ thinking that the snake will go away. That is like being like a little child. It’s too naïve and unrealistic to say ‘go away your so beautiful’ and then he will walk away. Being like that is too naïve and unrealistic. [...]

Yet at the same time we can’t be pessimistic. Some people believe the world is going to end anytime in the year 2000 in the middle of the night. They think everything will collapse and everything is bad. Some people get so depressed the way the world is going now. They are too pessimistic. Buddhism is not like that because everything is part of or operates under cause and effect. There is good and bad, right and wrong. Good and bad is all interdependent. So Buddhism is not pessimistic. So what we do is realistic.

For example in the Buddhist teaching when we talk about suffering we talk about the four noble truths. Some people say Buddhism is always pessimistic because it is always talking about suffering. I remember one lady asked me a question. She said, ‘If everything is suffering what is the point of practicing dharma? That’s is precisely why we practice the dharma. That’s the point. Some people think just thinking about or considering suffering is pessimistic. But when the Buddha taught the four noble truths he first talked about suffering and the cause of suffering. It is not because he was pessimistic. He was being realistic. He was saying this is how it is. This is what is happening. Look! If you want to have cessation, happiness, freedom then you must look for the cause and you need a path. You have to see suffering otherwise you have no motivation to look for a path. Don’t be naïve be realistic. Look! There is suffering, physically. Old age is happening. Sickness is around us. Death is happening all the time. So that’s what I mean when I say Buddhism is realistic."

Thanissaro Bhikkhu: "You've probably heard the rumor that "Life is suffering" is Buddhism's first principle, the Buddha's first noble truth. It's a rumor with good credentials, spread by well-respected academics and Dharma teachers alike, but a rumor nonetheless. The truth about the noble truths is far more interesting. The Buddha taught four truths — not one — about life: There is suffering, there is a cause for suffering, there is an end of suffering, and there is a path of practice that puts an end to suffering. These truths, taken as a whole, are far from pessimistic. They're a practical, problem-solving approach — the way a doctor approaches an illness, or a mechanic a faulty engine. You identify a problem and look for its cause. You then put an end to the problem by eliminating the cause."

Cynthia Thatcher: "Although the first Noble Truth has been called pessimistic, Buddhist scholars have pointed out that Buddhism is neither pessimistic nor optimistic, but realistic. It presents things just as they are, neither better nor worse. We might add that the Buddhist outlook is one of tremendous hope, since a solution to the problem of dukkha is given in the fourth Noble Truth, a solution which amounts to a guarantee. That solution is the eight-fold path."

Walpola Rahula "The First Noble Truth (Dukkha-ariyasacca) is generally translated by almost all scholars as ‘The Noble Truth of Suffering’, and it is interpreted to mean that life according to Buddhism is nothing but suffering and pain. Both translation and interpretation are highly unsatisfactory and misleading. It is because of this limited, free and easy translation, and its superficial interpretation, that many people have been misled into regarding Buddhism as pessimistic.

First of all, Buddhism is neither pessimistic nor optimistic. If anything at all, it is realistic, for it takes a realistic view of life and of the world. It looks at things objectively (yathābhūtam). It does not falsely lull you into living in a fool’s paradise, nor does it frighten and agonize you with all kinds of imaginary fears and sins. It tells you exactly and objectively what you are and what the world around you is, and shows you the way to perfect freedom, peace, tranquillity and happiness.

One physician may gravely exaggerate an illness and give up hope altogether. Another may ignorantly declare that there is no illness and that no treatment is necessary, thus deceiving the patient with a false consolation. You may call the first one pessimistic and the second optimistic. Both are equally dangerous. But a third physician diagnoses the symptoms correctly, understands the cause and the nature of the illness, sees clearly that it can be cured, and courageously administers a course of treatment, thus saving his patient. The Buddha is like the last physician. He is the wise and scientific doctor for the ills of the world (Bhisakka or Bhaisajya-guru).

