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Four Noble Truths: Suffering
Dukkha
苦諦 relays that part of life in this universe is suffering.
All living things experience some form of suffering, according to Buddhist teaching.
This title is about accepting and understanding that the world is full of suffering.
This term is exclusively used by devout Buddhists. It is not a common term, and is remains an unknown concept to most Chinese, Japanese and Korean people.
See Also: Buddhism | Enlightenment
Four Noble Truths: Path Leading Away From Suffering
Magga
道諦 is the idea that once you have dealt with your desires and left all desire and attachment behind, only then are you on the path away from suffering (and on your way to enlightenment).
道諦 is also called the path to liberation in some English texts on Buddhism.
This term is exclusively used by devout Buddhists. It is not a common term, and is remains an unknown concept to most Chinese, Japanese and Korean people.
See Also: Buddhism | Enlightenment
Birth Old-Age Sickness Death
Born to Suffer
生老病死 means “to be born, to grow old, to get sick and to die” or “birth, aging, sickness, and death.”
This is an old somewhat-morbid Chinese proverb that is also used in Korean and Japanese. It figuratively means the fate of humankind (i.e. mortality) or suggests that we are all born to suffer.
In the Buddhist context, there are the “four inevitables in human life” or “four afflictions that are the lot of every human” known as “四苦” (literally “four afflictions”). Sometimes this proverb is written with that affliction character, 苦, at the end like 生老病死苦.
These search terms might be related to Suffering:
Misery Loves Company
No Pain No Gain
Pain
Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body
The Pain of Love / Love Troubles
The Pain of Separation From Your Loves
There is No Pleasure Without Pain
Not the results for suffering that you were looking for?
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your suffering search...
| Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
辛 see styles |
xīn xin1 hsin kara から |
More info & calligraphy: Sheen(counter) (colloquialism) counter for spiciness of food (e.g. curry); (surname) Shinkou sharp |
れる see styles |
reru れる |
(aux-v,v1) (1) indicates passive voice (incl. the "suffering passive"); (2) indicates the potential form; (3) indicates spontaneous occurrence; (4) (honorific or respectful language) used as an honorific for others' actions |
四諦 四谛 see styles |
sì dì si4 di4 ssu ti shitai したい |
More info & calligraphy: Four Noble Truths (Buddhism){Buddh} (See 苦集滅道) The Four Noble Truths catvāri-ārya-satyāni; 四聖諦; 四眞諦. The four dogmas, or noble truths, the primary and fundamental doctrines of Śākyamuni, said to approximate to the form of medical diagnosis. They are pain or 'suffering, its cause, its ending, the way thereto; that existence is suffering, that human passion (taṇhā, 欲 desire) is the cause of continued suffering, that by the destruction of human passion existence may be brought to an end; that by a life of holiness the destruction of human passion may be attained'. Childers. The four are 苦, 聚 (or 集), 滅, and 道諦, i. e. duḥkha 豆佉, samudaya 三牟提耶, nirodha 尼棲陀, and mārga 末加. Eitel interprets them (1) 'that 'misery' is a necessary attribute of sentient existence'; (2) that 'the 'accumulation' of misery is caused by the passions'; (3) that 'the 'extinction' of passion is possible; (4) mārga is 'the doctrine of the 'path' that leads to the extinction of passion'. (1) 苦 suffering is the lot of the 六趣 six states of existence; (2) 集 is the aggregation (or exacerbation) of suffering by reason of the passions; (3) 滅 is nirvana, the extinction of desire and its consequences, and the leaving of the sufferings of mortality as void and extinct; (4) 道 is the way of such extinction, i. e. the 八正道 eightfold correct way. The first two are considered to be related to