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Dukkha (Pāli दुक्ख ; according to grammatical tradition from Sanskrit 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 sorrow, suffering (or pain), affliction, anxiety, dissatisfaction, discomfort, anguish, stress, misery, and frustration. The term is probably derived from duḥstha, "standing badly," "unsteady," "uneasy."

In classic Sanskrit, the term dukkha 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 sukkha, 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.

Although dukkha is often translated as "suffering", its philosophical meaning is more complex. It also contains such deeper ideas as "imperfection", "unease", "anguish" and "unsatisfactoriness". "Suffering" is too narrow a translation and it is sometimes best to leave dukkha untranslated [1] [2] [3]. The translation into "suffering" gives the impression that the Buddhist view is one of pessimism, but Buddhism is neither pessimistic nor optimistic.

Dukkha translates as kǔ ( "bitterness; hardship; suffering; pain") in Chinese Buddhism, and this loanword is pronounced ku (苦) in Japanese Buddhism and ko (苦) in Korean Buddhism.

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 Buddha discussed three kinds of dukkha.
  • Dukkha-dukkha (pain of pain) is the obvious sufferings of :
  1. physical pain
  2. illness
  3. old age
  4. death
  5. the loss of a loved one
  • 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.[4] 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.[5]

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.[6]

References

1. ^ Rahula, Walpola (1959). "Chapter 2", What the Buddha Taught. Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-3031-3. 
2. ^ Prebish, Charles (1993). Historical Dictionary of Buddhism. The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-2698-4. 
3. ^ Keown, Damien (2003). Dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860560-9. 
4. ^ Michael Carrithers, The Buddha. Cited in Founders of Faith, Oxford University Press, 1986, pages 55-56.
5. ^ ibid.
6. ^ ibid, page 51.

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Several Buddhist terms and concepts lack direct translations into English that cover the breadth of the original term. Below are given a number of important Buddhist terms, short definitions, and the languages in which they appear.
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Dukkha (Sanskrit duhkha) or unsatisfactoriness, 'dis-ease' (also often translated "suffering," though this is somewhat misleading). Nothing found in the physical world or even the psychological realm can bring lasting deep satisfaction.
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The five skandhas (Sanskrit) or khandhas (Pāli) are the five "aggregates" which categorize or constitute all individual experience according to Buddhist phenomenology.
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Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent and the founder of Buddhism.[1] He is generally recognized by Buddhists as the supreme Buddha (Sammāsambuddha) of our age.
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buddha   (help info ) (Sanskrit: Awakened) is any being who has become fully awakened (enlightened), and has experienced Nirvana.
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