Rahula, Walpola; Demieville, Paul (2007-12-01). What the Buddha Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and Dhammapada (Kindle Locations 525-541). Grove Press. Kindle Edition. Free online version"

Joseph Goldstein: "Sometimes people feel that recognizing the truth of suffering conditions a pessimistic outlook on life, that somehow it is life-denying. Actually, it is quite the reverse. By denying what is true, for example, the truth of impermanence, we live in a world of illusion and enchantment. Then when circumstances change in ways we don’t like, we feel disappointed, angry, or bitter. The Buddha expressed the liberating power of seeing the unreliability of conditions: “All that is subject to arising is subject to cessation. Becoming disenchanted one becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion the mind is liberated.”

Goldstein, Joseph (2011-03-15). One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism (p. 150). Harper Collins, Inc.. Kindle Edition."

Rupert Gethin: "On the basis of its analysis of the problem of suffering, some have concluded that Buddhism must be judged a bleak, pessimistic and world-denying philosophy. From a Buddhist perspective, such a judgement may reflect a deep-seated refusal to accept the reality of duḥkha itself, and it certainly reflects a particular misunderstanding of the Buddha’s teaching. The Buddha taught four truths and, by his own standards, the cessation of suffering and the path leading to its cessation are as much true realities as suffering and its cause. The growth of early Buddhism must be understood in the context of the existence of a number of different ‘renouncer’ groups who shared the view that ‘suffering’ in some sense characterizes human experience, and that the quest for happiness is thus only to be fulfilled by fleeing the world.

Gethin, Rupert (1998-07-16). The Foundations of Buddhism (p. 62). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition."

Ajahn Sucitto: "It’s important, therefore, to understand that the Buddha’s teaching separates (1) the dukkha that we experience because of the way life apparently is, from (2) the dukkha that is created emotionally from not wanting things to be that way, or (3) the dukkha from assuming that we’re unalterably bound to a life of suffering. As the Buddha points out in his many discourses, things change, and change can be effected without the naïveté that assumes that solutions are going to be permanently satisfactory and without the pessimism that assumes that it’s all hopeless. The Buddha taught dukkha, but also the cessation of dukkha. The particulars of unpleasant circumstances can come to an end or be brought to an end, even if problems then surface in other areas. And the way of meeting conflict and problems can be compassionate, calm, and peaceful in itself. So accepting that life has its dark, problematic side needn’t be depressing. Most fruitfully, the kind of suffering that is the mental reaction to a situation, even on an instinctive plane, can be completely abolished. With the ending of that kind of suffering, the mind is clearer and wiser and more capable of effecting positive change in the world of ever-changing circumstances.

Sucitto, Ajahn (2010-09-14). Turning the Wheel of Truth: Commentary on the Buddha's First Teaching (p. 36). Shambhala Publications. Kindle Edition."

According to Surya Das, the message of the dharma is optimistic, but the view of life is neither optimistic nor pessimistic, but realistic. Lama Surya Das: "Buddha Dharma does not teach that everything is suffering. What Buddhism does say is that life, by its nature, is difficult, flawed, and imperfect. [...] That's the nature of life, and that's the First Noble Truth. From the Buddhist point of view, this is not a judgement of life's joys and sorrows; this is a simple, down-to-earth, matter-of-fact description."

Ringu Tulku: "It is sometimes said that Buddhism is a very pessimistic religion, since it constantly talks about suffering. But Buddhism does not aim a creating suffering or a pessimistic attitude. It talks about suffering in order to engender an optimistic outlook. It conveys the message, "Yes there is suffering, but it can be removed." In order to do so, we have to open our eyes. If we pretend that everything is all right, it will not be of much avail, especially when a problem arises that is so great that it can not be denied."

The early Western translators of Buddhist texts translated the Pali term dukkha as suffering and conveyed the impression that Buddhism was a pessimistic or world-denying philosophy. However, later translators such as Walpola Rahula (What Buddha Taught, 1974) have tried to correct this interpretation and emphasized that Buddhism has a positive message, but that it is grounded in reality.

Contemporary Buddhist teachers and translators emphasize that while the central message of Buddhism is optimistic, the Buddhist view of life (our situation in life, or the conditions that we live in) is neither pessimistic nor optimistic, but realistic.

