[Advayavada Study Plan – week 3] Dukkha (Pali) or duhkha (Sanskrit) means suffering, sorrow, dissatisfaction, frustration, anxiety, or stress; it is the first of the four noble truths of Buddhism and also the third of the three or, in Advayavada Buddhism, four signs or marks or basic facts of being, the other three being the impermanence or changeability of everything (see week 1), the selflessness and emptiness of all things (see week 2), and evolution or, in human terms, progress (see coming weeks 4 and 5). In Advayavada Buddhism, dukkha or duhkha does not include, in the context of the four noble truths, emotional grief nor physical pain, which are part and parcel of human existence, and it is, above all, not seen as a permanent or inevitable feature of reality; it is chiefly understood in said context as the existential distress and distrust of life non-liberated human beings are prone to and which are essentially caused by the unhealthy and socially infectious feeling that reality does not conform to their petty desires and mistaken expectations. The ubiquity and unremitting persistency of human distress, alienation and conflict is undeniably especially due to the very many everywhere in the world not being taught or not comprehending or simply disbelieving and denying the basically impermanent and finite nature of their individual existence. Advayavada Buddhism, on its part, invites us all to instead intelligently make the very best of our own finite lives by attuning as best as possible with actual wondrous overall existence advancing over time now in its manifest direction. We do this by conscientiously following the Noble Eightfold Path. Feel free to share this post.