II. THE SECOND NOBLE TRUTH - Dukkha
| Is your suffering the
will of an Almighty God ? This aims at showing us the cause of suffering. The different philosophies and religions give us different answers to the question why we are subject to suffering. Some say that it comes through mere chance, or by fate or destiny, some attribute it to the will of an Almighty God. Buddha dismisses these as fanciful products of belief and imagination. They all lead to two results, either they encourage a passive acceptance of suffering or else get us involved in treating the symptoms. The Buddha's approach is to trace the problem to its cause, to its root. Buddha declares that the origin of Dukkha is craving, in Pali 'Tanha'. The Buddha recognizes that there are three types of craving. There can be wholesome desires such as desire to practise the Dhamma, the desire to give, etc. There are also neutral desires, the desire to take a walk, the desire to sleep, etc. And there are unwholesome desires. Tanha means the unwholesome desire - the desire grounded in ignorance, the drive for personal gratification. Although desire is singled out as the cause of dukkha, it is not the only factor involved in the origination of suffering. However, it is the chief factor. But craving always works within a complex of factors. It is conditioned by ignorance, by the psycho-physical organism and it requires objects. |