Dukkha in the Human World by Ledi Sayadaw

Textual Scholarship
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"3. The Meaning of the Four Characteristics of Dukkha Saccā

Pīḷanaṭṭho, Saṃkhataṭṭha, Santāpaṭṭha, Vipariṇāmaṭṭha, Dukkhasabho.

The four characteristics of Dukkha are: Pīḷanaṭṭha, Saṅkhaṭṭha, Saṅtāpaṭṭha and Vipariṇāmaṭṭha.

Of these four, Pīḷanaṭṭha is the primary characteristic of Dukkha saccā and the other three are derivatives of Pīḷanaṭṭha. Pīḷanaṭṭho is causing oppression and injury. And oppression and injury is afflicted by

(1) Saṅkhatta = repeated reconditioning and reconstructing,

(2) Santāpa = burning, scorching, tormenting, and

(3) Vipariṇāma = reversing and changing.

The Tebhūmaka Dhamma (three stages of being) afflicts the beings that cling to it.

(1) by Saṅkhata at the beginning.

(2) by Santāpa in the middle.

(3) by Vipariṇāma at the end.

Thus Pīḷanatta means oppression and injury caused at the beginning, in the middle and at the end, in all the stages.

…

Dukkha in the Human World

The mind-and-body, the aggregates of Human beings oppresses the human beings by three kinds of afflictions.

(1) Affliction by Saṅkhata is less severe than in the case of the Devas

(2) Affliction by Saṅkhata being less severe, affliction by Santāpa is millions of times more severe than in the case of the Devas.

(3) Affliction by Vipariṇāma comes very much faster. The life span of human beings seems to last the twinkling of an eye of the Devas or a flash of lightning.

The severity of affliction by Santāpa is the Dukkha of conception in the mother’s womb, the Dukkha of delivery from the mother’s womb, the Dukkha of suffering from heat in a hot locality during the hot season; the Dukkha of suffering from intense cold in a cold locality during the cold season; the Dukkha of being bitten by mosquitoes and gadflies and suffering from hot winds and the heat of the sun in the locality and in the season they prevail; the greed (Moha) Dukkha, which embraces innumerable Dukkhas, of earning a living by cultivation, etc.; the Dukkha of having to discharge the duties of a citizen; the Dukkha of having to perform social welfare duties; the Dukkha of having to discharge obligations of relatives; the Dukkha of having to nourish the body twice a day; the Dukkha of having to vary one’s posture frequently as one cannot remain in one posture for long; the Dukkha of having to satiate the hunger of the Kilesa demons, (moral defilements), which cling to the six sense doors, every time they demand feeding. These are the common Dukkhas.

There are also innumerable Dukkhas resulting from committing and indulging in all kinds of evils, from earning and living and supporting wife and children in all kinds of evil ways, from belonging to a race of wrong belief that would sink one in the four nether regions, where the longer one lives the deeper and deeper one will sink, from belonging to a race of wrong belief that indulges in useless, futile and extremely harsh practises, such as warming by the fire in the hot season, immersing in water in the cold season, from the ninety-six kinds of diseases that arise in the body; from the five external dangers, etc. The number of such Santāpa dukkhas prevalent in the countless existences that have no beginning in the human world is very large. The aggregates of human beings afflict the human beings by Santāpa to this extent.

How does the aggregates of human beings afflict the human beings by Vipariṇāma? Though a being attains human existence which is very hard to come by, it is killed in the embryo stage and thrown into the nether regions by Vipariṇāma. Elaborate it in this manner till the end of its life span.

Think of the countless existences that have no beginning, the countless times a being is killed by the aggregates in the embryo stage of a clear speck of liquid, in the embryo stage of a roam, in the embryo stage of a lump of blood, in the embryo stage of a piece of flesh and so on. In this manner, the aggregates of human beings afflict the human beings by Vipariṇāma in the end.

Thus, it is evident that the aggregates of human beings oppress the Human beings by four kinds of afflictions and it is really Dukkha saccā."

  • Catusacca Dīpanī Pāḷi Nissaya, The Manual of the Four Noble Truths
    With Word-for-Word Translations of the Pāḷi by Ledi Sayadaw

Renaldo

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Hello,
What does Affliction by Saṅkhata mean?

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saṅkhata: Phenomena that are conditioned by causes, meaning anything that is originated or dependent upon conditions. It encompasses all phenomena of existence.

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Ven. Ledi Sayādaw, Paṭṭhānuddesa Dīpanī: The Buddhist Philosophy of Relations, first BPS edition, (1986), p. 62. Wheel Publication No. 331/133, p. 78.

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Thank you for answering. Do you know why the affliction by sankhata in the human world is less severe than in the case of Devas?

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Hi HappinessSeeker :slightly_smiling_face: That was actually Dhammapala that answered you, not me.

As far as the affliction by saṅkhata goes, it appears to be less in the human realm than in the Deva realm because the deeds needed to attain birth in the human realm are less strenuous and arduous than those needed to attain birth as a Deva (or they are similar deeds but done to a lesser degree). And the deeds needed to attain birth as a Brahma are even greater than those needed to attain birth as a Deva, so the saṅkhata there is greater than for the Deva realm.

