CONCEPT OF SAṄKHARA DUKKHA

Abstract

The term saṅkhāra has various shade of meaning according to the different contexts. It has a multiple combination with other Buddhist philosophical terms, which totally has an effect on its original meaning and brings about a much wider and complicated import of this term. It can be said that the term saṅkhāra is much more flexible compared with other Buddhist philosophical terms. In the five Nikāyas, it appears in combinations with different words as dukkha and upadhi. Now the different combinations of this term, saṅkhāradukkha, will be explained in the paper. It is found in Dukkha-pañhāsuttaDukkhatā sutta (Sanyuttanikāya) and Saṅgiti sutta (Dighanikāya). In these suttas, the term saṅkhāradukkha appears as one of three kinds of dukkha, namely, dukkha-dukkha (intrinsic suffering), vipariṇāma dukkha (suffering in change) and saṅkhāra dukkha (suffering due to formation). In the Dutiyavedanā sutta of the Itivuttaka, it is indirectly expressed using the word 'adukkhamasukhan' as its synonym. It is necessary to mention here the verse of the Itivuttaka which indirectly states the three kinds of dukkha.