Dukkha ( in Pali Language ) - Sorrow / Sadness / Suffering
Dukkha ( Sorrow / Sadness / Suffering ) - The First Noble Truth - The truth of sorrow
Dukkha is explaining sorrow, sadness and suffering. Not only that, it consists of incompleteness, instability, meaninglessness as well.
The Lord Buddha said that life consisted of sorrow, sadness and suffering. Human nature is not perfect. Our surroundings are not stable too. We suffer physically from pain, sickness, injury, tiredness, ageing, and death during our life time. Also we have psychological suffering such as sadness, fear, frustration, disappointment, and depression. Our life is subject to impermanence. Not only life, everything originated in this universe is impermanent. This means we are never able to keep permanently anything even our lives. We are aging. We get ill. We are becoming disfigured due to aging. We will die some day. But, we can not stop them.
There are three components we should know regarding life and enjoyment of life.
- Strong desire
- Bad results due to strong desire
- Relieving from the desire
For example :
When you see an attractive, beautiful person, you will like him or her. You like to look at him or her again and again. Then, you feel happiness. This is desire.
But, that particular person and his or her beauty are not stable. Not only that, also your happiness is not stable.
When you can't see the particular person, you will feel sadness, you suffer, become impatient. Sometimes you will do silly things. These are bad results due to strong desire.
If there is no desire or emotional bond, you will not feel sadness. You will not suffer. Then, you will be independent. This is the relief from desire.
There are three kinds of suffering according to the Lord Buddha.
- Dukkha dukkha ( ordinary sorrow, suffering )
- Viparinama dukkha ( grief caused by change )
- Sankhara dukkha ( sorrow, suffering due to six internal sense media of the body )
Dukkha dukkha ( ordinary sorrow, suffering )
This explains suffering due to birth, aging, getting sick, death, association with the unbeloved, separation from the loved, not getting what is wanted, all physical and mental suffering.
We suffer from everything mentioned above due to birth. If there is no birth, there will not be suffering. We don't like aging, getting sick, and death. But, we can not change them. So, we are suffering from them. Not only that, we feel sad, sorrow due to these factors.
Viparinama dukkha ( grief caused by change )
Everything is impermanent. From moment to moment they are changing continuously. We can not stop changing them. Once we are happy, we feel comfort. Next, we feel sad, fear, discomfort. Then, we don't like to feel them. But, we can not stop those feelings. So, we suffer. Even our feelings are changing. They are impermanent.
Sankhara dukkha ( sorrow, suffering due to six internal sense media of the body )
This is the most important component in the first noble truth. First of all, we should consider the concepts of "the animal being", "person", "I".
According to the Buddhism, "the animal being", "person", "I" consist of changeable physical and mental energies. These can be divided into five parts ( the five clinging aggregates ). We consist of these five clinging aggregates.
- Bodily form ( Pali - rupa )
- Faculty of perception (Pali - vedana )
- Sense - Identification of physical or mental stimuli (Pali -sangna )
- Mental formations (Pali - sankhara )
- Knowledge ( Pali - vinknana )
These five consist of sorrow, suffering, incompleteness, instability.So, we are suffering due to these five components. Now, we should consider these five sections separately one by one.
1. Bodily form ( Rupa )
This consists of four elements and five sense organs which are originated from four elements. Those four elements are,
- Earth, element of solid, soft nature
- Element of water, liquid
- Element of heat
- Element of gas
( we can assume that the Lord Buddha intended solid, liquid, gas, and energy by using the name " four elements ". )
The five sense organs are eye, ear, nose, tongue, and the body.
Not only that, this section consists of every external masses, sensations ( vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch ), objectives, ideas, feelings.
2. Faculty of perception ( Vedana )
When our sensory organs and mind meet the external world, perceptions are originated. Those perceptions may bring happiness or sadness to us.
There are six perceptions.
- vision due to perception of light
- hearing due to perception of sounds
- Perception of smell
- Perception of taste
- Perception of touch, pressure, pain, heat
- Perception of feelings, ideas
It is important to know about the concept of "MIND". According to Buddhism, it is the sixth organ in the body. Mind is an organ like eye, ear, etc. Mind can be controlled and developed like other organs. Lord Buddha said " we can get good results by protecting, controlling, developing these six organs.
We receive sensations through our sensory organs. A part of a person contains these sensation such as light, sound, smell, taste, touch as well because, we can not live without sensations from outside and inside the body. But, this is not the whole body of him or her. Ideas, feelings, objectives also are parts of the person. But, they can't be received by ordinary sensory organs we know. These are received and identified by mind.
We should not forget that ideas, feelings, objectives, are originated in mind due to somatic ( body ) experiences.
3. Sense - Identification of physical or mental stimuli ( Sangna )
There are six varieties of senses by six sensory organs. Because of, the connection between the external world and the sensory organs, sense and their identification are originated. Physical and mental objectives are identified after senses.
4. Mental formations ( Sankhara )
Lord Buddha said that intention caused the act. Due to intentions, we do various acts by our body, by words, and by mind. Intention is originated from the mind. It is an act of mind. Intentions lead us to do good acts or bad acts. Sense is not a voluntary act. Only voluntary acts cause bad or good outcome in our lives.
5. Knowledge ( Vinknana )
This is originated due to six sensory organs and six sensations. We can not recognize the stimulus just by the knowledge because, this identifies only there is a stimulus.
For example, we don't recognize every stimulus in our environment. But, our body feels every stimulus recognizing only specific ones. Think a little, when you are specifically looking at a person, you can't identify surroundings well although your eyes receive light from every surrounding objective.
Knowledge is originated due to a cause. It is not originated without a cause. Causes are bodily form, faculty of perception, sense, and mental formations.
" The animal being ", "person ", "I" are used for these five clinging aggregates by us. These are instable, changeable moment to moment. So, the five clinging aggregates are sorrow, suffering, incomplete, instable, and meaningless.
A river has no point at which it stops. It flows continuously. It changes. Therefore, human life is like a flowing river.
When, the five clinging aggregates work together, we think the concept "I".
Human life consists of sorrow, suffering. But, we shouldn't be sad or angry. We shouldn't be impatient because, sorrow, suffering don't disappear being sad or anger. It is better to identify the cause of sorrow, suffering, how we can remove the cause. After that, we can relieve from sorrow, suffering. If there is no sorrow, suffering, we feel only happiness. This helps us to perform our activities well, even to attain nibbhana ( the enlightened one ).
