7.1. Recognizing Dukkha
Dukkha is another Pāḷi word with such a broad scope of meanings, that no single English word can encompass it fully. On a physical level, dukkha is aches and pains. On a mental level, dukkha is everything from stress and anxiety to full-on paranoia and depression. But these aren't the real problem, as we also experience physical comfort and pleasure, and mental calm and happiness.
The kind of dukkha that the Buddha was talking about in the Four Noble Truths is not something that gets experienced from time to time, like physical pain and mental stress. It is an inherent quality of experience itself. The fact that everything is constructed and conditioned, means it can never last, cannot provide any lasting satisfaction, or be a permanent basis upon which to build one's life, cannot be relied on. This kind of dukkha is sometimes called existential dukkha or structural dukkha. In some suttas it is called saṅkhāradukkhatā, the fact of suffering inherent in conditioned phenomena.
dukkhaṃ, dukkhanti, āvuso sāriputta, vuccati. katamaṃ nu kho, āvuso, dukkhanti?
tisso imā, āvuso, dukkhatā. dukkhadukkhatā, saṅkhāradukkhatā, vipariṇāmadukkhatā – imā kho, āvuso, tisso dukkhatā"ti.
SN38.14 dukkhapañhāsuttaṃ
It is said, 'dukkha dukkha.' What is this dukkha, venerable?
There are three states of dukkha. The state of actual dukkha, the state of dukkha inherent in conditions, and the state of dukkha inherent in change.
So, keep in mind that when we talk about dukkha from here onwards, we are not talking about dukkha-vedanā or some unpleasant experience, we are talking about bigger picture dukkha, an inherent quality of existence which is part of the conditioned structure of life.
Nobody wants to talk about dukkha
As a society, we're programmed to avoid the topic of dukkha. Talking about it can make people really uncomfortable. But the reverse is true, not facing the reality of dukkha, and being constantly ambushed by it from every side is grounds for severe unhappiness, stress, anxiety and depression.
People act as if not thinking about it and not talking about it will somehow make dukkha go away, like a child covering their eyes to make someone disappear, or someone covering their ears and shouting, "La la la la la" to avoid hearing something they don't want to hear, so they can pretend it does't exist.
These are all facts of life.
- Every birth ends in death.
- Every young person become a sick old person.
- Every body ends up as worm food or dust.
- Every relationship, be it family, friend, lover or pet, ends in separation or death.
- Every plate and cup ends in pieces.
- Every car ends on the scrapyard.
- Every expensive consumer electronic item ends in a junk heap.
- Every flower withers and decays.
- Every mouthful of fine food ends in the toilet.
- Every sip of a delicious drink ends as urine.
Observe how your mind recoils from these facts. Do you find these basic facts of existence depressing? The real question is why should the most common occurrences be so abhorrent to think about? Why do the most inevitable events come as a big surprise and shock when they happen?
As humans we place enormous faith in things which are constructed and conditioned—things like health, family and children, career, status, wealth, material possessions, land, property, political affiliation, gender identity, national identity, even life itself. Structurally, there's no possibility of getting permanent fulfilment from impermanent things. This is dukkha.
As an example, no matter how much organic food we eat, no matter how many nutritional supplements we take, no matter what health practices we undertake, no matter what exercises regimen we perform, we are all still going to get old, sick and die. All 8 billion of us will be dead in a little more than a century. This is dukkha.
It's unavoidable, but still, we do our very best to try and avoid thinking about it.
So, let's talk about dukkha
Developing a sane response to the reality of dukkha starts with facing the facts.
jātipi dukkhā, jarāpi dukkhā, maraṇampi dukkhaṃ, sokaparidevadukkhadomanassupāyāsāpi dukkhā, appiyehi sampayogopi dukkho, piyehi vippayogopi dukkho, yampicchaṃ na labhati tampi dukkhaṃ, saṃkhittena pañcupādānakkhandhā dukkhā – idaṃ vuccatāvuso, dukkhaṃ.
MN9 sammādiṭṭhisuttaṃ
Birth is dukkha, old age is dukkha, death is dukkha, grief, wailing, pain, suffering and trouble are dukkha, association with the unloved is dukkha, separation from the loved is dukkha, not getting what one wants is dukkha, in short, the clinging to the aggregates of existence is dukkha. This, sir, is what is called dukkha.
Dukkha is a fact of life, there's no way around it.
The Buddha summed up this up very succinctly with the statement
yadaniccaṃ taṃ dukkhaṃ.
SN35.1 ajjhattāniccasuttaṃ
Whatever is impermanent is dukkha.
You could express this in so may ways.
Whatever is impermanent cannot be a source of permanent satisfaction.
Whatever is unstable cannot be a foundation for stable gratification.
Whatever is temporary cannot be a condition for lasting happiness.
As we have seen for ourselves in meditation, every single experience is anicca, every component of experience is anicca. Everything that results from experience as anicca. So how is it possible to get anything permanent from impermanent experience? This is the simplest way to connect that fact of impermanence within our own experience with the overarching, all-encompassing reality of existential dukkha.
Seeing this clearly, will we try and seek gratification or lasting satisfaction in impermanent experiences? No, we will not.
Meditation on recognizing dukkha
Let's do a practical meditation exercise to learn to recognize dukkha, not as some abstract concept, but a tangible reality within our own experience.
Transcript
Let's learn to recognise dukkha within our own experience.
One way to do this is to understand the Buddha's statement of yad aniccaṃ taṃ dukkhaṃ.
Whatever is anicca, that is dukkha.
To say this in another way.
Whatever is impermanent cannot be a source of permanent satisfaction.
Whatever is unstable cannot be a foundation for stable gratification.
Whatever is temporary cannot be a condition for lasting happiness.
