< img src= "https://www.lionsroar.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/suffering-buddha.jpg" width="0" height= "0" alt=" "/ > The Buddha said,” All I teach is suffering and the end of suffering.”Picture by David Gabriel Fischer. The Pali word dukkha is most typically translated to English as “suffering.” Dukkha presents in a selection of feelings– from happiness to misery. While counterproductive, it is a central concept in the Buddha’s teachings. In these passages, adjusted from longer mentors on Lion’s Roar, nine instructors describe what suffering is, how we feel it, and why it is
n’t a condemnation– it’s a wondrous opportunity. Sufferingwas the Buddha’s very first teaching From” Buddha’s 4 Noble Truths”
by Tulku Thondup Rinpoche The Buddha’s first teaching was on the 4 Noble Facts … “Oh Bhikshus, there are 4 honorable truths. They are the honorable realities of suffering, the reason for suffering, the cessation of suffering and the path to the cessation of suffering.”
According to Buddhism, we living beings are trapped in the cycle of presence called samsara. In samsara, we wander aimlessly and experience excruciating suffering– day and night, year after year, life after life– because of the tight grip of our grasping at self. In order to recover this disease-like condition, first we have to discover its cause, and then we apply the medicine-like path of training to restore our initial health, which is knowledge.
Related: The Four Noble Truths
We all experience suffering
From “On Suffering and completion of Suffering” by Sharon Salzberg
There are times in our lives when we want we might change the ending of the story. Sometimes we lose what we care about, we are separated from those we enjoy, our bodies fail us as we age, we feel defenseless or hurt, or our lives simply seem to be slipping away. These are all elements of dukkha, among the primary mentors of the Buddha. Dukkha suggests suffering, discontent, unsatisfactoriness, hollowness, modification.
The Buddha stated, “All I teach is suffering and the end of suffering.” Suffering in his teaching does not necessarily indicate serious physical discomfort, however rather the psychological suffering we undergo when our tendency to hold onto enjoyment encounters the short lived nature of life, and our experiences become unsatisfying and ungovernable.SIGN UP FOR LION’S ROAR NEWSLETTERS Get back at more Buddhist knowledge provided directly to your inbox! Register for Lion’s Roar free email newsletters. On some level, we comprehend this, yet we withstand it From”Suffering Open the Genuine Path”by Norman Fischer Dukkha refers to the psychological experience– often conscious, in some cases not conscious– of the
extensive truth that everything is impermanent, ungraspable, and not really knowable. On some level, all of us comprehend this. All the important things we have, we know we do not actually have. All the things we see, we’re not completely seeing. This is the nature of things, yet we believe the opposite. We think that we can know and possess our lives, our loves, our identities, and even our possessions. We can’t. The space in between the truth and the fundamental human technique to life is dukkha, an experience of standard anxiety or aggravation. There is a spectrum of suffering From”What is Dukkha? “by Glenn Wallis In getting a better feel for the significance of
dukkha, let’s place” suffering
” at one extreme of the spectrum. At the other extreme, let’s location qualities such as annoyance, tension, nondependability. Dukkha, then, can be understood on one end of the spectrum as a subtle, possibly barely discernible quality of being, and, on the other, as serious psychological or physical anguish. An additional subtlety is added to the term dukkha when we remember that, in the Buddha’s view, even a” delighted”moment
is tinged by dukkha. That is since neither the minute nor the experience is steady … Given this view, what should we call dukkha in our language? Our English term would have to have the following colorings(on an increasing scale of strength ): faint unsettledness irritation impatience inconvenience aggravation disappointment frustration stress tension anxiety vexation pain
desperation sorrow unhappiness suffering anguish pain anguish
Obviously,
you might contribute to
this list; there
is virtually no end to it. It is obvious that each of these qualities involves some
degree of
unease, so”anxiousness”is how I equate the term for general use. There are 3 type of suffering From”The Mind That
Suffers”by Phillip Moffitt The Buddha identified 3 type of suffering: the dukkha of physical and emotional discomfort … The first type of dukkha is the obvious suffering triggered by physical pain
, from the small pain of stubbing a
toe, cravings, and lack of sleep, to the misery of chronic illness. It is also the emotional suffering that develops when you end up being frustrated that things do not go your method, or upset about life’s oppressions, or fretted about money or meeting others’expectations. [The second kind] is the suffering brought on by the reality that life is continuously altering. Doesn’t it frequently appear as though the moment you have found happiness in life, it vanishes practically at the same time? … In truth, no minute is reputable because the next minute is constantly coming along fast on its heels. It resembles a continuous barrage of modification weakening every state of happiness. The mind never finds a location to kick back and take pleasure in life without fear … Moreover, every day, even throughout the pleasant minutes, do you not experience a hidden unease about the future? This concern and stress and anxiety is a symptom of the 3rd type of suffering the Buddha recognized– life’s inherent unsatisfactoriness due to its intrinsic instability. Impermanence is not the cause of suffering From”Understanding This Reality Is Noble “by Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche. We may find, as the Buddha tells us, that the lack of substantiality or permanence in all that surrounds us triggers misery and pain. This does not mean, nevertheless, that the experience of impermanence or non-substantiality is itself suffering
or the direct reason for suffering. We misunderstand the Buddha’s message if
we believe it is the reality that all things are impermanent or non-substantial or without a solid self that creates suffering. These basic facts are not the truth of the origin of suffering. Dukkha is produced not by things themselves or by their poor nature. Rather, our mind has actually been conditioned by lack of knowledge into believing that everlasting joy can be acquired through things that are ephemeral and transient. There is no easy way out From” The Middle Method of Tension “by Judy Lief The basic teaching of the
first honorable reality, the fact of suffering, may be the most difficult to understand and accept. We keep believing that if we simply fix this or repair that, tweak here or there, we can avoid it. We think that if we were smarter, prettier, wealthier, more powerful, living somewhere else, more youthful, older, male, woman, with various parents– you call it– things would be different. However things are not various; they are as bad as they appear! Considering that it is impractical to wish for a worry-free life, which would not be all that good in any case, it makes more sense to find out how to deal with the stresses that undoubtedly emerge. Suffering is a signal From”Worry the Right Thing” by Robert Thurman The reality of suffering is not an end ofthe world forecast. It is not expressing an inevitable fate. On the contrary, it notifies us to the fact that we are not knowing what we actually are. There is something behind our suffering From”The Response to Anger & Hostility is Perseverance”by Pema Chödrön Whenever there
is discomfort of any kind— the discomfort of aggression, grieving, loss
, inflammation, bitterness, jealousy, indigestion, physical discomfort– if you actually look into that, you can learn on your own that behind the pain there is constantly something we are connected to. There is always something we’re holding on
to. I state that with such self-confidence, but you need to learn for yourself whether this
is actually true. You can read about it: the very first thing the Buddha ever taught was the reality that suffering originates from accessory. That remains in the books. However when you discover it yourself, it goes a little much deeper right now. Can you assist us at a crucial time? COVID-19 has brought remarkable suffering, uncertainty, worry, and stress to the world. Our genuine desire is that these Buddhist mentors, directed practices, and stories can be a balm in these challenging times. Over the previous month, over 400,000 readers like you have visited our site, checking out practically a million pages and streaming over 120,000 hours of video teachings. We want to offer even more Buddhist wisdom however our resources are strained. Can you help us?
Nobody is free from the pandemic’s effect, consisting of Lion’s Roar. We rely significantly on marketing and newsstand sales to support our work– both of which have actually dropped precipitously this year. Can you provide your assistance to Lion’s Roar at this crucial time? Source