Dukkha

Dukkha (Pāli; Sanskrit: duḥkha), meaning "incapable of being satisfied"; 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 and aversion. The term is probably derived from dustha, "standing badly," "unsteady," "uneasy." Dukkha is the focus of the Four Noble Truths, including the first:
All of life involves dukkha.
The other three Noble Truths explain the source of dukkha, the means of eliminating it, and the method of executing its cessation. This method is known as the Noble Eightfold Path. Siddartha Gautama, the Buddha repeatedly stated that the only purpose of Buddhism is to seek the cessation of dukkha, by understanding the Four Noble Truths and acting accordingly. The Buddha discussed three kinds of dukkha.
  • Dukkha-dukkha (all pervading pain) is the obvious sufferings of physical pain, illness, old age, death, the loss of a loved one.
  • Viparinama-dukkha (pain of alternation) is suffering caused by change: violated expectations, the failure of happy moments to last.
  • Sankhara-dukkha (pain of pain) is a subtle form of suffering inherent in the nature of conditioned things, including the skandhas, the factors constituting the human mind.
Dukkha is also listed among the three marks of existence.

External links

 

<< PreviousWord BrowserNext >>
ducati motor holding
data general nova
protestant church of the netherlands
disciples of christ
david rice atchison
gabriel fahrenheit
motorola dragonball
double slit experiment
dan bricklin
document editor
digital enhanced cordless telecommunications
dhyana
december 30
donn
data compression ratio
disc jockey
detroit, michigan
deccan traps
don't ask, don't tell
divination
diet of nuremberg
dr. strangelove or: how i learned to stop worrying and love the bomb
durian
dna ligase
dewey decimal classification
david charlebois
darwin awards
dcm
dkw
doctor syn
dhrystone
dave winer
december 10
taiko
dolly parton
diprotodon
dirk benedict
doppler effect
delta t
december 22
david deutsch
volkssturm
director's cut
digital video