{{Buddhist term

|fontsize=100%

|title=Duḥkha

|pi=Dukkha

|pi-Latn=

|sa=दुःख

|sa-Latn=Duḥkha

|bn=

|bn-Latn=dukkhô

|si=

|si-Latn=dukkha satyaya

|ka=ದುಃಖ

|ka-Latn=Duḥkha

|en=suffering, unhappiness, pain, unsatisfactoriness, unease, stress

|bo=སྡུག་བསྔལ།

|bo-Latn=Wylie: sdug bsngal;THL: dukngal

|zh=苦

|zh-Latn=kǔ

|ja=苦

|ja-Latn=ku

|km=ទុក្ខ

|km-Latn=tŭkkh

|ko=고苦

|ko-Latn=ko

|vi=苦khổ災害Bất toại

|my=ဒုက္ခ

|my-Latn=doʊʔkʰa̰

|shn=တုၵ်ႉၶ

|shn-Latn=tṵ̂kkha

|tl=ᜇᜓᜃ᜔ᜑdukha

|th=

|th-Latn=thuk

|ta=துக்கம்

|ta-Latn=thukkam

|mr=दुःख|mr-Latn=Duhkha}}

Duḥkha (; , ) "suffering", "pain", "unease", or "unsatisfactoriness", is an important concept in Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. Its meaning is context-dependent: it may refer more specifically to the "unsatisfactoriness" or "unease" of craving for and grasping after transient 'things' (i.e. sensory objects, including thoughts), or expecting pleasure from them while ignorant of this transientness. In Buddhism, dukkha is part of the first of the Four Noble Truths and one of the three marks of existence. The term also appears in scriptures of Hinduism, such as the Upanishads, in discussions of moksha (spiritual liberation).

While the term dukkha has often been derived from the prefix du- ("bad" or "difficult") and the root kha ("empty", "hole"), meaning a badly fitting axle-hole of a cart or chariot giving "a very bumpy ride", it may actually be derived from duḥ-stha, a "dis-/ bad- + stand-", that is, "standing badly, unsteady", "unstable".

Etymology and meaning

Duḥkha (Sanskrit: दुःख; Pali: dukkha) is a term found in the Upanishads and Buddhist texts, meaning anything that is "uneasy, uncomfortable, unpleasant, difficult, causing pain or sadness". It is also a concept in Indian religions about the nature of transient phenomena which are innately "unpleasant", "suffering", "pain", "sorrow", "distress", "grief" or "misery". The term duḥkha does not have a one-word English translation, and embodies diverse aspects of unpleasant human experiences. It is often understood as the opposite of sukha, meaning lasting "happiness", "comfort" or "ease".

Etymology

Axle hole

The word has been explained in recent times as a derivation from Aryan terminology for an axle hole, referring to an axle hole which is not in the center and leads to a bumpy, uncomfortable ride. According to Winthrop Sargeant,

Joseph Goldstein, American vipassana teacher and writer, explains the etymology as follows:

'Standing unstable'

However, according to Monier Monier-Williams, the actual roots of the Pali term dukkha appear to be Sanskrit दुस्- (dus-, "bad") + स्था (sthā, "to stand"). Irregular phonological changes in the development of Sanskrit into the various Prakrits led to a shift from dus-sthā to duḥkha to dukkha.

Analayo concurs, stating that dukkha as derived from duḥ-sthā, "standing badly", "conveys nuances of "uneasiness" or of being "uncomfortable". Silk Road philologist Christopher I. Beckwith elaborates on this derivation. According to Beckwith:

