Buddhist Belief Blog

Last week as we were spending our Buddhist Belief time on the Four Noble Truths — and in line with them — the aspect of Dhukka – or suffering — I began contemplating this post as I was writing the one last week. Since Buddhism seems to devote much of it’s teaching to this subject of dhukka, it might be a good idea to spend some more time delving into it.

When Buddha first began to tell others about his realizations, he told about what he saw as the reality of human life, which is — we will all experience suffering of one sort or another, and also, how there is a path to a cure for this. We now refer to this basic teaching as The Four Noble Truths. In Buddha’s description of dhukka he covers pretty much all of life from the beginning to the end. From birth, to growing old, to the illnesses which accompany old age, and finally death. He also includes having things in our lives we don’t want, and not having enough of what we do.

So many of us, particularly in the Western world, have considerable difficulty with the term “suffering”. When we hear or say “suffering”, we get these images of extreme pain and even anguish, right? I agree, “suffering” may not be the best translation of dhukka for us in this day and age. It may be a bit too drastic for us.

Let’s try this — put what we consider to be mental and physical anguish at one end of the scale — and on the other end let’s put things like annoyance, stress, dissatisfaction, and unreliability. We now have extreme stuff on one end and more subtle forms of discomfort on the other end.

But, let’s not forget this — Buddha also included “happy moments” in his definition of dhukka. He did this because he knew how even happy moments didn’t last very long. Happy experiences tended to be unstable. When we’re delighted with something in our lives, it’s usually brought to us by some external factor, and those factors have a tendency to fade away after awhile. When we reach the point where we have to face the impermanence of whatever we are wanting to keep in our lives, we experience another form of dhukka.

There are so many terms we could use to define dhukka in our western language aren’t there? Everything from not contented — to annoyed — to dissatisfaction — to aggravation — to anxiety — to pain — to sorrow — to agony — and on to anguish. It’s an endless list. It’s something which flows through our lives like a never-ending stream.

The opposite of dhukka is sukka, which translated means “ease, pleasure, happiness”. So, perhaps a good word for dhukka might be dissatisfaction, or unhappy or uneasy. At either end of the spectrum, it’s still suffering.

Whatever we decide to call it — it is in our lives — and there is a way to change much of our uneasiness to more inner peace and happiness. The Third and Fourth Noble Truths are where the answers can be found.

Metta ….May all beings be well and happy. May all beings live in safety. May all beings be healthy and strong. May all beings live with ease.

Namaste — Be in Peace.

Ron Rink

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Anam Thubten — No Self – No Problem

No Self – No Problem
shows how to realize the ultimate meaning of life in each moment by dissolving all notions of ego-identity. It asks that spiritual seekers wake up to their true nature, which is already enlightened. Based on Buddhist wisdom traditions, this easy-to-read book discusses in simple, but profound and inspiring language, how we can live a life full of love, satisfaction, and happiness. No Self – No Problem

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