Grammatical Analysis
Sukha: [nt.; adj.] happiness; ease; bliss; pleasure; pleasant feeling. Traditionally derived from su (good, easy) + kha (axle-hole), meaning a smooth-running wheel or carriage that rides perfectly. Doctrinally implies that which is comfortable and easy to endure.
Orthodox Definition
Sukha operates across two primary structural fields in Theravāda psychology: as an affective feeling tone (sukha-vedanā) and as a specific factor of meditative absorption (jhānaṅga).
When arising as an ordinary sensation through the body (kāyika-sukha), it is a pleasant physical feeling. When arising within the mind (cetasika-sukha), it is technically termed somanassa (mental gladness/joy).
As a jhāna factor running through the first, second, and third material absorptions, sukha is the deep, non-sensual spiritual bliss that emerges when the mind is fully sequestered from the five hindrances. The Atthasālinī defines its characteristic as gratifying or intensifying accompanying states (upabrūhana-lakkhaṇa).
While pīti agitates the mind with active excitement, sukha settles the mind into a profound, tranquil ease, providing the immediate proximate cause (padaṭṭhāna) for the arising of unmoving concentration (samādhi).
Textual References
- Sutta: Sukhavagga (AN 2) – Detailed taxonomies comparing worldly, household happiness against the vast superiority of monastic, non-sensual, and supramundane bliss.
- Abhidhamma: Dhammasaṅgaṇī (Mapping feeling distributions across states of consciousness).
- Commentary: Visuddhimagga (Chapter IV) – Providing the classic architectural distinctions separating rapture from ease.