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**halyshitzob** · 02-12-2011, 08:28 AM

Snowmelt, have you ever run into the problem where people equate dukkha with physical pain itself? Thinking that even one who has completely uprooted ignorance, laid aside greed, aversion and delusion... have not escaped dukkha?

Dukkha is a product of the mind, I think. So, I do not think that physical pain is dukkha. We may generate dukkha from that physical pain, but that is a different thing. The body produces pain, but what does the mind do with that sensation? If the mind wants the pain to go away or focuses on the pain, then dukkha is generated.

If the mind is supremely unconcerned by the pain, then dukkha is not generated.

Perhaps it may be useful to think of an example: suppose we stub our toe violently and are hopping around in extreme discomfort. Just then, a car hits a pedestrian on the street nearby and our attention is diverted. We forget the pain completely. Awareness of the pain ... pouf! What has changed? The mind has shifted.

This is an example of what the mind can do. Even the untrained mind can do it, in such circumstances as described above. The trained mind can do it at will.

02-12-2011, 08:28 AM	#20
halyshitzob Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 340 Senior Member	Snowmelt, have you ever run into the problem where people equate dukkha with physical pain itself? Thinking that even one who has completely uprooted ignorance, laid aside greed, aversion and delusion... have not escaped dukkha? Dukkha is a product of the mind, I think. So, I do not think that physical pain is dukkha. We may generate dukkha from that physical pain, but that is a different thing. The body produces pain, but what does the mind do with that sensation? If the mind wants the pain to go away or focuses on the pain, then dukkha is generated. If the mind is supremely unconcerned by the pain, then dukkha is not generated. Perhaps it may be useful to think of an example: suppose we stub our toe violently and are hopping around in extreme discomfort. Just then, a car hits a pedestrian on the street nearby and our attention is diverted. We forget the pain completely. Awareness of the pain ... pouf! What has changed? The mind has shifted. This is an example of what the mind can do. Even the untrained mind can do it, in such circumstances as described above. The trained mind can do it at will.
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