Noble Truth of Suffering (dukkha ariya-sacca)
Skillful qualities / Four Noble Truths / Noble Truth of Suffering
Part of key topic The Four Noble Truths
Subtags: Birth, Ageing, Sickness, Death, Suffering, Pain, Grief, Five aggregates affected by clinging
See also: Suffering
20 excerpts, 1:03:13 total duration

All excerpts (20) Most relevant (9) Questions about (6) Answers involving (11) Stories (2) Quotes (2)

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“Is my understanding of the first noble truth correct in that it doesn’t deny enjoying things in life, but point to their temporary nature and underlying unsatisfaction once enjoyment ceases? Can I be a Buddhist and still enjoy my chocolate?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Noble Truth of Suffering ] [Sensual desire] [Impermanence] [Suffering] [Food]

Quote: “There’s enjoying things and there is having to enjoy things. These are two different things.” [Happiness] [Craving]

Sutta: AN 5.208: Benefits of using toothwoods [Health]

2014 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 6, Excerpt 9


Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend, Session 11 – Apr. 28, 2001

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5. Ajahn Chah taught us to speak without preparation. Recollection by Joseph Kappel. [Teaching Dhamma] [Ajahn Chah] // [Trust] [Human] [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Spaciousness]


Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend, Session 16 – Apr. 28, 2001

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4. “His way of teaching was direct....He would use the essential teaching of the Buddha, the Four Noble Truths.” Recollection by Ajahn Sumedho. [Teaching Dhamma] [Four Noble Truths] [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho] // [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Human] [Culture/Thailand] [Ageing] [Sickness] [Death] [Spiritual traditions] [Self-identity view]

Quote: “It’s the suffering that awakens you.” — Ajahn Chah [Suffering] [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Liberation]


Brightening the Mind, Session 1 – Aug. 19, 2012

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3. Comment: In the practice, we use gladdening the mind to balance the preception of suffering. [Gladdening the mind] [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering] [Recollection]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Four Noble Truths]


2014 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 5 – Nov. 26, 2014

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17. “I’ve wondered for some time how to put together (a) birth, aging, and death are dukkha and (b) the cause of dukkha as craving. Is it correct to say that the source of dukkha is in the mind (i.e., craving)? If so, what does it mean to say that birth, aging, and death—facts that we don’t control and can’t change—are dukkha? Thank you for your generosity and wisdom.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Suffering ] [Cause of Suffering] [Craving] [Noble Truth of Suffering] // [Human]


2014 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 6 – Nov. 27, 2014

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9. “Is my understanding of the first noble truth correct in that it doesn’t deny enjoying things in life, but point to their temporary nature and underlying unsatisfaction once enjoyment ceases? Can I be a Buddhist and still enjoy my chocolate?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Noble Truth of Suffering ] [Sensual desire] [Impermanence] [Suffering] [Food]

Quote: “There’s enjoying things and there is having to enjoy things. These are two different things.” [Happiness] [Craving]

Sutta: AN 5.208: Benefits of using toothwoods [Health]


2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 6 – Nov. 26, 2015

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1. “In working with the Four Noble Truths, to understand suffering, does the Buddha mean knowing for instance the pain in your heart, the stress around your eyes, or does he also mean to see with insight its karmic effect on yourself and others?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Four Noble Truths] [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Kamma] // [Suffering] [Pāli] [Happiness]


2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 8 – Nov. 28, 2015

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13. “For decades, I believed the suffering was the food itself–that cake, that pastry, more food, another bowlful. But now I understand dukkha is not ‘the thing.’ It is the overwhelming craving, the feeling itself. And now that the dukkha is understood, how do I tolerate that feeling?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Food] [Suffering] [Craving] [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Patience]


The New Ajahn Chah Biography, Session 3 – Apr. 21, 2018

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12. “The duty in regard to the First Noble Truth is to understand suffering. How do you do this?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Suffering] // [Fear] [Pāli] [Characteristics of existence] [Aversion] [Postures] [Direct experience] [Conditionality] [Relinquishment]


Love, Attachment, and Friendship, Session 3 – Oct. 12, 2019

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2. Quote: “Learning how to be comfortable with dukkha...is a willingness to open the heart to the whole realm of experience. That’s an act of love.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Direct experience] [Goodwill] // [Generosity] [Fear] [Listening] [Clear comprehension]