Eight types of dukkha
The Buddhist teachings identify eight different types of dukkha or suffering:
 * Suffering of birth: the discomfort of birth and experiencing the world for the first time; and the discomfort of relating to new demands or experiences.


 * Suffering of old age: the discomfort involved in the process of aging and growing old; this can apply to psychological as well as physical discomfort of aging.


 * Suffering of sickness: the discomfort of physical or psychological illness.


 * Suffering of death: includes the pain of separation and not being able to continue on in your endeavors, as well as the physical discomfort of dying.


 * Suffering of getting what you don't want: being unable to avoid difficult or painful situations.


 * Suffering of not getting what you do want: this includes the pain of trying to hold onto what is desirable.


 * All-pervasive suffering: a very subtle dissatisfaction that exists all the time; it arises as a reaction to the qualities of conditioned things (e.g. the impermanence of things).

Three patterns of dukkha
The eight types of dukkha described above are also categorized into three patterns:
 * Dukkha-dukkha (suffering of suffering) - includes the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness, death, and coming across what is not desirable.


 * Viparinama-dukkha (suffering of change) - includes two categories: trying to hold onto what is desirable, and not getting what you want. (Buddhist author Chogyam Trungpa includes "not knowing what you want.")


 * Sankhara-dukkha (all-pervasive suffering) - is a subtle form of suffering arising as a reaction to qualities of conditioned things, including the skandhas, the factors constituting the human mind. (Also identified as one of the "eight types" of suffering".)

Three marks of existence
Dukkha is also listed among the three marks of existence. These are:
 * Impermanence (anicca)
 * Suffering (dukkha)
 * Not-self (anatta).

In this context, dukkha denotes the experience that all formations (sankhara) are impermanent (anicca) - thus it explains the qualities which make the mind as fluctuating and impermanent entities. It is therefore also a gateway to anatta, not-self.

Within Buddhist literature
Jeffrey Po:
 * Dukkha is an extremely important concept and is central to understanding Buddhism in its entirety. It appears in the first of the Four Noble Truths and as one of the Three Characteristics of Existence. References to "dukkha" as one of life's situations abound in many of the suttas delivered by Lord Buddha Himself as well as in numerous Buddhist philosophical and psychological thoughts.

The Four Noble Truths deal with the nature of "dukkha" in life, what is the cause of "dukkha", the cessation (cure) for "dukkha", and the techniques to bring about the cessation of "dukkha".

The first noble truth is presented within the Buddha's first discourse, Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dharma (Dharmacakra Pravartana Sūtra), as follows:


 * "This is the noble truth of dukkha: birth is dukkha, aging is dukkha, illness is dukkha, death is dukkha; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair are dukkha; union with what is displeasing is dukkha; separation from what is pleasing is dukkha; not to get what one wants is dukkha; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are dukkha."

Texts like the Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta and Anuradha Sutta, show Buddha as insisting that the truths about dukkha and the way to end dukkha are the only ones he is teaching as far as attaining the ultimate goal of nirvana is concerned.

The need to develop wisdom in order to understand dukkha
The Anapanasati Sutta and Maha-satipatthana Sutta indicate that a person first needs to practice meditation to purify the mind of the five hindrances to wisdom and the ability to "see things as they truly are" before contemplating the Four Noble Truths, which begin with the nature of "dukkha" in life. For someone who has not seen what it's like to be without dukkha, it is difficult to realize that life is "dukkha". Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" can be helpful in this regard.

In "Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond", Ajahn Brahm, the Founder of Jhana Grove Meditation Retreat states that without the preparation of the mind through Jhana it is not easy to develop deep insight into dukkha. He gives a simile that is, in a way, similar to Plato's "Allegory of the Cave":

Another simile, to emphasize the same point, is that of the man who was born and raised in a prison and who has never set foot outside. All he knows is prison life. He would have no conception of the freedom that is beyond his world. And he would not understand that prison is suffering. If anybody suggested that his world was dukkha, he would disagree, for prison is the limit of his experience. But one day he might find the escape tunnel dug long ago that leads beyond the prison walls to the unimaginable and expansive world of real freedom. Only when he has entered that tunnel and escaped from his prison does he realize how much suffering prison actually was, and the end of that suffering, escaping from jail is happiness.

