each the illiterate; Buddhism makes use of numbers in so many ways as to make your head spin. The first and foremost among those numbers being the Four Noble Truths: the first, as was mentioned earlier, that we all, great and small, must suffer (dukkha). The second being that while there are different kinds of dukkha we tend to bring it on ourselves because we seek satisfaction in ways that are inherently dissatisfying. The third, and fourth noble truths are respectively, that the possibility of liberationfrom dukkha exists for all, and that the way to liberation is virtue, wisdom, and meditation; all delineated in The Eightfold Path of Enlightenment. While these Four Noble Truths have been stated much more bluntly or eloquently than I have managed here, it is most necessary to understand the first two Noble Truths for our purposes.In my research to list and define different kinds and origins of dukka, I was more suprised to find that indeed, putting a finger (an English speaking finger at that) on the word dukkha itself was quite a challenge. The word “dukkha” does not translate well to English, it has an antonym in the word “sukkha” which means satiated or comfortable, but dukkha is not the exact opposite. The literal Sanskrit word means “wheel out of balance” but it is used in many ways such as “off the mark” “frustrating” “hollow” and even “pain”, but in most cases it is equated with the English word “suffering”. So by agreeing that suffering has many different forms ranging from minor inconveniences to blunt physical torture, and every emotional shade of grey in between, “suffering” then becomes an adequate word.Any book you pick up on Buddhism will touch on dukkha in some way. In fact, a good way to tell a westernized translation from something translated as closely as possible to the literal is to read the Four ...
