Dukkha — Suffering in Buddhism
In Pali, dukkha means “suffering”, “unsatisfactoriness”, or “stress”. It is the First Noble Truth — not pessimism, but realism about conditioned existence.
Three kinds of dukkha
- Dukkha-dukkhatā — obvious suffering (pain, loss, illness),
- Saṅkhāra-dukkhatā — suffering from the instability of all compounded things,
- Vipariṇāma-dukkhatā — suffering from the change of even pleasant experiences.
“Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering…”
— Saṃyutta Nikāya 56.11
Why it matters
Dukkha is not “life is bad”. It’s:
→ *All conditioned things are unstable.*
→ *Trying to hold onto them causes stress.*
→ *Seeing this clearly is the first step to freedom.*