this life, the last two to 出世間 a life outside or apart from the world. The four are described as the fundamental doctrines first preached to his five former ascetic companions. Those who accepted these truths were in the stage of śrāvaka. There is much dispute as to the meaning of 滅 'extinction' as to whether it means extinction of suffering, of passion, or of existence. The Nirvana Sutra 18 says that whoever accepts the four dogmas will put an end to births and deaths 若能見四諦則得斷生死 which does not of necessity mean the termination of existence but that of continued transmigration. v. 滅. |
地獄 地狱 see styles |
dì yù di4 yu4 ti yü jigoku じごく |
More info & calligraphy: Hell(1) {Buddh} hell realm; Naraka; (2) {Christn} Hell; (3) hell; misery; nightmare; inferno; (4) place where a volcano or hot springs constantly spew smoke or steam; (place-name) Jigoku naraka, 捺落迦 (or 那落迦) ; niraya 泥犂; explained by 不樂 joyless; 可厭 disgusting, hateful; 苦具, 苦器 means of suffering; if 地獄 earth-prison; 冥府 the shades, or departments of darkness. Earth-prison is generally intp. as hell or the hells; it may also be termed purgatory; one of the six gati or ways of transmigration. The hells are divided into three classes: I. Central, or radical, 根本地獄 consisting of (1) The eight hot hells. These were the original hells of primitive Buddhism, and are supposed to be located umder the southern continent Jambudvīpa 瞻部州, 500 yojanas below the surface. (a) 等活 or 更活 Saṃjīva, rebirth, where after many kinds of suffering a cold wind blows over the soul and returns it to this life as it was before, hence the name 等活. (b) 黑繩 Kaslasūtra, where the sufferer is bound with black chains and chopped or sawn asunder. (c) 線合; 衆合; 堆壓 Saṃghāta, where are multitudes of implements of torture, or the falling of mountains upon the sufferer. (d) 號呌; 呼呼; 叫喚 Raurava, hell of wailing. (e) 大呌; 大號呌; 大呼 Mahāraurava, hell of great wailing. (f) 炎熱; 燒炙 Tapana, hell of fames and burning. (g) 大熱; 大燒炙; 大炎熱 Pratāpana, hell of molten lead. (h) 無間; 河鼻旨; 阿惟越致; 阿毗至; 阿鼻; 阿毗 Avīci, unintermitted suffering, where sinners die and are reborn to suffer without interval. (2) The eight cold hells 八寒地獄. (a) 頞浮陀地獄 Arbuda, where the cold causes blisters. (b) 尼刺部陀 Nirarbuda, colder still causing the blisters to burst. (c) 頞哳吒; 阿吒吒 Atata, where this is the only possible sound from frozen lips. (d) 臛臛婆; 阿波波 Hahava or Apapa, where it is so cold that only this sound can be uttered. (e) 虎虎婆 Hāhādhara or Huhuva, where only this sound can be uttered. (f) 嗢鉢羅; 鬱鉢羅 (or 優鉢羅) Utpala, or 尼羅鳥 (or 漚) 鉢羅 Nīlotpala, where the skin is frozen like blue lotus buds. (g) 鉢特摩 Padma, where the skin is frozen and bursts open like red lotus buds. (h) 摩訶鉢特摩 Mahāpadma, ditto like great red lotus buds. Somewhat different names are also given. Cf. 倶舍論 8; 智度論 16; 涅槃經 11. II. The secondary hells are called 近邊地獄 adjacent hells or 十六遊增 each of its four sides, opening from each such door are four adjacent hells, in all sixteen; thus with the original eight there are 136. A list of eighteen hells is given in the 十八泥梨經. III. A third class is called the 孤地獄 (獨地獄) Lokāntarika, or isolated hells in mountains, deserts, below the earth and above it. Eitel says in regard to the eight hot hells that they range 'one beneath the other in tiers which begin at a depth of 11,900 yojanas and reach to a depth of 40,000 yojanas'. The cold hells are under 'the two Tchahavālas and range shaft-like one below the other, but so that this shaft is gradually widening to the fourth hell and then narrowing itself again so that the first and last hell have the shortest, those in the centre the longest diameter'. 'Every universe has the same number of hells, ' but 'the northern continent has no hell whatever, the two continents east and west of Meru have only small Lokāntarika hells... whilst all the other hells are required for the inhabitants of the southern continent '. It may be noted that the purpose of these hells is definitely punitive, as well as purgatorial. Yama is the judge and ruler, assisted by eighteen officers and a host of demons, who order or administer the various degrees of torture. 'His sister performs the same duties with regard to female criminals, ' and it may be mentioned that the Chinese have added the 血盆池 Lake of the bloody bath, or 'placenta tank' for women who die in childbirth. Release from the hells is in the power of the monks by tantric means. |
