Dukkha is the feeling-thought of stress, suffering & dissatisfaction caused by our nature, as conditioned by evolution, to feel that things are never what they “should be.” Beneath it all lies our continuous, usually unconscious fear about our mortality, both as individuals, & through loss of all we care for. The Pāli word dukkha is usually translated as “suffering” or “unsatisfactoriness.” These are accurate as far as they go, but the concept is much more far-reaching & fundamental than any single word can express. Along with anicca, impermanence, & anattā, not-self, dukkha is one of three characteristics of human experience. Experience is made up of a stream of constantly changing events in the mind; we have the illusion of a solid, separate self among this flow; this illusion arose because having it increases the likelihood we will survive & pass on our DNA. The painful friction between the illusion of a solid self & the reality of impermanence, especially death, creates the third characteristic of experience: pain & suffering: dukkha. The process of the three characteristics is observable with a mind trained by meditation; the goal of Gotama’s training is to eliminate dukkha by dissolving its origin through clearly seeing mental processes. This complex process is detailed by Gotama as dependent arising (paṭiccasamuppāda). All of Gotama’s teachings can be understood through their relationship to understanding & eliminating dukkha. 1
dependent arising • impermanence • not self • terror management • three characteristics