Dukkha

Suffering or unsatisfactoriness, the first of the four noble truths.

Dukkha is a Pali word often translated as suffering, but it means something broader: unsatisfactoriness, unease, the feeling that something is not quite right. According to some interpreters the image behind it is that of a wheel sitting crookedly on its axle, so that it jolts with every turn.

Dukkha is the first of the four noble truths the Buddha taught after his awakening. The first truth establishes that there is dukkha: birth, old age, illness and death, but also not getting what you want and being separated from what you love. The second names the cause: craving and attachment. The third says that dukkha can cease. And the fourth points the way: the eightfold path of right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.

The tradition distinguishes three kinds of dukkha. Ordinary suffering, such as pain and grief. The suffering of change: even what is pleasant passes. And the most subtle suffering, which arises from the fact that everything is conditioned and impermanent. Dukkha is thus connected with anicca, impermanence, and anatta, non-self.

Buddhism is not a pessimistic teaching in this. Establishing dukkha is like a doctor making a diagnosis: only when you know what is there can you work towards healing. That is why the Buddha is also called the great physician.

In dream interpretation the concept of dukkha helps to look at bad dreams soberly. An anxiety dream or a dream about loss shows what you are holding on to. That is not a verdict, but an indication of where compassion and attention are needed. On Dreamkin the Buddhist readings read dreams in that spirit.