Dukkha: [Sk. du°kha fr. du°-ka, an adj. formation fr. prefix du°. According to others an analogy formation after sukha, q. v.; Bdhgh (at Vism 494) expls dukkha as du+kha, where du=du¹ and kha=¤k¤sa (MO: far more likely the other way around: kha=stuff and akasa=without stuff). See also def. at Vism 461.]

A. unpleasant, painful, causing misery (opp. sukha pleasant) Vin I.34;... Lit. of vedan¤ (sensation) M I.59...; A II.116=M. I.10... -- Fig. (fraught with pain, entailing sorrow or trouble) of k¤m¤ D I.36... of j¤ti M I.185.; in combn dukkh¤ paÂipad¤ dandh¤bhi¾¾¤ D III.106;... ekanta° very painful, giving much pain S II.173; III.69. dukkha¸ (adv.) with difficulty, hardly J I.215.

B. (nt.; but pl. also dukkh¤, e. g. S I.23. Spelling dukha (after sukha). There is no word in English covering the same ground as dukkha does in Pali. Our modern words are too specialised, too limited, and usually too strong. Sukha & dukkh¤ are ease and dis-ease (but we use disease in another sense); or wealth and ilth from well & ill (but we have now lost ilth); or wellbeing and ill-ness (but illness means something else in English) (MO: there is no basis for these pairs in the actual words; contrasting su and du you would get sweet and disagreeable;). We are forced, therefore, in translation to use half synonyms, no one of which is exact. dukkha is equally mental & physical. Pain is too predominantly physical (MO: perhaps when the PED was put together, I doubt it, but not today), sorrow too exclusively mental, but in some connections they have to be used in default of any more exact rendering. Discomfort, suffering, ill, and trouble can occasionally be used in certain connections. Misery, distress, agony, affliction and woe are never right. They are all much too strong & are only mental (see Mrs. Rh. D. Bud. Psy. 83--86, quoting Ledi Sadaw). (MO: ?! This is a word used to describe the experience of Hell...agony, etc are too strong?)

I. Main Points in the Use of the Word.--The recognition of the fact of dukkha stands out as essential in early Buddhism. In the very first discourse the four so called Truths or Facts (see sacc¤ni) deal chiefly with dukkh¤. The first of the four gives certain universally recognised cases of it, & then sums them up in short. The five groups (of physical & mental qualities which make an individual) are accompanied by ill so far as those groups are fraught with asavas and grasping. (Pa¾c'up¤d¤nakkhandh¤ pi dukkh¤; cp. S III.47). The second Sacca gives the cause of this dukkh¤ (see Ta¼h¤). The third enjoins the removal of this ta¼h¤. And the fourth shows the way, or method, of doing so (see Magga). These ariyasacc¤ni are found in two places in the older books Vin I.10=S V.421...

II. Characterisation in Detail.

1. A further specification of the 3rd of the Noble Truths is given in the PaÂicca-samuppada (q.v.), which analyses the links & stages of the causal chain in their interdependence as building up (anabolic=samudaya) &, after their recognition as causes, breaking down (katabolic=nirodha) the dukkh¤-synthesis, & thus constitutes the Metabolism of kamma; discussed e. g. at Vin 1; D II.32 sq. =S II.2 sq.; S II.17, 20, 65; S III.14; M I.266 sq.; II.38; A I.177; mentioned e. g. at A I.147; M I.192 sq., 460....

2. dukkha as one of the 3 qualifications of the sankh¤r¤ (q. v.), viz. anicca, d., anatt¤, evanescence, ill, nonsoul: S I.188; II.53...; III.112 (id.) III.67, 180, 222; IV.28, 48, 129 sq.; 131 sq...S III.41.... III.243; A III.334, cp. IV.52 sq....

3. Specification of dukkha. The Niddesa gives a characteristic description of all that comes under the term dukkh¤. It employs one stereotyped explanation (therefore old & founded on scholastic authority) (Nd2 304I.), & one expln peculiar to itself & only applied to Sn 36. The latter defines & illustrates dukkh¤ exclusively as suffering & torment incurred by a person as punishment, inflicted on him either by the king or (after death) by the guardians of purgatory (niraya-pala; see detail under niraya, & cp. below III.2b). - The first expln is similar in kind to the definition of d. as long afterwards given in the Sankhya system & classifies the various kinds of dukkh¤ in the foll. groups:

(a) all suffering caused by the fact of being born, & being through one's kamma tied to the consequent states of transmigration; to this is loosely attached the 3 fold division of d. as dukkh¤°, sankh¤ra°, vipari¼¤ma° (see below III. 1 c);

(b) illnesses & all bodily states of suffering...

(c) pain & (bodily) discomfort through outward circumstances, as extreme climates, want of food, gnat-bites etc....;

(d) (Mental) distress & painful states caused by the death of one's beloved or other misfortunes to friends or personal belongings (cp. domanassa). -- This list is concluded by a scholastic characterisation of these var. states as conditioned by kamma, implicitly due to the afflicted person not having found his "refuge," i. e. salvation from these states in the 8 fold Path (see above B I.).

