SUFFERING

The Pāḷi word dukkha is usually translated as 'suffering' and is the first of the four Noble Truths. The Buddha defined it like this: 'Birth, old age, sickness and dying are all dukkha, separation from the liked is dukkha, being joined with the disliked is dukkha (Vin.I,9). Dukkha is more than just physical suffering, it is the general incompleteness, unsatisfactoriness, inadequacy and the jarring nature of existence. To give but one example. In the past there was a high rate of infant mortality. This problem was solved by better nutrition and health care and now the well-being of humanity is threatened by a burgeoning population. Birth results in death, satisfaction leads to boredom, the solution to one problem contains within it the seeds of a new problem.