Dukkha (Pāli दुक्ख; Sanskrit दुःख duḥkha; according to grammatical tradition derived from dus-kha "uneasy", but according to Monier-Williams more likely a Prakritized form of dus-stha "unsteady, disquieted") is a central concept in Buddhism, the word roughly corresponding to a number of terms in English including suffering, pain, sorrow, affliction, anxiety, dissatisfaction, discomfort, anguish, stress, misery, and frustration. The term is probably derived from duḥstha, "standing badly," "unsteady," "uneasy." Pāli is a Middle Indo-Aryan dialect or prakrit. ... Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... Photo of Monier Monier-Williams by Lewis Carroll Sir Monier Monier-Williams (1819-1899) studied, documented and taught Asian languages in England, and compiled one of the most widely-used Sanskrit-English dictionaries. ... Prakrit (also spelt Pracrit) (Sanskrit: , original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual, i. ... Buddhism is a variety of teachings, sometimes described as a religion[1] or way of life that attempts to identify the causes of human suffering and offer various ways that are claimed to end, or ease suffering. ... Suffering, or pain in this sense,[1] is a basic affective experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with harm or threat of harm in an individual. ... Look up Pain in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Anxiety is a physiological state characterized by cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral components[1]. These components combine to create the feelings that we typically recognize as anger and known as fear, apprehension, or worry. ... Look up anguish in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In medical terms, stress is the disruption of homeostasis through physical or psychological stimuli. ... For other uses, see Misery (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

In classic Sanskrit, the term duḥkha was often compared to a large potter's wheel that would screech as it was spun around, and did not turn smoothly. The opposite of dukkha was the term sukha, which brought to mind a potter's wheel that turned smoothly and noiselessly. In other Buddhist-influenced cultures, similar imagery was used to describe dukkha. An example from China is the cart with one wheel that is slightly broken, so that the rider is jolted each time the wheel rolls over the broken spot. In Buddhist meditation, Sukha (, Sanskrit and Pāli for “happiness”) is a type of emotion and one of the factors of Jhāna (Sanskrit: Dhyāna;). It consists in a quiet happiness, while PÄ«ti (Sanskrit: PrÄ«ti) mentions a deep joy, rapture. ...

Although dukkha is often translated as "suffering", its philosophical meaning is more analgous to "disquietude" as in the condition of being disturbed. As such, "suffering" is too narrow a translation with "negative emotional connotations" (Jeffrey Po)^[1], which can give the impression that the Buddhist view is one of pessimism, but Buddhism is neither pessimistic nor optimistic, but realistic. Thus in English-language Buddhist literature dukkha is often left untranslated, so as to encompass its full range of meaning. ^{[2] [3] [4]}. In the Is the glass half empty or half full? phenomenon, the pessimistic approach would be to pick half empty. ...

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. In Tibetan it is སྡུག་བསྔལ་ sdug bsngal. Seated Buddha, from the Chinese Tang Dynasty, Hebei province, ca. ... A loanword (or loan word) is a word directly taken into one language from another with little or no translation. ... Japanese Buddhist priest c. ... The grounds of Koreas Buryeongsa Temple. ...

Dukkha is the focus of the Four Noble Truths, which state its nature, its cause, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation. This way is known as the Noble Eightfold Path. Ancient texts, like Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta and Anuradha Sutta, show Siddartha Gautama, the Buddha, as insisting that the truths about dukkha are the only ones he is teaching as far as attaining the ultimate goal of nirvana is concerned. The Four Noble Truths (Pali: Cattāri ariyasaccāni, Sanskrit: Catvāri āryasatyāni, Chinese: Sìshèngdì, Thai: อริยสัจสี่, Ariyasaj Sii) are one of the most fundamental Buddhist teachings. ... Eightfold Path redirects here. ... Siddhartha and Gautama redirect here. ... This article is about the Buddhist concept. ...

The Buddha discussed three kinds of dukkha.

