[Buddha-l] the benefits of Jayarava's discussion

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Wednesday 20 August 2008 10:17:34 jkirk wrote:

> I can't find where I said "disappointing" in what I wrote.
> It's one rendering of dukkha found here and there which I too
> don't find useful.

The first teacher I had in the Theravada tradition was Bhante Punnaji. I found 
him excellent, because he had a background in science and knew Western 
thought very well. He almost always translated "dukkha" as "disappointment," 
and the more I reflected on it (and the more vigilant I became), the more I 
appreciated it as an English word that captures the most important dimension 
of what "dukkha" means in most Buddhist contexts. When used as an adjective, 
of course, the rendering is "disappointing."

"Dukkha," as we all know, is one of the most notoriously difficult technical 
terms to translate, precisely because it covers so much ground. (Some would 
say it covers pretty much the entire universe.) The only translation of it I 
really dislike is "suffering." That translation causes me a lot of dukkha, 
for reasons probably only a psychoanalyst could uncover; my dislike for it is 
purely irrational and emotional. 

Over the years I have played around with quite a few translations of "dukkha." 
For a number of years my stock rendering was "discontent" and then I switched 
to things like "unhappiness," "dissatisfaction," "malaise" and "discontent".  
I prefer translations that show it is a psychological state induced by one's 
own attitudes and reactions, so "discontent" and "disappointment" appeal to 
me more than some of the other standard translations. 

A good many people I know who have a lot of dukkha seem to be malcontents by 
constitution; their dukkha is not only imported from the nature of things but 
manufactured domestically by their own miserable and pathetic mentalities. To 
my mind one of the most helpful and vivid ways of talking about this is 
Eckhart Tolle's notion of the pain body. Some people nurture their pain 
bodies very carefully and identify so strongly with their misery that they 
resist every attempt to be more made more cheerful. Not much can be done for 
them. They chase bodhisattvas and guardian angels away, poor souls.

-- 
Richard