In that same text, Ledi Sayadaw writes:

“The aggregates of a Brahma will afflict the being who has acquired it once;
(1) by Saṅkhata of the beginning
(2) by Santāpa in the middle
(3) by Vipariṇāma at the end.
Causing intense oppression and injury at the beginning by Saṅkhata means the striving for acquiring the aggregates of a Brahma in the past existences for the attainment of Jhānas and Samāpattis. It is a very strenuous Saṅkhata Dukkha. It is a Dhamma that can only be attained by dwelling in out of the way big forests and mountains and by making a superhuman effort.
Causing oppression and injury in the middle by Santapa means that when the aggregates of a Brahma, the fruits of the attainment of Jhānas and Samāpattis, has been acquired, the fire of pride, “I”, arises at all times from that Brahma aggregates and efflicts that being. Likewise, the fires of Sakkāya diṭṭhi (wrong belief in the illusion that there is self), Sassata diṭṭhi (false view that atta as well as loka is eternal), Uccheda diṭṭhi (wrong belief in annihilation), intoxication with the power and glory of a Brahma, negligence in the Dhamma and other moral defilements (Kilesas) always afflict him.
That being will not be aware of the burning and the oppression caused by the moral defilements (Kilesa) at the time they are being done to him. He will think them to be good and may even have a liking for them. Only when the burning occurs again later, the burning and oppression of the moral defilements (Kilesa) become obvious. Even though that being does not know that it is burning and oppression (by Kilesa), all kinds of impure, turbid and unwholesome thoughts will harass him to make him debased and ignoble in the future. All kinds of fires of moral defilements (Kilesa) arise from the aggregates of that Brahmā as long as he lives and those aggregates oppress him throughout his whole life.
Causing oppression and injury at the end by Vipariṇāma means the Vipariṇāma dukkha of death and disappearance of those aggregates. As the result of the dissolution of that aggregates, that being falls into the inferior sensual planes of existence (Kāmavacara bhūmis). He falls successively down to the Avīci niraya. He is reborn as dog, pig, foul, bird, mosquito, gadfly, flea, bug – In the end, the aggregates of the Brahma very severely oppressed that being by Vipariṇāma dukkha.
Therefore the aggregates of the Brahma which has the four characteristics of Dukkha, viz. Pīḷanaṭṭha, Saṅkhataṭṭha, Saṅtāpaṭṭha and Vipariṇāmattha, is called Dukkha Saccā.”

He also writes of the actions needed to be reborn as a Deva:

"In the six Deva realms, the aggregates of the Devas, afflicts the owner
(1) by Saṅkhata at the beginning,
(2) by Santāpa in the middle, and
(3) by Vipariṇāma at the end.
In this case, affliction by Saṅkhata means giving alms, strict restraint of verbal deeds and thoughts. Only by doing such deeds can one attain the Deva aggregates in the future existence. It cannot be attained by mere aspiration. Alms giving can make a person who possesses a hundred (Kyat) worth of property or a person who possesses a thousand (Kyat) worth of property become poor in a single day. Keeping the moral precepts without breaching them is a very hard task.
As a person, who remains without giving alms or keeping the moral precepts, will certainly fall into the four nether (Apāya) regions immediately after his death it is an inevitable task that cannot be neglected. Those who have done alms giving (Dāna) and kept the moral precepts (Sīla) attain happy destinations (Sugati) but if their Dāna and Sīla are scanty, they attain inferior existences. The greater the Dāna and Sīla, the higher and the nobler are the destinations attained.
So, fearing to attain lowly and inferior destinations in the next existence, much wealth and possessions are given away in charity (Dāna) and physical and verbal actions are rigidly disciplined (Sīla). These are therefore really inevitable tasks that cannot be neglected.
Every unavoidable task is really Dukkha. If the Deva aggregates one desired were attainable without giving alms, without keeping the moral precepts, if the Brahmā aggregates one desired were attainable without striving for development of Jhāna and Samāpatti, who would do these (unavoidable) tasks?"

He also writes:

"Of the three afflictions, at the beginning, in the middle and at the end, the Brahmas suffer most by the affliction of Saṅkhata (at the beginning), as they can bear the very severe affliction of Saṅkata, they suffer less from the affliction by Saṅtāpa in the middle. The affliction by Vipariṇāma at the end comes only after a very long time, their life span being counted in terms of aeons.
The affliction by Saṅkhata in the six Deva realms is not so sever. Giving alms (Dāna) and keeping the moral precepts (Sīla) are a thousand times much easier than development of Jhāna and insight meditation (Jhāna bhāvanā). As they seek the less severe affliction by Saṅkhata, the moral defilements (Kilesa) are subdued and when they attain the Deva aggregates, the affliction by Saṅtāpa becomes very severe. The fires of sensual desires and passion arising from the six sense doors consume those Devas all their lives. Other fires also burn them as much as they deserve. Then the affliction by Vipariṇāma comes to them very quickly. Their life span is counted in terms of years, months and days. Compared to the life span of the Brahmas, that of the Devas seems to last only the twinkling of an eye or a flash of lightning. Though it is said that there are celestial pleasures and luxuries in all the six Deva realms, they are nothing but the burning of fires of sensual desires and passion.
Thus, it is evident that the aggregates of the Devas in the six Deva realms oppress the Devas, who possess it, by four kinds of afflictions and that it is really Dukkha saccā."

I hope this helps.

Renaldo

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Yes, I meant to thank Dhammapala. I was quoting you to ask him a question so it looked like I was replying to you instead of him.

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Ronaldo… i lost my password… tomorrow flight abroad… see you later … thanks for your kindness

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