💔 1. Dukkha
Life involves suffering. Remember, dukkha means suffering or unsatisfactoriness, and it is one of the three marks of existence.
Buddhist Beliefs about the Universe and Human Beings » The Four Noble Truths: Dukkha and Tanha
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 1, 1.7 (Buddhism)
- The Four Noble Truths and why they are the heart of the Buddha's teaching
- The three kinds of dukkha, and tanha (craving) as the cause of suffering
- Why Buddhism has no 'problem of evil', and how it explains evil
- How Buddhists cope with suffering, and how this gives life its purpose
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Unlock This CourseA different starting point
The Problem of Evil and Suffering showed why suffering is a puzzle for people who believe in a God who is omnipotent, omniscient and benevolent. Buddhism teaches no creator God, so Buddhists do not have to explain why God allows suffering. They ask a more practical question: why do we suffer, and how can it stop?
Buddhists believe the Buddha answered this in his very first sermon, given to five followers in the Deer Park at Sarnath in northern India. His answer is called the Four Noble Truths.
🔥 2. The cause (samudaya)
Suffering has a cause. The cause is tanha, which means craving.
🌱 3. The end (nirodha)
Suffering can end. When craving stops, dukkha stops. This is nibbana.
🧭 4. The path (magga)
There is a way to end suffering. It is the Noble Eightfold Path, eight areas of training in wisdom, moral behaviour and meditation.
You will study the path step by step in Nibbana and the Noble Eightfold Path.
Key terms:
- Four Noble Truths: the Buddha's teaching that there is suffering, it has a cause, it can end, and there is a path to its end.
- Tanha: craving. The word means 'thirst'. It is the cause of suffering.
- Samudaya: the arising, or cause, of suffering (the second truth).
- Nirodha: the ending of suffering (the third truth).
- Magga: the path to the end of suffering (the fourth truth).
The first truth: three kinds of dukkha
In his first sermon the Buddha listed what he meant by dukkha: birth, old age, sickness and death, being stuck with what you dislike, being parted from what you love, and not getting what you want. Buddhist teachers sort dukkha into three kinds.
🤒 Pain
Dukkha-dukkha is ordinary suffering that everyone recognises: toothache, a broken leg, grief when someone dies.
🍂 Change
Viparinama-dukkha is the suffering of change. Happy things do not last. The holiday ends, a close friend moves away, a favourite pet grows old.
🔄 Conditioned life
Sankhara-dukkha is the hardest to see. Everything in life depends on conditions and keeps changing, so nothing can satisfy us fully or for ever.
The second truth: tanha, the cause of suffering
Why does change hurt? The Buddha taught that the cause is tanha. We want things to be a certain way, and the world does not obey. He described three kinds of craving:
- Craving for pleasure (kama-tanha): wanting nice sights, tastes, sounds and feelings, and wanting more of them.
- Craving to be (bhava-tanha): wanting to become someone, such as famous, rich or admired, and wanting to go on existing.
- Craving not to be (vibhava-tanha): wanting to get rid of something, such as a pain, an embarrassing memory, or even yourself.
Remember, craving grows out of the three poisons, with ignorance at the root. We crave because we do not see that everything is impermanent and that there is no fixed self to satisfy. Tanha also keeps a person tied to samsara, so the suffering carries on from life to life.
Worked example: tanha at work
Someone saves for months to buy a pair of trainers. Buying them feels great, for a while. Then they get scuffed, a newer design comes out and the owner worries about them being stolen. The trainers did not cause the suffering. The craving and clinging did. This is what the Dhammapada means when it says that grief and fear spring from craving, and that a person free from craving has no grief or fear (verse 216).
Why Buddhism has no 'problem of evil'
For Buddhists there is no inconsistent triad to solve, because nobody all-powerful and good designed the world. Suffering has causes that can be understood.
- Natural evil. Earthquakes, illness and old age happen because everything conditioned changes and breaks down. They are not punishments or tests sent by a God. Remember, the Buddha told Sivaka that not all suffering comes from past kamma.
- Moral evil. Buddhism does not explain evil as the work of a power outside us. Its cause is in the mind. Cruelty, theft and violence are unskilful actions, driven by greed, hatred and ignorance. They bring suffering to others and, through kamma, to the person who does them.