Translation

The literal meaning of duḥkha, as used in a general sense is "suffering" or "painful". Its exact translation depends on the context. Contemporary translators of Buddhist texts use a variety of English words to convey the aspects of dukh. Early Western translators of Buddhist texts (before the 1970s) typically translated the Pali term dukkha as "suffering". Later translators have emphasized that "suffering" is a too limited translation for the term duḥkha, and have preferred to either leave the term untranslated, or to clarify that translation with terms such as anxiety, distress, frustration, unease, unsatisfactoriness, not having what one wants, having what one does not want, etc. In the sequence "birth is painful", dukhka may be translated as "painful". When related to vedana, "feeling", dukkha ("unpleasant", "painful") is the opposite of sukkha ("pleasure", "pleasant"), yet all feelings are dukkha in that they are impermanent, conditioned phenomena, which are unsatisfactory, incapable of providing lasting satisfaction. The term "unsatisfactoriness" then is often used to emphasize the unsatisfactoriness of "life under the influence of afflictions and polluted karma".{{efn|name=mistranslation|Unsatisfactory:

  • Analayo (2013), Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization: "Dukkha is often translated as 'suffering'. Suffering, however, represents only one aspect of dukkha, a term whose range of implications is difficult to capture with a single English word [...] In order to catch the various nuances of 'dukkha', the most convenient translation is 'unsatisfactoriness', though it might be best to leave the term untranslated."
  • Gombrich, How Buddhism Began: "The first Noble Truth is the single word dukkha, and it is explicated to mean that everything in our experience of life is ultimately unsatisfactory";
  • Dalai Lama, Thubten Chodron, Approaching the Buddhist Path, p.279 note 2: "Duhkha (P. dukkha) is often translated as "suffering," but this translation is misleading. Its meaning is more nuanced and refers to all unsatisfactory states and experiences, many of which are not explicitly painful. While the Buddha says that life under the influence of afflictions and polluted karma is unsatisfactory, he does not say that life is suffering."
  • Roderick Bucknell, Martin Stuart-Fox, The Twilight Language, p.161: "Thus dukkha at the most subtle level appears to refer to a normally unperceived unsatisfactory quality";
  • Gombrich, What the Buddha Thought, p.10: "there has been a lot of argument over how to translate the word dukkha; and again, the choice of translation must depend heavily on the context. But what is being expressed is that life as we normally experience it is unsatisfactory."}}

Buddhism

Early Buddhism

Dukkha is one of the three marks of existence, namely anicca ("impermanent"), dukkha ("unsatisfactory"), anatta (without a lasting essence).{{refn|group=note|1=Beckwith: "The Buddha says All dharmas [= pragmata] are

  • anitya "impermanent"
  • dukkha "unsatisfactory, imperfect, unstable"
  • anatman "without an innate self-identity"}}

Various suttas sum up how cognitive processes result in an aversion to unpleasant things and experiences (dukkha), forming a corrupted process together with the complementary process of clinging to and craving for pleasure (sukha). This is expressed as saṃsāra, an ongoing process of death and rebirth, but also more pointly and non-metaphysically in the process-formula of the five skandhas:

  1. Birth is dukkha, maturation is dukkha, aging is dukkha, illness is dukkha, death is dukkha;
  2. Sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair are dukkha;
  3. Association with the unbeloved is dukkha; separation from the loved is duḥkha;
  4. Not getting what is wanted is dukkha.
  5. In conclusion, the five clinging-aggregates (khandhas) are dukkha.

Early emphasis is on the importance of developing insight into the nature of dukkha, the corrupted process of clinging and craving which starts with sense-contact, as described in the skandhas, and how this corruption can be overcome, namely by training the mind culminating in the process of the jhanas. This is summarized in the teachings on the Four Noble Truths and other formulaic expressions of the Buddhist way to awakening.

Within the Buddhist suttas, dukkha has a broad meaning, and has also been specified in three categories:"What Are the Three Kinds of Suffering?"

  • Dukkha-dukkha, aversion to physical suffering this includes the physical and mental sufferings of birth, aging, illness, dying; distress due to what is not desirable.
  • Viparinama-dukkha, the frustration of disappearing happiness this is the duḥkha of pleasant or happy experiences changing to unpleasant when the causes and conditions that produced the pleasant experiences cease.
  • Sankhara-dukkha, the unsatisfactoriness of changing and impermanent "things" the incapability of conditioned things to give us lasting happiness. This includes "a basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all existence, all forms of life, because all forms of life are changing, impermanent and without any inner core or substance."Bikkhu Bodhi On this level, the term indicates a lack of lasting satisfaction, or a sense that things never measure up to our expectations or standards.