滅諦 灭谛 see styles |
miè dì mie4 di4 mieh ti mettai めったい |
More info & calligraphy: Four Noble Truths: Elimination of Desire or Attachmentnirodha-āryasatya, the third of the four dogmas, the extinction of suffering, which is rooted in reincarnation, v. 四諦. |
自愛 自爱 see styles |
zì ài zi4 ai4 tzu ai jiai じあい |
More info & calligraphy: Self-Love / Love Yourself / Love Oneself(n,vs,vi) (1) (See ご自愛ください) taking care of oneself; (n,vs,vi) (2) self-love Self-love, cause of all pursuit or seeking, which in turn causes all suffering. All Buddhas put away self-love and all pursuit, or seeking, such elimination being nirvāṇa. |
苦諦 苦谛 see styles |
kǔ dì ku3 di4 k`u ti ku ti kutai くたい |
More info & calligraphy: Four Noble Truths: Suffering(苦聖諦) duḥkaha-ārya-satyam. The first of the four dogmas, that of suffering; v. 苦集. |
道諦 道谛 see styles |
dào dì dao4 di4 tao ti doutai / dotai どうたい |
More info & calligraphy: Four Noble Truths: Path Leading Away From Sufferingmārga, the dogma of the path leading to the extinction of passion, the fourth of the four axioms, i.e. the eightfold noble path, v. 八聖道. |
集諦 集谛 see styles |
jí dì ji2 di4 chi ti jittai じったい |
More info & calligraphy: Four Noble Truths: Desire and Attachmentsamudaya, the second of the four dogmas, that the cause of suffering lies in the passions and their resultant karma. The Chinese 集 'accumulation' does not correctly translate samudaya, which means 'origination'. |
三牟提耶 see styles |
sān móu tí yé san1 mou2 ti2 ye2 san mou t`i yeh san mou ti yeh sanmudaiya |
More info & calligraphy: Samudaya |
刻苦耐勞 刻苦耐劳 see styles |
kè kǔ nài láo ke4 ku3 nai4 lao2 k`o k`u nai lao ko ku nai lao |
More info & calligraphy: Use Hard Work to Overcome Adversity |
四無量心 四无量心 see styles |
sì wú liàng xīn si4 wu2 liang4 xin1 ssu wu liang hsin shi muryōshin |
More info & calligraphy: Brahmavihara - The Four Immeasurables |
愛別離苦 爱别离苦 see styles |
ài bié lí kǔ ai4 bie2 li2 ku3 ai pieh li k`u ai pieh li ku aibetsuriku あいべつりく |
More info & calligraphy: The Pain of Separation from Your Loves(yoji) {Buddh} the pain of separation from loved ones The suffering of being separated from those whom one loves. v. 八苦. |
生老病死 see styles |
shēng lǎo bìng sǐ sheng1 lao3 bing4 si3 sheng lao ping ssu shouroubyoushi / shorobyoshi しょうろうびょうし |
More info & calligraphy: Birth Old-Age Sickness Death(yoji) {Buddh} the four inevitables in human life (birth, aging, sickness, and death) Birth, age, sickness, death, the 四苦 four afflictions that are the lot of every man. The five are the above four and 苦 misery, or suffering. |
使 see styles |
shǐ shi3 shih shi し |
to make; to cause; to enable; to use; to employ; to send; to instruct sb to do something; envoy; messenger (1) messenger; (2) (abbreviation) (See 検非違使) police and judicial chief (Heian and Kamakura periods); (3) {Buddh} (See 煩悩・2) klesha (polluting thoughts such as greed, hatred and delusion, which result in suffering); (female given name) Tsukasa To send; cause; a messenger; a pursuer, molester, lictor, disturber, troubler, intp. as 煩惱 kleśa, affliction, distress, worldly cares, vexations, and as consequent reincarnation. There are categories of 10, 16, 98, 112, and 128 such troublers, e. g. desire, hate, stupor, pride, doubt, erroneous views, etc., leading to painful results in future rebirths, for they are karma-messengers executing its purpose. Also 金剛童子 q. v. |
垢 see styles |
gòu gou4 kou ku く |
