THE ALTERNATIVE MEANING OF DUKKHA: NOT RUNNING SMOOTHLY -- Listening, DIYacupuncture and AlanWatts

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Date Posted: 14:38:15 06/13/14 Fri
Author: robski
Subject: THE ALTERNATIVE MEANING OF DUKKHA: NOT RUNNING SMOOTHLY

Date Posted: 16:19:53 11/08/12 Thu
Author: rsm
Subject: THE ALTERNATIVE MEANING OF DUKKHA: NOT RUNNING SMOOTHLY

Part One
THE ALTERNATIVE MEANING OF DUKKHA: NOT RUNNING SMOOTHLY

The main point of this first part is to look at the word: DUKKHA : Dukkha always used to be translated as "suffering"(5,1,8) Modern translations often leave it as dukkha, one modern translation uses the word "stress"(3).

These days in the wikipedia (July 2012) when we look under "dukkha", it is translated as "suffering", "unsatisfactory", "unease", "anxiety", or "dissatisfaction".

However what i find interesting is under the etymology : where it says:
"The ancient Aryans who brought the Sanskrit language to India were a nomadic, horse- and cattle-breeding people who travelled in horse- or ox-drawn vehicles. Su and dus are prefixes indicating good or bad. The word kha, in later Sanskrit meaning "sky," "ether," or "space," was originally the word for "hole," particularly an axle hole of one of the Aryan's vehicles. Thus sukha … meant, originally, "having a good axle hole," while duhkha meant "having a poor axle hole," ... "

So, dukkha originally refered to if the axle and axle hole were running smoothly or not ... the effect of which may be discomfort or suffering or not getting there on time or breaking down on the way.

Buddha, must have been aware of this meaning and i suggest made a comparison with this simple wheel axle, so very important for everyday life in those days, and though i am no expert, it seems such simple spoked wheels and axles have existed since around 3,000BC (Buddha lived 500BC). ... To make a good axle one would know which woods to use and how to cut them so they would last for years, and good axles had metal coatings with animal grease to reduce the friction ... then these days axles with ball bearings are the least of our transport problems - in those days to the only really important thing was to get the axle running smoothly.

I am also not an expert on languages ... however it is clear, one sense of what budddha may have been saying, is simply: the wheel of life and death is not running smoothly

Now, another interesting point is that if there are 2 perspectives on a subject, then there are usually 3 or 4 more which could also be valid ... eg. could Buddha have intended a double meaning? or how else could such an important everyday concept (in those days) as the axle, have been used to symbolise the wheel of life?

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