Chinese Buddhism

Chinese Buddhist tradition has been influenced by Taoism and Confucian theory that advocates that duhkha (古:十Ten directions, 口 hole or opening) is associated to the theory of seven emotions of endogenous disease through the formation of the spirit of the po a term that relates to the Western psychological notion of ego or the theological reference to the human soul. This theory is expounded in the application of traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment and prevention of pain and suffering from illness, disease and ignorance.

Literal suffering and awakening

Awakening, that is, awakening to one's true mind of emptiness and compassion, does not necessarily end physical suffering. In the Buddhist tradition, suffering after awakening is often explained as the working-out or untangling of karma of one's previous present life.

Hinduism

In Hinduism, duḥkha encompasses many meanings such as the phenomenological senses of pain and grief, a deep-seated dissatisfaction with the limitations of worldly existence, and the devastation of impermanence.

In Hindu scriptures, the earliest Upaniads – the and the – in all likelihood predate the advent of Buddhism. In these scriptures of Hinduism, the Sanskrit word (दुःख) appears in the sense of "suffering, sorrow, distress", and in the context of a spiritual pursuit and liberation through the knowledge of Atman ('essence').

The concept of sorrow and suffering, and self-knowledge as a means to overcome it, appears extensively with other terms in the pre-Buddhist Upanishads. The term Duhkha also appears in many other middle and later post-Buddhist Upanishads such as the verse 6.20 of Shvetashvatara Upanishad, as well as in the Bhagavad Gita, all in the contexts of moksha and bhakti.

The term also appears in the foundational Sutras of the six schools of Hindu philosophy, such as the opening lines of Samkhya karika of the Samkhya school.<ref>

  • Original Sanskrit: Samkhya karika Compiled and indexed by Ferenc Ruzsa (2015), Sanskrit Documents Archives.
  • Second translation (Verse 1): Ferenc Ruzsa (1997), "The triple suffering - A note on the Samkhya karika", Xth World Sanskrit Conference: Bangalore, University of Hungary, Budapest.
  • Third translation (all verses): John Davis (translator), Samkhyakarika of Iswara Krishna, London: Trübner, University of Toronto Archives.</ref>Iswara Krishna, Henry Colebrooke (translator), Samkhya karika, Oxford University Press The Samkhya school identifies three types of suffering. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali state that "for one who has discrimination, everything is suffering" (duḥkham eva sarvaṁ vivekinaḥ).

Some of the Hindu scripture verses referring to duhkha are:

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!Hindu scripture

!Sanskrit

!English

|-

|Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (Verse 4.4.14)

|Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Retrieved 16 May 2016 from "SanskritDocuments.Org" at Brihadaranyaka IV.iv.14, Original: इहैव सन्तोऽथ विद्मस्तद्वयं विद्मस् तद् वयम्न चेदवेदिर्महती विनष्टिः । ये तद्विदुरमृतास्ते भवन्त्य् अथेतरे दुःखमेवापियन्ति ॥ १४ ॥

|While we are still here, we have come to know it . If you've not known it, great is your destruction.

Those who have known it – they become immortal. As for the rest – only suffering awaits them.Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4 April 2014, trans. Patrick Olivelle (1996), p. 66.

|-

|Chāndogya Upaniṣad (Verse 7.26.2)

|Chandogya Upanishad 7,26.2. Retrieved 16 May 2016 from Wikisource छान्दोग्योपनिषद् ४ ॥ षड्विंशः खण्डः ॥, Quote: तदेष श्लोको न पश्यो मृत्युं पश्यति न रोगं नोत दुःखताँ सर्वँ ह पश्यः पश्यति सर्वमाप्नोति सर्वश इति ।

|When a man rightly sees, he sees no death, no sickness or distress.