dirt; disgrace {Buddh} (See 煩悩・2) klesha (polluting thoughts such as greed, hatred and delusion, which result in suffering); (personal name) Yoshimi mala. Dust, impurity, dregs; moral impurity; mental impurity. Whatever misleads or deludes the mind; illusion; defilement; the six forms are vexation, malevolence, hatred, flattery, wild talk, pride; the seven are desire, false views, doubt, presumption, arrogance, inertia, and meanness. |
楚 see styles |
chǔ chu3 ch`u chu chiyu ちゆ |
distinct; clear; orderly; pain; suffering; deciduous bush used in Chinese medicine (genus Vitex); punishment cane (old) (1) (archaism) switch (long, tender shoot of a plant); (2) switch (cane used for flogging); (archaism) switch (flogging implement made from a branch); (place-name) Chu (name of several ancient Chinese states); Ch'u Brambles, spinous; painful, grievous; to flog; clear up; the Chu state. |
苦 see styles |
kǔ ku3 k`u ku ku く |
bitter; hardship; pain; to suffer; to bring suffering to; painstakingly (1) pain; anguish; suffering; distress; anxiety; worry; trouble; difficulty; hardship; (2) {Buddh} (See 八苦) duhkha (suffering) duḥkha, 豆佉 bitterness; unhappiness, suffering, pain, distress, misery; difficulty. There are lists of two, three, four, five, eight, and ten categories; the two are internal, i. e. physical and mental, and external, i. e. attacks from without. The four are birth, growing old, illness, and death. The eight are these four along with the pain of parting from the loved, of meeting with the hated, of failure in one's aims, and that caused by the five skandhas; cf. 四諦. |
諦 谛 see styles |
dì di4 ti tai たい |
to examine; truth (Buddhism) {Buddh} satya; truth; (given name) Tai To judge, examine into, investigate, used in Buddhism for satya, a truth, a dogma, an axiom; applied to the āryasatyāni, the four dogmas, or noble truths, of 苦, 集, 滅, and 道 suffering, (the cause of its) assembly, the ( possibility of its cure, or) extinction, and the way (to extinction), i.e. the eightfold noble path, v. 四諦 and 八聖道. There are other categories of 諦, e.g. (2) 眞 and 俗 Reality in contrast with ordinary ideas of things; (3) 空, 假 and 中 q.v. (6) by the 勝論宗; and(8) by the 法相宗.; Two forms of statement: (a) 俗諦 saṃvṛti-satya, also called 世諦, 世俗諦, 覆俗諦, 覆諦, meaning common or ordinary statement, as if phenomena were real; (b) 眞諦 paramartha-satya, also called 第一諦, 勝義諦, meaning the correct dogma or averment of the enlightened. Another definition is 王法 and 佛法, royal law and Buddha law. |
輪 轮 see styles |
lún lun2 lun rin りん |
wheel; disk; ring; steamship; to take turns; to rotate; classifier for big round objects: disk, or recurring events: round, turn (counter) counter for wheels and flowers; (female given name) Run cakra; wheel, disc, rotation, to revolve; v. 研. The three wheels are 惑業苦illusion, karma, suffering, in constant revolution. The five are earth, water, fire, wind, and space; the earth rests on revolving spheres of water, fire, wind, and space. The nine are seen on the tops of pagodas, cf. 九輪.; The two wheels of a cart compared by the Tiantai school to 定 (or to its Tiantai form 止觀) and 慧 meditation and wisdom; see 止觀 5. Also 食 food and 法 the doctrine, i. e. food physical and spiritual. |
ぐう see styles |
guu / gu グウ |
(1) (See じゃん拳,グー・2) rock (in rock, paper, scissors game); (adv,n) (2) (onomatopoeic or mimetic word) (See ぐうの音も出ない) ungh; sound made through constricted throat; (adv,n) (3) (onomatopoeic or mimetic word) ungh; sound made in suffering or under adversity; (female given name) Guu |
り災 see styles |
risai りさい |
(noun/participle) suffering (from a calamity); affliction |
三苦 see styles |
sān kǔ san1 ku3 san k`u san ku sanku |
The three kinds of duḥkha, pain, or suffering: 苦苦 that produced by direct causes; 壞苦 by loss or deprivation; 行苦 by the passing or impermanency of all things. |
三輪 三轮 see styles |
sān lún san1 lun2 san lun sanrin さんりん |