• Dukkha-dukkha (pain of pain) is the obvious sufferings of :

1. pain
2. illness
3. old age
4. death
5. bereavement

• Viparinama-dukkha (pain of alteration) is suffering caused by change:

1. violated expectations
2. the failure of happy moments to last

• Sankhara-dukkha (pain of formation) is a subtle form of suffering inherent in the nature of conditioned things, including the

1. skandhas
2. the factors constituting the human mind

It 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, selflessness (no-self). Insofar as it is dynamic, ever-changing, uncontrollable and not finally satisfactory, experience is itself precisely dukkha.^[5] 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 such happiness will be secure and lasting.^[6] Look up Pain in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Illness (sometimes referred to as ill-health) can be defined as a state of poor health. ... Paul Kruger in his old age. ... For other uses, see Death (disambiguation). ... Sad redirects here; for the three letter acronym, see SAD. Suffering is any unwanted condition and the corresponding negative emotion. ... The skandhas (Sanskrit: Pāli: Khandha; literally: heap or bundle) are the five constituents or aggregates through which the functioning and experience of an individual is created according to Buddhist phenomenology. ... Impermanence (Sanskrit: anitya; Pali anicca; Tibetan: mi rtag pa; Chinese: 無常, wúcháng; Japanese: mujō) is one of the essential doctrines of Buddhism. ... In Buddhist philosophy, anatta (Pāli) or anātman (Sanskrit) refers to non-self or absence of separate self[1]. One scholar describes it as ...meaning non-selfhood, the absence of limiting self-identity in people and things. ... Vipassanā (Pāli) or vipaÅ›yanā (विपश्यना) in (Sanskrit) means insight and is often referred to by Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike as simply insight meditation. While it is a type of Buddhist meditation as taught by the Buddha, it is essentially non-sectarian in character and has universal application. ...

Dukkha is also listed among the three marks of existence, and the Buddha taught with his first three Noble Truths that it exists, has discernible causes, of which there is an account, and that there is a path for release from it. The final Noble Truth is his path.^[7] According to the Buddhist tradition, all phenomena (dharmas) are marked by three characteristics, sometimes referred to as the Dharma seals, that is dukkha (suffering), anicca (impermanence), and anatta (non-Self). ...

References

1. ^ Jeffrey Po, “Is Buddhism a Pessimistic Way of Life?”, http://www.4ui.com/eart/172eart1.htm
2. ^ Rahula, Walpola (1959). "Chapter 2", What the Buddha Taught. Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-3031-3. 
3. ^ Prebish, Charles (1993). Historical Dictionary of Buddhism. The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-2698-4. 
4. ^ Keown, Damien (2003). Dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860560-9. 
5. ^ Michael Carrithers, The Buddha. Cited in Founders of Faith, Oxford University Press, 1986, pages 55-56.
6. ^ ibid.
7. ^ ibid, page 51.

The venerable Prof Walpola Sri Rahula Maha Thera (1907-1997) was a Buddhist monk, scholar and writer. ... Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1951. ... Oxford University Press (OUP) is a highly-respected publishing house and a department of the University of Oxford in England. ...

External links

• Dukkha entry, Access to Insight
• On understanding the teaching of Dukkha by the Buddha, Kingsley Heendeniya
• Ku 苦 entry (use "guest" with no password for one-time login), Digital Dictionary of Buddhism
• [1] Definitions, Objectives, Premises and Principles of the International Society for Panetics, Ralph Siu. Panetics: The study of the infliction of suffering. J. Humanistic Psychology 28(3), 6-22. 1988, The humane chief of state and the Gross National Dukkhas (GND). Panetics 2(2), 1-5. 1993. Panetics Trilogy. Washington: The International Society for Panetics, 1994. Vol. I, Less Suffering for Everybody. Ibid. Vol. II, Panetics and Dukkhas. Ibid. Vol. III, Seeds of Contemplation. Understanding and Minimizing the Infliction of suffering. Unpublished text. 711 pages. Introduction to panetic system design. Panetics 3(4), 3-12. 1994. Panetic inflation, deflation, and the Humane Index. Panetics 5(2), 52-53. 1966. see also suffering