III. General Application, & various views regarding dukkh¤.

1. As simple sensation (: pain) & related to other terms:

(a) principally a vedan¤, sensation, in particular belonging to the body (k¤yika), or physical pain (opp. cetasika dukkh¤ mental ill: see domanassa). Thus defined as k¤yika¸ d. at D II.306 M I.302; S V.209...; A II.143...; Nett 12...; Vism 165 (twofold), 496..., 499 (seven divisions), 503...; SnA 119.... Bdhgh. usually paraphrases d. with vaÂÂadukkh¤. . . .

(b) Thus to be understood as physical pain in combn dukkh¤+ domanassa "pain & grief," where d. can also be taken as the gen. term & dom° as specification, e. g. in cetasika¸ dukkha¸ domanassa¸ paÂisa¸vedeti A I.157, 216; IV.406; S II.69;...A II.149;... A III.207;...S IV.343. Also as cpd. dukkh¤domanassana¸ atthangam¤ya A III.326, & freq. in formula soka-parideva-d°-domanass-up¤y¤s¤ (grief & sorrow, afflictions of pain & misery, i. e. all kinds of misery) D I.36 (arising fr. kama); M II.64; A V.216 sq.; It 89 etc. (see above B I. 4). Cp. also the combn dukkhi dummano "miserable and dejected" S II.282.

(c) dukkh¤ as "feeling of pain" forms one of the three dukkh¤ta or painful states, viz. d.--dukkh¤ta (painful sensation caused by bodily pain), sankh¤ra° id. having its origin in the sankh¤ra, vipari¼¤ma°, being caused by change S IV.259; V.56; D III.216 . . . .

(d) Closely related in meaning is ahita "that which is not good or profitable," usually opposed to sukha & hita. It is freq. in the ster. expression "hoti d¨gharatta? ahitaya dukkh¤ya" for a long time it is a source of discomfort & pain A I.194 sq.; M I.332 D III.157....

(e) Under vedana as sensation are grouped the 3: sukha¸ (or sukh¤ ved.) pleasure (pleasant sensation), dukkha¸ pain (painful sens.), adukkh¤m--asukha¸ indifference (indifferent sens.), the last of which is the ideal state of the emotional habitus to be gained by the Arahant (cp. upekh¤ & nibbid¤). Their role is clearly indicated in the 4th jhana: sukhassa pah¤n¤ dukkhassa pah¤n¤ pubbe va somanassadoman¤ssana¸ atthangam¤ adukkham-asukha¸ upekh¤ parisuddhi¸ catuttha¸ jh¤na¸ upasampajja viharati (see jhana). -As contents of vedana: ...S III.86, 87; cp. S II.82...D III.275; S II.53; IV.114 sq., 207, 223 sq., cp. M I.396; A I.173; IV.442... A I.173=M II.217. - The combn (as complementary pair) of sukha+dukkh¤ is very freq. for expressing the varying fortunes of life & personal experience as pleasure & pain,...D I.56=S III.211. Thus under the 8 "fortunes of the world" (loka dhamm¤) with l¤bha (& a°), yasa (a°), pasa¸s¤ (nind¤), sukha (dukkh¤) at D III.260; Nd2 55. Regarded as a thing to be avoided in life...S IV.172, 188. -- In similar contexts: D I.81...; S II.22, 39; IV.123 sq.; A II.158 etc.

2. As complex state (suffering) & its valuation in the light of the Doctrine:

(a) any worldly sensation, pleasure & experience may be a source of discomfort (see above, I.; cp. esp. k¤ma & bhava) Ps I.11 sq. (specified as j¤ti etc.);...S I.37;...(pain is the great weight) S III.26;... A III.310; IV.289; cp. A III.410 sq.....

(b) ekanta° (extreme pain) refers to the suffering of sinful beings in Niraya, & it is open to conjecture whether this is not the first & orig. meaning of dukkh¤; e. g. M I.74; A II.231...; see ekanta. In the same sense: . . . upenti Roruva¸ ghora¸ ciraratta¸ dukkha¸ anubhavanti S I.30; niraya-dukkh¤ Sn 531;...Sn 278, 742;...Pv I.1110...; PvA 67;...PvA 43, 68, 107 etc....¸ PvA 65;...PvA 8.

(c) to suffer pain, to experience unpleasantness etc. is expressed in foll. terms: dukkha¸ anubhavati (only w. ref. to Niraya, see b); anveti Dh 1 (=k¤yika¸ cetasika¸ vip¤ka-dukkha¸ anugacchati DhA I.24),...Sn 728;...S I.210;...M I.337; Sn 278, 742;...M I.313...;...S I.132...;...S II.109;...A I.202; II.95; III.3; S IV.78...;...A I.137.

(d) More specific reference to the cause of suffering & its removal by means of enlightenment:

(a) Origin (see also above I. & II. 1) as result of sakkayadiÂÂhi S IV.147, of chanda S I.22 of upadhi S II.109, cp. upadhinidana pabhavanti dukkh¤ S I.135.

(b) Salvation from Suffering (see above I.):...S I.14; III.41, 150; IV.205; V.451;...S I,210;...A II.49....M II.217, cp. I.93....S I.12=31;...S III.27; IV.89;...Sn 473...Sn 789, 1056....S II.72; III.228 sq.; IV.86, 327....M I.48; A III.400 sq.; It 18;...Sn 32;... A II.26;...S II.133;...Sn 731....S I.195=Nd2 136v;...Sn 539....S IV.158;...Vin I.231= D II.91.