The Concept of Dukkha in Buddhism: An Analysis

Buddhism is a philosophy that is often viewed as a religion and dates back to approximately 6th century B.C.E. Buddhism originated in the Indian subcontinent by a man known as Siddhartha Gautama. The original language of Buddhism is often debated as some scholars believe that it was first practiced in Pali while other believe it was first spoken in Sanskrit. The practice of Buddhism first spread to China in the 2nd century A.C.E and was translated to Mandarin in 3rd century A.C.E. Today, there are approximately half a billion Buddhists worldwide (CNN). The main branches of Buddhism are: Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Vajrayana Buddhism (Whittlemore). To speak briefly of the three schools; Theravada Buddhism is the most conservative or orthodox of the branches as it uses Buddha’s original teaches and themes without alterations; Mahayana Buddhism teaches that spiritual bliss is universally accessible to everyone no matter of the person’s background or religious belief; Vajrayana Buddhism, also known as Tibetan Buddhism, is the smallest of the three branches and hold many gurus as political leaders. The most well known leader of Vajrayana Buddhism is the Dalai Lama. Buddhism has several main components such as its early teachings from Buddha, co-dependent arising, and the concept of no self.

Our book describes stress as “any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and tax one’s coping ability” (Weiten, 2014). Stress is not necessarily a traumatic, life destroying event. It can be as simple a small change in one’s daily schedule. People will have multiple stresses throughout their lifetime. Some will be little and daily, but overtime these add up and can affect you in many ways. Stress can be positive or negative and can take many forms; a few being frustration, internal conflict, change, and pressure. All of which make almost a daily appearance in my life (Weiten, 2014).

We must learn to maneuver this fear of death and loss and overcome it to the point where we do not let our fear of the impermanence of death stop us from feeling happiness from our close relationships. Before doing so, we must state our definition of happiness as it varies from one person to the next. Looking at it from Daniel M. Haybron’s views, one of his three basic theories to happiness is the one this essay shall support; which is an emotional state theory. This state is known as happiness from a positive emotional condition. The state of mind one gets from surrounding themselves with loved ones brings absolute joy and happiness to people, although as the Buddhists state in their second form of suffering, with happiness comes suffering, all negative experiences deriving from impermanence; after the first form of suffering which is all the experiences that one would usually classify as painful. One cannot avoid the suffering that comes along with impermanence, not only is there suffering in not getting

Buddhism began in the fourth and fifth centuries before Christ by Siddhartha Gautama. The teachings of Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gautama, are the major beliefs of Buddhism. Buddhism is a belief and religion based on an assortment of customs, principles, and practices. The name Buddha means the awakened one. Buddha’s teachings were of the termination of suffering, attaining nirvana, and absconding from the cycle of suffering and rebirth. Buddhism has spread all across Asia and throughout the world, now with between two hundred thirty million and five hundred million followers. Buddhism is largely based around the belief of Karma. Karma is the “action, seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation” (Dictionary.com) or “the cosmic principle according to which each person is rewarded or punished in one incarnation according to that person’s deeds in the previous incarnation.” (Dictionary.com) In simpler words, how you live your life now determines how you will come back when your current soul expires. Buddhists live their lives in hopes of achieving to be placed in the highest state known as Heaven. The after-life stems from Karma and leads into Rebirth. Rebirth is a course of action where humans proceed within multiple lifetimes in one or more of the six states of after-life. Each lifetime begins with birth and ends with death. Buddhists believe that we should not fear death because

The assignment was received today. Upon receiving the task I used Google to search for webpages or organisations that discussed what stress was and how it affected the body. I particularly focused on sources that would be knowledgeable in psychology to some extent to ensure that the sources I used were as reliable and credible as possible. The first webpage that I looked at was Simply Psychology’s “What is the Stress Response” article by Saul McLeod, which I found to be very helpful and well summarised. I recorded notes on what was said on this source and annotated it. To follow up, I again, used the Simply Psychology search engine to find what information they had on emotion-focused

The four noble truths of Buddhism are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path to the end of suffering. These four truths are the basics of Buddha's teaching, and is the most frequently shared belief amongst Buddhists. The first noble truth is suffering, meaning life is Dukkha. This noble truth interpretation is that suffering appears in many shapes. And it is believe that anything short-term is Dukkha, even pleasure. The second truth is the cause of suffering, also known as samudaya. In this truth, Buddhism claims the cause for suffering are cupidity, wants, illiteracy, loathing and devastating desires. The second truth does not mean a person should give up what they love to be happy. But the problem lies within an individual connection to their passion that puts them in trouble. The third truth is the end of suffering, also known as Nirodha. This truth believes that there is a possibility of freedom. The fourth truth is the path to the end of suffering, also known as magga. In the fourth truth, it is believed that in order to end suffering, one must follow the eightfold strategy.

Stress, America’s silent killers. Stress affects people of all ages, ethnicities and genders. Due to its complex nature the concept of stress is constantly being studied. Extensive research has discovered that stress can cause both psychological, and physiological issues. I’m writing on the concept of stress because it is something I have been able to identify with as a transitioning college student. It is also something I know many people can identify with but don’t necessarily know how to deal with.

