Sanskrit root of the word dukkha is 'dus', which later got propagated to other Indo-European languages, and is today found in English as the prefix 'dis' (e.g. displeasure, dissatisfaction, disease, etc.)
>From the religious pont of view, I'd like to mention that there is a danger in dilluting this term by avoiding to look at it as 'suffering', and being more inclined to translate it as 'mild frustration'. The reason Shakyamuni Buddha introduced his 'life is suffering' teaching is to prod people to start their serious practice towards eliminating suffering. If we now adopt the more politically correct attitude that life is not really suffering, that instead it is an affair that could get mildly annoying at times, we could fall into the erroneous belief that life is actually fine, that it is possible to get pleasure out of life. This, according to the Buddha, is a surefire way to stray from his teaching. Someone on this list complained recently that the formulation 'life is suffering' is too depressive, and how they don't like that. Sure, it is depressive, and for a good reason. It is there to make us snap out of it, and work dilligently on liberating everyone. We live in a very desensitized society, where many people strongly prefer to go through life sedated, in one way or another. Still, there is real suffering in the human world, it is all around us, and sticking our heads in the sand will not make that fact go away. Buddhist practice is aimed as sensitizing us to the fact that suffering is everywhere, and to prompt us into action to do everything possible to minimize and eliminate this suffering. Without this impetus, our practice is guaranteed to become lax, and then we'll be just wasting our time. Just my 2 cents. Alex --- Jody W Ianuzzi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Diane, > > Yes, but I was thinking how the word 'suffering' as > it is generally > translated, is a depressive term. To say 'life is > suffereing' sounds like > my Italian mother in law. To say life is a struggle > or unease or not quite > right indicates finding a solution by getting rid of > the worthless emotional > baggage we all carry around. > > I think we are getting some where. > > JODY > > > ===== No karma was produced during the composition of this letter __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/WwRTUD/SOnJAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Noble Eightfold Path: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration, Right Livelihood Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
