The First Noble Truth (dukkha ariya sacca) Introduction The first noble truth of the four noble

truths is dukkha ariya sacca (noble truth of suffering). It is one of the fundamental teachings of the Buddha. The Buddha mentioned the four noble truths in his first sermon known as Dhammacakkapattavana Sutta to his first five disciples. There are many interpretations of the Pali term of dukkha such as pain, suffering, difficult to endure, disharmony, disorder and un-satisfactoriness. The word dukkha is composed of two words du which means difficult whereas kha means to bear or endure. Every beings experience dukkha. So when Buddhism talks about dukkha, it does not mean there is no happiness, nor Buddhism denies the happiness in total sense. One need not be scared by hearing the reality of life. In fact, Buddhism shows the higher and higher happiness one can attain through absorption. One such instance, we can draw from the Bahuvedaniya Sutta of MN: Here, Ananda, by completely surmounting the base of neither-perception-nor-nonperception, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the cessation of perception and feeling. That is that other kind of pleasure loftier and more sublime than the previous pleasure.1 Even those absorptions of happiness are not regarded as supreme happiness, the supreme happiness is Nibbana. The goal of Buddhism is to lead away from the suffering for real happiness. Then, a question may arise in our mind. Dont we experience happiness here? Yes, we experience happiness here but not real happiness. The happiness we experiences are transitory. The Buddha said whatever is impermanent that is dukkha (yam aniccam tam dukkham). The Buddha said that the first noble truth should be known (parinneya). The realization of the first noble truth is significant for the investigation to other three truths. It means when a person understands that he has a problem, he will try to find out the cause of the problem, to solve the problem and the way to solve it. According to the Gotamasutta of SN beings are cycling in samsara because they do not know the way to get rid of suffering. When we are born, we have to experience dukkha. We all have to grow old. Our bodies are liable to get diseases. Nowadays there are dangerous diseases like cancer, aids and infected by hepatitis virus and etc. If a person has such diseases how can be happy? When we are aged we have to face death. The separation from the love ones causes us suffering. We also experience suffering when we have to be with the person we do not like to be. For instance if a boss is not good we have to be still under him to earn a living. When we desire of something if we do not get it that causes suffering too. Therefore, the Buddha said all kinds of mental and physical suffering is called dukkhadukkha.
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MN 59.15 (Bahuvedaniya Sutta)

The second aspect of dukkha is produced by change (viparinama-dukkha). A happy moment maybe changed at any circumstance. For instance, when someone is watching a movie in the cinema hall and suddenly there is a bomb blast or fight. The moment of enjoyment of watching movie ends with a fear. There are many possibilities to disperse the happiness. An enjoyable holiday gives us happiness as long as we are there, but when it is over we become unhappy. When a person enjoys a happy feeling he does not want to lose it. It is called the bhava-tanha. He is very much attached to the pleasure without understanding the nature of it. We ordinary beings fail to bear in mind that the happiness of sensual-pleasure are not everlasting. When we do not understand we have to suffer because are attached to that beautiful thing or pleasurable objects which are transitory The third aspect of dukkha is as conditioned state (samkhara-dukkha). It is dukkha because of not understanding the compilation of a being. It means we assume that there is a doer of action and professor of something. There is no I am enjoying in absolute sense. It is dukkha by perceiving that there is a self or ego in the five aggregates. A being composes of the five aggregates. They are form (rupa), feeling (vedana), perceptions (sannak), mental formation (samkhara) and consciousness (vinnana).These five aggregates are not dukkha, but, when these five aggregates are grasped, it becomes the aggregates of grasping (pancupadanakkhanda). An individual grasps these five aggregates in this way: this is mine (etam mama), this is I am (esoham asmi) and this is myself (eso me atta). All these grasping arise because of craving (tanha), conceit (mana) and wrong views (ditthi). There is no permanent or there is an experience, but the process of experiences.

Conclusion
From the above discussion, we can see the Pali word dukkha has many renderings in English. All those renderings help us to understand to some extend what means dukkha in Buddhist sense. Moreover, one can understand from the explanations of the Buddhas interpretations of dukkha. The Buddha explained that three are three aspects of dukkha i.e. ordinary suffering (dukkha- dukkha), suffering as produced by change (viparinamaDukkha) and the last one, suffering as conditioned states ( Samkhara dukkha).When Buddhism points out the life itself is suffering, it does not deny the happiness in the world as well. There are many instances from Tripitaka where the disciples and lay people express their happiness as well. When the Buddha points out that the life is suffering it means to encourage us to attain to ultimate happiness (Nibbana).

References 1. Bhikkhu amoli & Bhikkhu Bodhi (trsl.) 1995: The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, A Translation of the Majjhima Nikya, Boston: Wisdom. 2. Bhikkhu Bodhi (trsl.) 2000: The Connected Discourses of the Buddha, A New Translation of the Sayutta Nikya, Boston: Wisdom. 3. Rahula, Walpola 1972:What the Buddha Taught, Taipei: 4. Narada, 2508-196 The Buddha and His Teachings, Kuala Lumpur: Buddhist Missionary Society, 5. Class notes of prof. Y.karunadasa 6. Karunadasa, Y. 2013: Early Buddhist Teachings, Hong Kong:Centre of Buddhist studies.