dukkha

[ doo-kuh ]

noun

, Buddhism.

1. the first of the Four Noble Truths, that all human experience is transient and that suffering results from excessive desire and attachment.

dukkha

/ ˈdukə /

noun

1. (in Theravada Buddhism) the belief that all things are suffering, due to the desire to seek permanence or recognize the self when neither exist: one of the three basic characteristics of existence Sanskrit wordduhkha Compare anata anicca

Word History and Origins

Origin of dukkha¹

From Pali

Word History and Origins

Origin of dukkha¹

Pali, literally: suffering, illness

Example Sentences

Conflating Buddhism with a science of happiness creates a perpetuum mobile of self-inflicted dukkha, suffering.

From Salon

It was the Buddha who said, “Life is dukkha – suffering”.

From The Guardian

All these things tend towards the contradictory and therefore dukkha – or, if you prefer, the annoying.

From The Guardian

In Buddhism, anicca is one of the three signs of existence, the others being dukkha, or suffering, and anatta, or non-selfhood.

From Time

The connection between dharma work and undoing racism work is the first noble truth — that there is dukkha, suffering.

From New York Times