Because evil comes from the mind, it can be removed by training the mind. The Dhammapada sums up the Buddha's teaching as: avoid evil, do good and purify the mind (verse 183).
How Buddhists respond to suffering
😌 Acceptance
Buddhists try to face suffering honestly. Fighting the fact that things change adds more pain.
🤝 Compassion
Everyone suffers, so everyone deserves kindness. Buddhists practise karuna and metta by caring for the sick, giving to people in need and comforting those who grieve.
🧘 Practice
Meditation and sati (mindfulness) help a person notice craving as it arises and let it go.
Two stories Buddhists use
Kisa Gotami and the mustard seed. Kisa Gotami's young son died. She begged the Buddha for medicine to bring him back. He asked her to fetch a mustard seed from a house where nobody had ever died. She went from door to door, and every family had lost someone. She understood that death comes to all, laid her son to rest and became a nun.
The second arrow. The Buddha said that pain is like being hit by an arrow. An untrained person then grieves and rages, which is like being hit by a second arrow. A trained person still feels the first arrow but does not fire the second.
Suffering and the purpose of life
For Buddhists the Four Noble Truths give life its meaning and purpose: to understand dukkha, let go of tanha and reach nibbana, the end of suffering. A human life is seen as a precious chance to do this.
Buddhists stress different things. Theravada Buddhists focus on following the path to end their own craving and reach nibbana. Mahayana Buddhists stress the bodhisattva, who aims to free all beings from suffering, not only themselves. Secular Buddhists often treat the four truths as tasks for this life.
Common mistakes
Do not write that Buddhists think all of life is suffering and nothing is enjoyable. Dukkha means that nothing changing can satisfy us fully. Do not say that all desire is tanha. Wanting to help others or to reach nibbana is a wholesome wish. Tanha is selfish craving and clinging.
Exam-style question
Paper 1 style. Parts (a) and (b) test AO1. Parts (c) and (d) test AO1 and AO2.
(a) Identify three ways in which religious people may respond to suffering. [3 marks]
(b) Choose one religion. Outline two beliefs about the causes of suffering in this religion. [4 marks]
(c) Choose one religion. Explain how the teachings of this religion about suffering relate to the meaning and purpose of life. [6 marks]
(d) 'Suffering is a part of life that nobody can escape.' Evaluate this statement, showing you have considered different points of view. In your answer you should refer to at least one religion. [12 marks]
Model answer
(a) 1. Accepting it (1). 2. Showing compassion to people who suffer (1). 3. Meditating or praying (1).
(b) Buddhists believe that suffering is caused by tanha, or craving (1), because people cling to things that are impermanent and are hurt when those things change (1). They also believe suffering is caused by unskilful actions such as cruelty (1), which are driven by the three poisons and bring suffering to others and, through kamma, to the person who does them (1).
(c) Buddhists believe the Four Noble Truths explain what life is for. The first truth says that life involves dukkha, so a Buddhist's first task is to understand suffering honestly.
The second truth says dukkha is caused by tanha. This means the purpose of life is not to collect pleasures, because craving for them only brings more suffering.
The third truth, nirodha, says suffering can end. This gives life a goal: to reach nibbana by letting go of craving. The fourth truth, magga, gives the way to do it, so Buddhists shape their daily lives around the Noble Eightfold Path.
Finally, because all beings suffer, life is also about compassion. Mahayana Buddhists follow the bodhisattva ideal of freeing all beings from suffering.
(d) Plan. For: the first Noble Truth says all life involves dukkha, including old age, sickness and death; Kisa Gotami found no house untouched by death; natural evil such as earthquakes and disease strikes everyone.
Against: the third Noble Truth teaches that suffering can end, and Buddhists believe the Buddha reached nibbana; the second arrow shows that even now a trained mind can escape much mental suffering; many believers in God hope for a life after death with no suffering.
Possible conclusion: judge each point as you go, and deal with the word 'nobody'. For example: I partly agree. Pain, ageing and death come to everyone, but Buddhism teaches that the suffering we add through craving can be ended, so escape is possible for those who follow the path.
Exam tip
In part (c) do not just list the four truths. After each one add 'this means' or 'so' and say what a Buddhist's life is for as a result.