Well after reaching enlightenment Buddha traveled the world teaching the basic beliefs and practices of Buddhism. However, most of Buddha’s teachings, practices, and traditions were passed orally for generation before being transcribed. Buddha is technically considered a deity, but many Buddhist consider but a teacher that they pray to for enlightenment (Britannica). In Buddhist belief the arrival of a buddha, which translates to enlighten one or teacher, signifies an important point in human history. The Buddha which the world knows about is famous for the reason of founding Buddhism and teaching the Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Path. Buddha taught his follower the Four Noble Truths that state that misery is real, misery is born from want and pleasure, this want can be controlled, and the way to do that was through the Eightfold Path. The Eightfold path is a list of way to lives one lives and purifies one’s self (Britannica). The Buddhist belief system states that life is suffering and a cycle of rebirth and the only way to escape this suffering is to purify one's mind and self through multiples of rebirths and the practicing of the Eightfold Path until one reaches Nirvana or enlightenment. Meditation is one way Buddhist does this (Baumann).

In conclusion, my topic was about the stress in America. I was interested in this topic, because I wanted to see stress around the regions of American and what was the result of their stress levels. I wanted you to be interested in this topic, because it gave you a general look at how stress is a problem in our country as of today, I showed you why some parts of our country were more stressed than other parts and I provided you a study of how some people in my class felt about stress. I defined stress as “The nonspecific response of the body to any demand made upon it”. It also involves depression, anger or just simply being tired of doing something. The first article was titled “Which Stress Matters? The Examination of Temporal Aspects of Stress”. This article looked at the past, present and expected future on distress. It involved thirty-eight males and forty-one females, who were spouses of patients hospitalized for non-life-threatening diseases. The type of method that this

The core principal of Buddhism is the Four Noble Truths. The Buddha Shakyamuni’s first sermon, the setting in motion of the wheel of dharma, detailed the Four Noble Truths. The First Noble Truth is about the inherent nature of suffering in the world; that is, everything is suffering. From a Western standpoint, the idea that the world is entirely suffering appears pessimistic. To the Buddhists, this is not a pessimistic viewpoint, but an honest one. In this paper, I will examine whether or not the world in suffering by looking at first the Buddhist justification and then my personal experiences and beliefs.

Moving on to the noble eightfold path, now that dukkha has been defined, the path is the solution to end all suffering. This path is not supposed to be an easy task as it takes a lot of effort (the sixth of the eightfold path). In another aspect of Buddhism, the four noble truths, the first truth states “To live is to suffer.” In other words it could be said that the eightfold path defies what is understood by living. Perfect view, the first on the path, is accepting the four noble truths and the three marks of existence.

Sara Munns in her essay “Keep Calm And Stress On”, argues the negative perception of stress, propagated by modern society has led to an unnecessary push towards lifestyles aimed at mitigating stress in daily life. To give her readers a new perspective of stress, she focuses on the positive aspects of stress and how with the proper view it can benefit its recipient. In this essay I will first, analyze the various claims made by Miss Munns, as well as the assumptions that correspond with these claims, and finally I will conclude by giving a personal account of the overall effectiveness this essay has had on my perception of stress.

The Buddha himself had to suffer spiritually while he tried to find his enlightened path. The Four Noble Truths teaches and explores human suffering and have been describe as simplistic but useful. Dukkha is the first of the Four Noble Truths. Dukkha teaches that suffering exists, it is real and universal and has many causes, pain, and failure. Samudaya is number two of The Four Noble Truths. Samudaya teaches that there is a reason for suffering. The belief is Suffering is wanting to control things and can take multiple forms like, wanting sensual pleasures, the need for fame, and wanting to avoid unpleasant sensations. Just as Samudaya teaches that there is a reason for suffering, Nirodha teaches that suffering will end. Suffering will end with final liberation of nirvana, the mind will experience complete freedom. The fourth and final Noble Truth is Magga which teaches that in order to completely end all suffering you must follow the Eightfold Path (Johnson, J. M. 2015). Buddhists do not believe in flashiness, money, and worldly possessions bringing you ultimate

In my view, today’s society’s emphasis on modernisation promotes the rise of stress in all aspects of our life. New illnesses proliferate causing misery and fatality; cancer alone is the cause of many deaths not to mention other diseases which if researched

Dukkha which refers to something that is bad and therefore unsubstantial is the first noble truth. It is the realization that life itself is suffering. Dukkha is death, decay, grief, destruction and despair. It comprises of the imbalances of life, attachments, and the disturbances of life that cause disharmony. It is quite difficult to accept dukkha as truth because the human mind is fragile and isn’t capable of accepting the disturbing or upsetting. The human mind is only capable of simplifying life 's complexities and ignoring what may be traumatizing. Life is only blissful when one dilutes themselves with false pretenses of happiness and lives in ignorance. One only needs to open their eyes to see that dukkha exists and is abundantly all around us. No one in the human race has ever existed only to live a life of blissfulness void of death, grief, sadness, or despair. Even supposing that there was an individual born into a life of of happiness it doesn’t change the fact that they live in this world. A world where social communication is inevitable and consequently causes human to meet others that are less fortunate or live lives of destitute or unhappiness. Therefore the man that lives in the world of human life, is a victim of Dukkha regardless of his own happiness. Even maintenance of the good things in life, such as good health, is a form of agony and attachment- Duhhka. Duhhka can even be the mere change of life.