When a man rightly sees, he sees all, he wins all, completely.Patrick Olivelle, trans. (1996), Chandogya Upanishad 7.26.2, p. 166.

|-

|Bhagavad Gita (Verse 2.56)

|duḥkheṣhv-anudvigna-manāḥ sukheṣhu vigata-spṛihaḥ

vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ sthita-dhīr munir uchyate

|One whose mind remains undisturbed amidst misery, who does not crave for pleasure, and who is free from attachment, fear, and anger, is called a sage of steady wisdom.

|-

|Bhagavad Gita (Verse 8.15)

|mām upetya punar janma duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam

nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ

|Reaching me, these great souls never again experience birth in this temporal abode of misery, for they have attained the ultimate perfection.

|}

Jainism

Duḥkha is explained in the Tattvartha Sutra, an authoritative Jain scripture from the 2nd century.

{{Verse translation

|head1=Sanskrit

|lang1=sa

|samyagdarśanaśuddhaṃ yo jñānaṃ viratim eva cāpnotiduḥkhanimittam apīdaṃ tena sulabdhaṃ bhavati janma

|head2=English

|lang2=en

|[For] him who obtains knowledge, which is pure through right worldview, and indeed non-passion,for him there is good birth, even though this is the cause of pain.Boer, L. den. Early Jaina Epistemology: a Study of the Philosophical Chapters of the Tattvārthādhigama; With an English Translation of the Tattvārthādhigamabhāṣya I, II.8 25, and V. 2020.

}}

See also

  • Existential despair
  • Four Noble Truths
  • Nirodha
  • Noble Eightfold Path
  • Pathos
  • Samudaya
  • The Sickness Unto Death
  • Suffering
  • Sukha
  • Taṇhā

Notes

{{Reflist|group=note|35em|refs=

{{refn|group=note|name=Translations (contemporary)|Contemporary translators have used a variety of English words to translate the term duḥkha; translators commonly use different words to translate aspects of the term. For example, duḥkha has been translated as follows in many contexts:

  • Suffering (Harvey, Williams, Keown, Anderson, Gombrich, Thich Nhat Hanh, Ajahn Succito, Chogyam Trungpa, Rupert Gethin, Dalai Lama, et al.)
  • Pain (Harvey, Williams, Keown, Anderson, Huxter, Gombrich, et al)
  • Unsatisfactoriness (Dalai Lama, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Rupert Gethin, et al.)
  • Stress (Thanissaro Bhikkhu: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, Anuradha Sutta bottom)
  • Sorrow
  • Anguish
  • Affliction (Brazier)
  • Dissatisfaction (Pema Chodron, Chogyam Trunpa)
  • Distress (Walpola Rahula)
  • Frustration (Dalai Lama, Four Noble Truths, p. 38)
  • Misery
  • Anxiety (Chogyam Trungpa, The Truth of Suffering, pp. 8–10)
  • Uneasiness (Chogyam Trungpa)
  • Unease (Rupert Gethin)
  • Unhappiness}}

}}

References

Sources

Further reading

  • Three Characteristics of Existence by Alawwe Anōmadassi Thero
  • Everything Is Teaching Us , Ajahn Chah (2018), Amaravati Publications
  • How does mindfulness transform suffering? I: the nature and origins of dukkha, JD Teasdale, M Chaskalson (2011)
  • Explanations of dukkha, Tilmann Vetter (1998), Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies
  • What Buddha Taught, Walpola Rahula
  • Dukkha, edited by John T. Bullitt - Access to Insight
  • The Buddha's Concept of Dukkha, Kingsley Heendeniya
  • Ku 苦 entry (use "guest" with no password for one-time login), Digital Dictionary of Buddhism
  • The Buddha Did Not Teach an End to Suffering, Douglas C. Bates