The Pali word dukkha is translated into English as ‘suffering.’ This is a reasonably good translation but it is limited by the fact that the English language did not develop to describe the mind in as precise a way as the Pali does. By dukkha we mean all the various extreme suffering that we can observe in the world such as war, poverty and arbitrary discrimination but we also mean something even more profound. Dukkha is the unsatisfactory nature of all arisen phenomena. So, suffering in the Buddhist context means that we are never fully satisfied with our state of affairs in the world.
The kind of dukkha that I wish to discuss in this message is a kind that afflicts many of us in the west. It is the restless and confused feeling that arises amidst an abundance of resources. Here in North America, there are many people living in poverty, but most of us live in relative comfort. Not only that, resources for many of us are so abundant that we have a multitude of choices about what to do with our lives and how to make use of our time. Ironically, there is a very common depressed feeling that can accompany this state of affairs.
Why does this feeling arise? I suggest that one important reason for this kind of suffering is that we have difficulty identifying a worthy unifying and enduring purpose. The Buddha advanced the notion that as human beings we are happy when we are moving towards enlightenment. If we are not moving towards enlightenment or worse, moving away from it, that will cause us to suffer. In other words, happiness comes from making good karma and avoiding bad karma.
There are many different ways to make good karma but they are not all equal in terms of degree. Doing good deeds such as giving is important for our spiritual progress but the most important way to create good karma is to learn to practice insight meditation. When we practice insight meditation we are following the Buddha’s instructions for the fastest route to freedom from suffering. That is because insight meditation is training to bring the mind into the present moment where we are not worried about the future and we do not regret the past. In this space, the mind is free and we can finally be happy.