Let's start by recognizing anicca within experience.
A new experience arises.
The current experience changes.
The experience ends and disappears.
This is anicca.
Can you get any permanent satisfaction from impermanent experiences?
Can you get stable gratification from unstable experiences?
Can you get lasting happiness from temporary experiences?
No, that is not possible.
yad aniccaṃ taṃ dukkhaṃ.
Whatever is anicca, that is dukkha.
Train yourself to recognise dukkha within experience like this.
Make the connection between the fact of anicca and the fact of dukkha.
Let's examine the visual field.
Open your eyes and take a look around you.
A new experience of seeing arises.
The current experience of seeing changes.
The experience of seeing ends and disappears.
This is anicca.
yad aniccaṃ taṃ dukkhaṃ.
Whatever is anicca, that is dukkha.
Whatever is impermanent cannot be a source of permanent satisfaction.
Whatever is unstable cannot be a foundation for stable gratification.
Whatever is temporary cannot be a condition for lasting happiness.
Train yourself to recognise dukkha within experience like this.
Make the connection between the fact of anicca and the fact of dukkha.
Now let's examine the auditory field.
Take a listen to the sounds around you.
A new experience of hearing arises.
The current experience of hearing changes.
The experience of hearing ends and disappears.
This is anicca.
yad aniccaṃ taṃ dukkhaṃ.
Whatever is anicca, that is dukkha.
Impermanent sounds cannot be a source of permanent satisfaction.
Unstable experiences cannot be a foundation for stable gratification.
Temporary experiences cannot be a condition for lasting happiness.
Train yourself to recognise dukkha within experience like this.
Make the connection between the fact of anicca and the fact of dukkha.
Next let's examine the olfactory field.
Take a deep sniff of the smells around you.
A new experience of smelling arises.
The current experience of smelling changes.
The experience of smelling ends and disappears.
This is anicca.
yad aniccaṃ taṃ dukkhaṃ.
Whatever is anicca, that is dukkha.
Impermanent smells cannot be a source of permanent satisfaction.
Unstable experiences cannot be a foundation for stable gratification.
Temporary experiences cannot be a condition for lasting happiness.
Train yourself to recognise dukkha within experience like this.
Make the connection between the fact of anicca and the fact of dukkha.
Next let's examine the field of taste.
Taste whatever is in your mouth.
A new experience of tasting arises.
The current experience of tasting changes.
The experience of tasting ends and disappears.
This is anicca.
yad aniccaṃ taṃ dukkhaṃ.
Whatever is anicca, that is dukkha.
Impermanent tastes cannot be a source of permanent satisfaction.
Unstable experiences cannot be a foundation for stable gratification.
Temporary experiences cannot be a condition for lasting happiness.
Train yourself to recognise dukkha within experience like this.
Keep making the connection between the fact of anicca and the fact of dukkha.
Next let's examine the field of physical sensations.
Feel your body all the sensations.
A new experience of physical sensation arises.
The current experience of physical sensation changes.
The experience of physical sensation ends and disappears.
This is anicca.
yad aniccaṃ taṃ dukkhaṃ.
Whatever is anicca, that is dukkha.
Impermanent physical sensations cannot be a source of permanent satisfaction.
Unstable experiences cannot be a foundation for stable gratification.
Temporary experiences cannot be a condition for lasting happiness.
Train yourself to recognise dukkha within experience like this.
Make the connection between the fact of anicca and the fact of dukkha.
Now let's examine the mental field.
Notice all the mental phenomena occurring, moods, perceptions, thoughts.
A new mental experience arises.
The current mental experience changes.
The mental experience ends and disappears.
This is anicca.
yad aniccaṃ taṃ dukkhaṃ.
Whatever is anicca, that is dukkha.
Impermanent mental phenomena cannot be a source of permanent satisfaction.
Unstable experiences cannot be a foundation for stable gratification.
Temporary experiences cannot be a condition for lasting happiness.
Train yourself to recognise dukkha within experience like this.
Make the connection between the fact of anicca and the fact of dukkha.
Now lets come back to open awareness.
Notice the experience that is most prominent right now.
A new experience arises.
The current experience changes.
The experience ends and disappears.
This is anicca.
yad aniccaṃ taṃ dukkhaṃ.
Whatever is anicca, that is dukkha.
Whatever is impermanent cannot be a source of permanent satisfaction.
Whatever is unstable cannot be a foundation for stable gratification.
Whatever is temporary cannot be a condition for lasting happiness.
Train yourself to recognise dukkha within experience like this.
Make the connection between the fact of anicca and the fact of dukkha.
It's easy to see recognize that every experience arises, changes and disappears.
Now train yourself to recognize that this itself is dukkha.
yad aniccaṃ taṃ dukkhaṃ.
Whatever is anicca, that itself is dukkha.
Make the connection between this anicca in experience right now, and the understanding that this change is a manifestation of dukkha.
yad aniccaṃ taṃ dukkhaṃ.
Whatever is anicca, that is dukkha.
Impermanent experiences cannot be a source of permanent satisfaction.
Unstable experiences cannot be a foundation for stable gratification.
Temporary experiences cannot be a condition for lasting happiness.
Keep recognizing dukkha within experience in this way.
Can you get any permanent satisfaction from impermanent experiences?
Can you get stable gratification from unstable experiences?
Can you get lasting happiness from temporary experiences?
No, that is not possible.
yad aniccaṃ taṃ dukkhaṃ.
Whatever is anicca, that is dukkha.
Keep training yourself to recognise dukkha within experience.
Make the connection between the fact of anicca and the fact of dukkha.
yad aniccaṃ taṃ dukkhaṃ.
Whatever is anicca, that is dukkha.
Q&A
Q: Do you have any questions or doubts at this point?