BUDDHIST THEORY: The Four Noble Truths 1. Suffering

The Buddha taught that whatever our life is currently like, suffering is involved. The word suffering is often replaced by the word unsatisfactoriness. Other similar words are distressful, afflicted, tormented, miserable, and discontentment. The original Pali word ' Dukkha' from which the Western term 'suffering' is taken can also be interpreted to mean unsustainable, imperfect, stress, impermanence, or unsatisfying. Despite experiencing periods of pleasure, stability, progress, and contentment, these will all pass, leaving their lackage a trouble to us. Life may be looking up now, but it is surely going to look down again shortly, leaving us to remain on this rollercoaster of pleasures and difficulties.

There are three major groupings for suffering:
* The obvious suffering, such as physical pain, mental distress, discomfort, society pressure, fear, sorrow, and government dictations and restrictions (e.g. war, laws, etc).
* The suffering of change, that good things will not remain good, loved ones will die, friends will move away, death will come closer to us, and as we age we will possibly grow feeble and sick.
* All-pervasive suffering, the continuation of suffering or its potential, that continual rebirths occur whether we go up or down the ladder, that death does not offer freedom, that a few steps into a better life will not mean we retain this status.

Nobody can lay claim to never having suffered in any way at all. Whether it is something simple, like missing a train or bus, or something more dramatic, like living in a war zone without escape. Whether it is the death of a loved one, or experiencing a tension headache, we all suffer.

"I teach about suffering and the way to end it" ~ Shakyamuni Buddha