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³Dukkha ³
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      (1) 'Pain', painful feeling, which may be bodily and mental
          (s. vedana).
      (2) 'Suffering', 'Ill'.  As the first of the four Noble Truths
          and the second of the three characteristics of existence the
          term 'dukkha' is not limited to painful experience, as under
          (1), but refers to the unsatisfactory nature and the general
          insecurity of all conditioned phenomena, which on account of
          their impermanence, are all liable to suffering; and this
          includes also pleasurable experience.  Hence 'unsatisfactoriness'
          or 'liability to suffering' would be more adequate renderings,
          if not for stylistic reasons.  Hence the first Truth does not
          deny the existence of pleasurable experience, as it is
          sometimes wrongly assumed.

          This is illustrated by the following texts:

.PA

        "Seeking satisfaction in the world, monks, I had pursued my way.
      That satisfaction in the world I found. In so far as satisfaction
      existed in the world. I have well perceived it by wisdom. Seeking
      for misery in the world, monks, I had pursued my way. That misery
      in the world I found. In so far as misery existed in the world, I
      have well perceived it by wisdom.  Seeking for the escape from the
      world, monks, I had pursued my way. That escape from the world I
      found. In so far as escape from the world I found. I have well
      perceived it by wisdom."

        "If there were no satisfaction to be found in the world, beings
      would not be attatched to the world.... If there were not misery to
      be found in the world, beings would not be repelled by the world...
      If there were no escape from the world, beings could not escape
      therefrom."                         [Ref. A.III.101/102]