Pain (dukkha)
Skillful qualities / Four Noble Truths / Noble Truth of Suffering / Pain 
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Subsumes: Unpleasant feeling (dukkhā vedanā)
Alternative translations: Stress
Also a subtag of Worldly Conditions
63 excerpts, 4:50:42 total duration

This tag refers to painful bodily feeling. See [Suffering] for the more general human experience.




Thanksgiving Retreat 2010, Session 2 – Nov. 21, 2010

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3. “Where in the Pāli Canon does the Buddha discuss physical pain and how to deal with it? Is physical pain categorized as a sense hindrance or a mental object?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Tipiṭaka] [Pain] [Sense bases] [Volitional formations] // [Patience] [Feeling]

Sutta: SN 36.6: The Dart. [Pain] [Similes]

Sutta: MN 86.17. [Pain] [Kamma] [Arahant]

Sutta: MN 44.25: The underlying tendencies associated with feeling.


Thanksgiving Retreat 2012, Session 7 – Nov. 23, 2010

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8. “I have greatly appreciated the teachings on non-proliferation, especially Ajahn Karunadhammo’s answer to last night’s question regarding the underlying feeling that is often present and driving a particular proliferation. I live with an autoimmune disease which currently requires frequent adjustments to my medications.... It is quite a conundrum to care for this body and track the various symptoms, all of which I find unpleasant, and yet not to proliferate on what needs to happen next. Going to the body in my practice, while useful, is not reliably calming, and sometimes seems to add fuel to the fire. This retreat I have been practicing with Right View and Right Understanding by repeating key phrases from the daily talks and have experienced what feels like a very deep insight at times. Do you have any words of guidance for when I go off retreat on working with this human body and this all-too-human mind?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Proliferation] [Feeling] [Sickness] [Pain] [Mindfulness of body] [Right View] [Right Intention] // [Suffering] [Ajahn Chah] [Restlessness and worry] [Gladdening the mind]

Sutta: SN 36.6: Shot by two arrows. [Pain]

Simile from Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, p. 159: Being injected with poison. [Similes]

Quote: “It can still be uncomfortable, but it doesn’t have to be complicated.”


Readings from The Island, Session 50 – Mar. 20, 2025

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7. Reflections by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno on the Buddha’s experience of chronic pain in DN 16.2.25. [Buddha/Biography] [Pain] // [Suffering] [Equanimity]

Suttas: DN 33; MN 53; AN 10.67-68: The Buddha stretches his back. [Pain]