I like the analogy of suffering as like a cart with a frozen axle in a wheel (although Thanissaro Bhikkhu says it is not in the Pali Canon). The idea that, rather than throwing the cart away, you just fix the wheel so your life goes smoothly from now on into the future.Barry Briggs wrote:First Noble Truth: Dukkha
Each of us is damaged.
Isn't this the essence of the First Noble Truth? That not one of us escapes the havoc created by our own clinging?
Recently I began wondering about the Pali word usually translated as suffering, or dissatisfaction, or unease.
Why did the Buddha choose dukkha to express this basic fact of human life?
Dukkha derives from two words. First, the particle dus, which means 'bad' or 'broken.' Second, the noun kha which means 'hole' or 'pivot' (in the sense of a wheel). In ancient India, dukkha referred to the frozen axle of a wheel - a damage that prevented a cart from working properly.
When I look into myself, it's not to hard to identify where I'm frozen. To see how my life doesn't turn smoothly over the ruts and bumps in life's road. To feel where "stuckness" appears. Oddly enough, I experience a sense of liberation when I honestly confront the damage. And the Buddha himself also experienced this.
http://www.oxherding.com/my_weblog/2008 ... ukkha.html
I'm wondering if, rather than writing off sensual happiness as irredeemably impermanent and stressful and focusing only on the breath, could it be worked with through human effort toward skillful thoughts, words and actions that shape a better and better sensual reality until ultimately there is no unnecessary suffering?
Thanks,
dhammapal.