Dukkha
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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, affliction, pain, anxiety, dissatisfaction, discomfort, anguish, stress, misery, aversion 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 now and again as the wheel rolls over the broken spot.
Although dukkha is often translated as "suffering", it has a deeper philosophical meaning. It also contains in addition deeper ideas such as "imperfection", "impermanence", "emptiness" and "insubstantiality". "Suffering" is too narrow a translation and it is best to leave dukkha untranslated [1] [2] [3] [4]. The translation into "suffering" gives the impression that the buddhist view is a pessimistic view, but Buddhism is neither pessimistic nor optimistic.
Dukkha is the focus of the Four Noble Truths, which state what is 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 :
- physical pain
- illness
- old age
- death
- the loss of a loved one
- Viparinama-dukkha (pain of alteration) is suffering caused by change:
- violated expectations
- 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
- skandhas
- 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).
Dukkha is also listed among the three marks of existence.
[edit] Chakras and dukkha
According to contemporary buddhist teacher Tarthang Tulku, an almost continuous feeling of dissatisfaction arises as the result of energetic imblance between chakras. When the throat chakra is agitated, people lose touch with feelings and sensations, and that breeds the sense of dissatisfaction. That leads to looking outside for fullfilment. When people live in their heads, feelings are secondary, they are interpretations of mental images that are fed back to the individual. When awareness is focused on memories of past experiences and mental verbalizations, the energy flow to the head chakra increases and the energy flow to the heart chakra lessens. Without nurturing feelings of the heart a subtle form of anxiety arises which results in the self reaching out for experience.
When the throat chakra settles and energy is distributed evenly between the head and the heart chakras, one is able to truly contact one's senses and touch real feelings.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ Rahula, Walpola (1959). "Chapter 2", What the Buddha Taught. Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-3031-3.
- ^ Watts, Alan (1959). "Chapter 2", The Way of Zen. Vintage (publisher). ISBN 0-8021-3031-3.
- ^ Prebish, Charles (1993). Historical Dictionary of Buddhism. The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-2698-4.
- ^ Keown, Damien (2003). Dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860560-9.
- ^ Tarthang Tulku. Tibetan Relaxation. The illustrated guide to Kum Nye massage and movement - A yoga from the Tibetan tradition. Dunkan Baird Publishers, London, 2007, ISBN-13:978-1-84483-404-4, pp. 31, 33
[edit] External links
- At Access to Insight:
- On understanding the teaching of Dukkha by the Buddha by Kingsley Heendeniya explanation of sankhara-dukkha
