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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, in practice dukkha originally refered to if the axle fitted in the axle hole and then could turn easily ... the effect of which may be discomfort or not getting there on time or even the extreme case of breaking which is equivalent to suffering. So, Dukkha meant a great many things, including the smallest inconvenience and not running smoothly.
My question to Buddhists is surely we dont want to limit the Buddha to only having found the answers to the most extreme states?
Such spoked wheels and axles were first invented around 3,000BC. Once craftsmen had mastered the techniques involved such wheels where the epitomy of mechanical excellence and efficiency.
The spoked cart wheel revolutionised practical life. Everything from markets to mobility. In those times such cart wheels were like Internet today.
To make a good axle one would need craftsmen to 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 ... 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.
It is clear that Buddha found the symbol of the wheel going round and round a pertinent idea: and fitting to a revolutionary thinker of his day used this symbol to communicate : the wheel is not running smoothly.
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The Noble Truths |
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