Duḥkha
Duḥkha (/ˈduːkə/), 'unease', "standing unstable," commonly translated as "suffering", "pain", or "unhappiness", is an important concept in Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. Its meaning depends on the context, and may refer more specifically to the "unsatisfactoriness" or "unease" of mundane life, not being at ease when driven by craving/grasping and ignorance.
| Translations of Duḥkha | |
|---|---|
| English | suffering, unhappiness, pain, unsatisfactoriness, unease, stress |
| Sanskrit | दुःख (IAST: Duḥkha) |
| Pali | Dukkha |
| Bengali | দুঃখ (dukkhô) |
| Burmese | ဒုက္ခ (MLCTS: doʊʔkʰa̰) |
| Chinese | 苦 (Pinyin: kǔ) |
| Japanese | 苦 (Rōmaji: ku) |
| Khmer | ទុក្ខ (UNGEGN: tŭkkh) |
| Korean | 고 苦 (RR: ko) |
| Sinhala | දුක්ඛ සත්යය (dukkha satyaya) |
| Tibetan | སྡུག་བསྔལ། (Wylie: sdug bsngal; THL: dukngal) |
| Tamil | துக்கம் (thukkam) |
| Tagalog | ᜇᜓᜃᜀ dukha |
| Thai | ทุกข์ (RTGS: thuk) |
| Vietnamese | 苦 khổ 災害 Bất toại |
| Glossary of Buddhism | |
While the term dukkha has often been derived from the prefix du ("bad" or "difficult") and the root kha, "empty", "hole", a badly fitting axle-hole of a cart or chariot giving "a very bumpy ride", it may actually be derived from duḥ-stha, a "dis-/ bad- + stand-", that is, "standing badly, unsteady", "unstable".
It is the first of the Four Noble Truths and it is one of the three marks of existence. The term also appears in scriptures of Hinduism, such as the Upanishads, in discussions of moksha (spiritual liberation).