Verified
Grammatical Analysis
Dukkha: [nt.; adj.] suffering; pain; unsatisfactoriness; stress; insecurity. Traditionally derived from du (bad, difficult) + kha (space, axle-hole), implying a wheel that fits badly on its axle, causing a jarring, unstable ride. Alternatively, from du (vile) + khama (to bear), meaning that which is hard to endure.
Orthodox Definition
Dukkha is the core existential problem that Buddhism sets out to diagnose and cure. In the Ariyasacca (Noble Truths) framework, it is the First Noble Truth, which must be fully understood (pariññeyya).
The Mahāvihāra commentary emphasizes that dukkha operates on three distinct levels of reality:
- Dukkha-dukkha: Suffering as ordinary physical pain, mental grief, and obvious distress.
- Vipariṇāma-dukkha: Suffering inherent in change. Even the highest worldly pleasures and states of happiness are dukkha because they are unstable and bound to end, causing distress when they pass.
- Saṅkhāra-dukkha: Suffering inherent in conditioned existence. This is the deepest level, meaning that all five aggregates (khandha) are fundamentally insecure and unsatisfactory because they are constantly subject to rise, fall, and oppression by conditioning forces.
Quote
Jātipi dukkhā, jarāpi dukkhā, byādhipi dukkho, maraṇampi dukkhaṃ, appiyehi sampayogo dukkho, piyehi vippayogo dukkho, yampicchaṃ na labhati tampi dukkhaṃ—saṅkhittena pañcupādānakkhandhā dukkhā.
Rebirth is suffering, old age is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering, association with the disliked is suffering, separation from the liked is suffering, not getting what one wants is suffering—in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering.— Saṃyutta Nikāya (SN 56.11)
Cattārīsākāraanupassanākathā.
Discourse on the Forty Aspects of Contemplation.So tasseva pañcasu khandhesu aniccadukkhānattasammasanassa thirabhāvatthāya, yaṃ taṃ bhagavatā ‘‘katamehi cattārīsāya ākārehi anulomikaṃ khantiṃ paṭilabhati, katamehi cattārīsāya ākārehi sammattaniyāmaṃ okkamatī’’ti etassa vibhaṅge –
For the sake of firmly establishing the contemplation of impermanence, suffering, and not-self in those five aggregates, as the Blessed One said in the analysis of “By what forty aspects does one attain conformable patience? By what forty aspects does one enter the fixed course of rightness?”—1. Aniccānupassanā (10 Aspects of Impermanence):
‘‘Pañcakkhandhe aniccato, palokato, calato, pabhaṅguto, addhuvato, vipariṇāmadhammato, asārakato, vibhavato, saṅkhatato, maraṇadhammato’’ti.
“The five aggregates are impermanent, disintegrating, unstable, perishable, unreliable, subject to change, without essence, subject to dissolution, conditioned, subject to death.”2. Dukkhānupassanā (25 Aspects of Suffering):
‘‘Dukkhato, rogato, gaṇḍato, sallato, aghato, ābādhato, ītito, upaddavato, bhayato, upasaggato, atāṇato, aleṇato, asaraṇato, ādīnavato, aghamūlato, vadhakato, sāsavato, mārāmisato, jātidhammato, jarādhammato, byādhidhammato, sokadhammato, paridevadhammato, upāyāsadhammato, saṃkilesikadhammato’’ti.
“[The five aggregates are] painful, a disease, a boil, a dart, a misfortune, an affliction, a calamity, a disaster, a danger, an obstacle, without refuge, without shelter, without protection, fraught with danger, the root of misfortune, a slayer, with fermentations, a bait of Māra, subject to birth, subject to aging, subject to sickness, subject to sorrow, subject to lamentation, subject to despair, subject to defilement.”3. Anattānupassanā (5 Aspects of Not-Self):
‘‘Parato, rittato, tucchato, suññato, anattato’’ti.
“[The five aggregates are] alien, empty, void, hollow, not-self.”— Visuddhimagga (du)
Textual References
- Sutta: Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta (DN 22) – Exhaustive definition of the components of dukkha.
- Abhidhamma: Vibhaṅga (Saccavibhaṅga section) – Technical breakdowns of the truth of suffering.
- Commentary: Visuddhimagga (Chapter XVI) – In-depth analysis of the meanings and classifications of dukkha.