Search results for: "Dukkha"
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- Asalha Puja… There’s the truth of stress or suffering—dukkha—the truth of the cause, the truth of the cessation, and the truth of the path of practice leading to cessation. Those are the four truths. In explaining stress, the Buddha gave a list of examples. There’s the stress of suffering at birth, aging, illness, and death; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, despair, having to …
- Coming into the Present… And the word characteristic, lakkhana, is never compounded in the suttas with, say, anicca, dukkha, or anatta. They’re compounded with saññā, perception: the perception of inconstancy, the perception of stress, the perception of not-self. They’re also compounded with another word, anupassana, usually translated as contemplation, but actually it means keeping track of a particular theme. Once everything is settled down, you …
- Understanding Pain… t really put as past the problem of having to suffer over the pain. Fortunately, we have the teachings of the Buddha. He begins right there with the problem of pain. Dukkha—the Pali term—means suffering, stress, pain. The Dhamma is all about explaining what the pain is, how it happens, and what we can do to put an end to the cause …
- Birth Is Suffering*Jātipi dukkhā. *Birth is suffering. I heard someone recently explaining the Buddha’s list of the different forms of suffering. He came to this one and he said, “Well, that’s behind us now.” The problem is that it’s not behind us. We have it behind us, but we also have it ahead of us if we’re not careful. Each time it …
- To Discern Suffering… The word dukkha we translate as suffering can also mean stress or pain. Everybody knows pain. But to really understand suffering and to understand pain, you need to realize that there are two kinds. There’s the kind that’s simply inherent in the way things are, and there’s the kind that’s added on. When the Buddha’s talking in terms of …
- The Wheel of Dhamma… The first of the noble truths is dukkha, which means pain, suffering, and stress. The second truth is the cause of suffering and stress. The third is the cessation of suffering and stress. And the fourth is the path to that cessation. In other words, the Buddha is saying that suffering and stress are problems that can be solved. In fact, the four truths …
- A Handful of Leaves… in his awakening were like the leaves in the forest. The things he taught were like the leaves in his hand. What did he teach? He taught the four noble truths: dukkha, which can be translated as stress or suffering; its cause; its cessation; and the path to its cessation. The reason why he focused only on this handful of leaves, he said, was …
- A Refuge Inside… As he says, Sabbe sankhara dukkha: All fabricated things are suffering. But then there’s also the suffering of the four noble truths, what he calls the five clinging-aggregates. The first kind of suffering is just the way things are, in and of themselves. The question is: Why does that create suffering for us? Because of our clinging. So you’ve got to …
- Right View… First is the truth of suffering or stress; dukkha is the Pali term. Sometimes we’re told that the first truth is that “life is suffering” or “everything is suffering,” but that’s not the case. The Buddha basically said that “there is suffering.” It’s one of four things you’re going to encounter in life that you should pay attention to. You …
- Exploring What You’ve Got… In making your awareness and your mindfulness constant, you also give rise to a sense of ease, sukha, which is the opposite of dukkha. Again, it seems to be working at cross-purposes with the three characteristics, but you’re doing it as part of a strategy. The greater sense of ease you have in the present moment, the more delight you take in …
- A Heart Wider than the World… That was one of the Forest ajaan’s definitions of dukkha, or stress: what puts a squeeze on the heart. As long as our aspirations are defined by what the world has to offer, it’s going to put that squeeze on us. So we have to learn to look around, expand our horizons. Think about the Buddha: He was a very large-hearted …
- The Power of Truth… The same with dukkha and anattā: Each is a perception that you follow, that you try to cultivate, and then you watch to see what it does in your experience, to see if the effect it has on your mind helps promote dispassion, helps promote an understanding. But you’re not here to “get” anattā. You use these things as tools then you put …
- Asalha Puja… The first truth is dukkha, suffering, stress. The Buddha gives examples: birth, aging, and illness are stress, not getting what you want is stress, having to be with what you don’t like is stress, having to be separated from what you *do *like is stress. Then he summarizes all forms of stress, saying that the five aggregates, when you cling to them, are …
- Refuge in an Admirable Friend… If it’s not happiness, if it’s dukkha, stressful, it’s not what you want. If it’s inconstant and stressful, it’s anattā: not worth claiming as you or yours. So, the wisdom hidden in that question can go pretty deep. And it’s based on the desire for true happiness, a happiness that lasts. In terms of compassion, the second quality …
- The Best of a Bad Situation… This is why the Buddha made dukkha —pain, suffering, stress—his first noble truth. He pointed directly to the issue that most people like to run away from. He said, “Look, you’ve got to comprehend this. Only when you comprehend pain can you put an end to it.” So he was willing to face down the pain, face down all the facts of …
- Right Learning… They’re for this awareness right here, right now, teaching you how to get rid of the suffering that’s right here, right now—the sense of burdensomeness, the sense of stress, however you want to translate the word dukkha. So you don’t have to carry the teachings around on your shoulders to weigh yourself down, but you don’t throw them away …
- Time & Place… He says, “Maybe this monk was thinking about the fact that all feelings are painful, all feelings are dukkha. Since actions result in feeling, all actions would result in pain.” The Buddha says, “Here’s another fool. When you’re talking about karma, you talk about the three kinds of feeling: pleasant, painful, neither pleasant nor painful.” That’s because when you’re talking …
- Take Time to Evaluate Your Life… The question is, what’s the best way to shape it? The Buddha’s recommendation is that you focus on the issue of stress: *dukkha, *also translated as suffering, particularly the kind you’re causing yourself. You would think that everything you do would be for the purpose of pleasure, and often it is, but all too often your actions lead to stress, lead …
- The Noble Truths Come First… The word “stress” here translates the Pali term, dukkha, which can mean anything from very subtle levels of stress all the way to very deep suffering. So whether we feel a lot of suffering in our lives or just a little bit of stress—however you translate the term—that’s the problem that makes us want to come and meditate, to straighten out …
- The Particulars of Your Suffering… As the Buddha said, when you face dukkha—suffering or stress—you have two reactions. One is a sense of bewilderment: Why is this happening to me? And the second is a search: Is there anyone who knows a way out from this suffering and stress? The Buddha took that sense of bewilderment very seriously. The other teachings given in his time that he …
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