In this simile the prison is the body, the high prison walls are the five senses, and the relentless demanding prison guard is one's own will, the doer. The tunnel dug long ago, through which one escapes, is called jhana ( as at AN IX, 42). Only when one has experienced jhana does one realize that the five -sense world, even at its best, is really a five-walled prison, some parts of it is a little more comfortable but still  a jail with everyone on death row! Only after deep jhana does one realize that "will" was the torturer, masquerading as freedom, but preventing one ever resting happily at peace. Only outside of prison can one gain the data that produces the deep insight that discovers the truth about dukkha.

In summary, without experience of jhana, one's knowledge of the world is too limited to fully understand dukkha, as required by the first noble truth, and proceed to enlightenment.

In Samyutta Nikaya #35, Buddha says: What ordinary folk call happiness, the enlightened ones call dukkha

Insofar as it is dynamic, ever-changing, uncontrollable and not finally satisfactory, unexamined life is itself precisely dukkha. The question which underlay the Buddha's quest was "in what may I place lasting relevance?" He did not deny that there are satisfactions in experience: the exercise of vipassana assumes that the meditator sees instances of happiness clearly. Pain is to be seen as pain, and pleasure as pleasure. It is denied that happiness dependent on conditions will be secure and lasting.

Relation to the five skandhas
In the early texts, the skandhas explain what suffering is. According to Noa Ronkin, "What emerges from the texts ... is a wider signification of the khandhas than merely the aggregates constituting the person. Sue Hamilton has provided a detailed study of the khandhas. Her conclusion is that the associating of the five khandhas as a whole with dukkha indicates that experience is a combination of a straightforward cognitive process together with the psychological orientation that colours it in terms of unsatisfactoriness. Experience is thus both cognitive and affective, and cannot be separated from perception. As one's perception changes, so one's experience is different: we each have our own particular cognitions, perceptions and volitional activities in our own particular way and degree, and our own way of responding to and interpreting our experience is our very experience. In harmony with this line of thought, Gethin observes that the khadhas are presented as five aspects of the nature of conditioned existence from the point of view of the experiencing subject; five aspects of one's experience. Hence each khandha represents 'a complex class of phenomena that is continuously arising and falling away in response to processes of consciousness based on the six spheres of sense. They thus become the five upādānakhandhas, encompassing both grasping and all that is grasped.'"

Non-Buddhist literature
In Hindu literature, the earliest Upaniads &mdash; the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and the Chandogya Upanishad &mdash; are believed to predate or coincide with the advent of Buddhism. In these texts' verses, the Sanskrit word dukha (translated below as "suffering" and "distress") occurs only twice. In the, it states (in English and Sanskrit):

In the is written:

Thus, as in Buddhism, in these sacred texts the eradication of dukha is a desired and promised outcome; here dukha serves as an antipode to the ultimate Brahmanic goal of immortality (). In addition, as in Buddhism, one overcomes dukha through the development of a transcendent understanding. Nonetheless, in these Brahmanic sacred texts, dukha is either identified as a general condition or as simply one of many undesirable states, not embodying the conceptual centrality assigned to it in Buddhism's Pali Canon.

Translations used for the term dukkha
Translations used for dukkha in the context of the four noble truths are:
 * Suffering (Thich Nhat Hanh, Ajahn Succito, Chogyam Trungpa, Rupert Gethin, many others)
 * Stress (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
 * Uneasiness (Chogyam Trungpa)
 * Unease (Gethin)
 * Unsatisfactoriness (Gethin)
 * A basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all existence (Bhikkhu Bodhi)
 * Anxiety - Trungpa (The Truth of Suffering, pp. 8–10)
 * Affliction - Brazier
 * Discontent
 * Unhappiness
 * Sorrow
 * Dissatisfaction
 * Discomfort
 * Anguish
 * Misery
 * Frustration