three wheels; (p,s,f) Miwa The three wheels: (1) The Buddha's (a) 身 body or deeds; (b) 口 mouth, or discourse; (c) 意 mind or ideas. (2) (a) 神通 (or 變) His supernatural powers, or powers of (bodily) self-transformation, associated with 身 body; (b) 記心輪 his discriminating understanding of others, associated with 意 mind; (c) 敎誡輪 or 正敎輪 his (oral) powers of teaching, associated with 口. (3) Similarly (a) 神足輪 ; (b) 說法輪 ; (c) 憶念輪 . (4) 惑, 業, and 苦. The wheel of illusion produces karma, that of karma sets rolling that of suffering, which in turn sets rolling the wheel of illusion. (5) (a) Impermanence; (b) uncleanness; (c) suffering. Cf. 三道. |
三轉 三转 see styles |
sān zhuǎn san1 zhuan3 san chuan santen |
(三轉法輪) The three turns of the law-wheel when the Buddha preached in the Deer Park: (a) 示轉 indicative, i.e. postulation and definition of the 四諦; (b) 勸轉 hortative, e.g. 苦當知 suffering should be diagnosed; (c) 證轉 evidential, e.g. I have overcome suffering, etc. |
三道 see styles |
sān dào san1 dao4 san tao mitsumichi みつみち |
(surname) Mitsumichi (1) The three paths all have to tread; 輪廻三道, 三輪, i.e. (a) 煩惱道 ; 惑道 ; the path of misery, illusion, mortality; (b) 業道 the path of works, action, or doing, productive of karma; (c) 苦道 the resultant path of suffering. As ever recurring they are called the three wheels. (2) 聾, 緣, 菩 śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, cf. 三乘. |
下品 see styles |
xià pǐn xia4 pin3 hsia p`in hsia pin gehin げひん |
(noun or adjectival noun) vulgar; indecent; coarse; crude; (place-name) Shimoshina The three lowest of the nine classes born in the Amitābha Pure Land, v. 無量壽經. These three lowest grades are (1) 下品上生 The highest of the three lowest classes who enter the Pure Land of Amitābha, i.e. those who have committed all sins except dishonouring the sūtras. If at the end of life the sinner clasps hands and says "Namo Amitābha", such a one will be born in His precious lake. (2) 下品中生 The middle class consists of those who have broken all the commandments, even stolen from monks and abused the law. If at death such a one hears of the great power of Amitābha, and assents with but a thought, he will be received into paradise. (3) 下品下生 The lowest class, because of their sins, should have fallen into the lowest gati, but by invoking the name of Amitābha, they can escape countless ages of reincarnation and suffering and on dying will behold a lotus flower like the sun, and, by the response of a single thought, will enter the Pure Land of Amitābha. |
不苦 see styles |
bù kǔ bu4 ku3 pu k`u pu ku fuku |
non-suffering |
丸香 see styles |
wán xiāng wan2 xiang1 wan hsiang gankō |
Incense balls made of various kinds of ingredients; typifying the aggregation of mortal suffering, and its destruction by the, fires of wisdom. |
九道 see styles |
jiǔ dào jiu3 dao4 chiu tao kudō |
idem 九有情居.; The nine truths, or postulates: impermanence; suffering; voidness (or unreality of things); no permanent ego, or soul; love of existence or possessions, resulting in suffering; the opposite (or fear of being without them), also resulting in suffering; the cutting off of suffering and its cause; nirvāṇa with remainder still to be worked out; complete nirvāṇa. |
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The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
| Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
| Four Noble Truths: Suffering | 苦諦 苦谛 | kutai | kǔ dì / ku3 di4 / ku di / kudi | k`u ti / kuti / ku ti |
| Four Noble Truths: Path Leading Away From Suffering | 道諦 道谛 | doutai / dotai | dào dì / dao4 di4 / dao di / daodi | tao ti / taoti |
| Birth Old-Age Sickness Death | 生老病死 | shou rou byou shi shouroubyoushi sho ro byo shi | shēng lǎo bìng sǐ sheng1 lao3 bing4 si3 sheng lao bing si shenglaobingsi | sheng lao ping ssu shenglaopingssu |
| In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line. In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese. | ||||
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