Reply To: Sermon by Waharaka Thero on “Noble truth of suffering”

#52830
Lal
Keymaster

OK. Let us figure out the first part first.

  • It is true that “dukkha” is the “dukkha vedana.”
  • But I really wanted to ask: What do you understand by dukkha in “Dukkha Sacca” or the “First Noble Truth about suffering?”

Let me ask the question another way. Is the First Nbole Truth about getting rid of “bodily suffering” as expressed in your quote from theSaccavibhaṅga Sutta?:Yaṁ kho, āvuso, kāyikaṁ dukkhaṁ kāyikaṁ asātaṁ kāyasamphassajaṁ dukkhaṁ asātaṁ vedayitaṁ – Physical pain, physical unpleasantness, the painful, unpleasant feeling that’s born from physical contact.”

  • I hope you agree that it is not.
  • Those verses explain what happens whenever “a new jati” is started. The subsequent several verses explain other issues such as old age associated with each jati
  • The point is that the Noble Truths are about stopping new births so that one can stop all drawbacks associated with them (stated @marker 10.2): “Jātipi dukkhā, jarāpi dukkhā, maraṇampi dukkhaṁ, sokaparidevadukkhadomanassupāyāsāpi dukkhā, yampicchaṁ na labhati tampi dukkhaṁ; saṅkhittena pañcupādānakkhandhā dukkhā.”