Buddhist Studies Review, Vol 36, No 1 (2019)

Do the Arahant and the Buddha Experience Dukkha and Domanassa?

Ashin Sumanacara
Issued Date: 2 Oct 2019

Abstract


The Pāli Nikāyas describe a range of painful feelings that are experienced by human beings. The painful feelings are primarily divided into the categories of dukkha and domanassa. In its broader sense, dukkha covers a complete range of different types of painful or unpleasant feeling. But when it appears within a compound or together with domanassa successively within a passage, its meaning is primarily limited to physical pain while domanassa refers to mental pain. This article investigates the question of whether or not the Arahant and the Buddha experience mental pain as well as physical pain. My analysis of doctrinal explanations demonstrates that the Arahant and the Buddha are subject to experience physical pain and physical disease but not mental pain. This article also clarifies why and to what degree the Pāli tradition sees them as experiencing physical pain and disease.

Download Media

PDF (Price: £5.00 )

DOI: 10.1558/bsrv.32069

References


Adikaram, E. W. 1946, repr. 2009. Early History of Buddhism in Ceylon. Dehiwala: Buddhist Cultural Centre.

Ajahn Brahm. 2006. Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond: A Meditator’s Handbook. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications.

Anālayo. 2012. Excursions into the Thought-World of the Pāli Discourses. Onalaska, WA: Pariyatti Press.

———. 2015. ‘Healing in Early Buddhism’. Buddhist Studies Review 32(1):19–33. https://doi.org/10.1558/bsrv.v32i1.28962

Bodhi, B., trans. 2000. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications.

Chen, T. S. N. and P. S. Y. Chen. 2002. ‘Jivaka, physician to the Buddha’. Journal of Medical Biography 10: 88–91. https://doi.org/10.1177/096777200201000206

Cone, M., ed. 2001. A Dictionary of Pāli, (part I). Oxford: Pali Text Society.

———. 2010. A Dictionary of Pāli, (part II). Bristol: Pali Text Society.

de Silva, L. 1978. ‘Cetovimutti, Paññāvimuytti and Ubhatobhāgavimutti’. Pali Buddhist Review III.3: 118–145.

———. 1996. Nibbāna as Living Experience. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society.

Gethin, R. 1998. The Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gowans, C. W. 2003. Philosophy of the Buddha. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203480793

Gunaratana, H. 1985. The Path of Serenity and Insight: An Explanation of the Buddhist Jhānas. Delhi: Motilal Banarshidass Publishers Private Limited.

Harvey, P. 1986. ‘“Signless” Meditations in Pāli Buddhism’. The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 9(1): 25–52.

———. 1990. An Introduction to Buddhism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

———. 2009. ‘The Four Ariya-saccas as “True Realities for the Spiritually Ennobled” — the Painful, its Origin, its Cessation, and the Way Going to This — Rather than “Noble Truths” Concerning These’. Buddhist Studies Review 26(2): 197–227. https://doi.org/10.1558/bsrv.v26i2.197

———. 2013. ‘The Saṅgha of Noble Sāvakas, with Particular Reference to their Trainee Member, the Person “Practising for the Realization of the Stream-entry-fruit”’. Buddhist Studies Review 30(1): 3–70. https://doi.org/10.1558/bsrv.v30i1.3

———. 2015. ‘Introductory Reflections on Buddhism and Healing’. Buddhist Studies Review 32 (1): 13–18. https://doi.org/10.1558/bsrv.v32i1.28963

Katz, N. 1982. Buddhist Images of Human perfection. New Delhi: Motilal Banarshidass Publishers Private Limited.

Keown, D. 1996. ‘Buddhism and Suicide: The Case of Channa’. Journal of Buddhist Ethics 3: 8–31.

———. ed. 2003. A Dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Masefield, P., trans. 1997. The Udāna. Oxford: Pali Text Society.

Mettanando, B. and O. von Hinüber. 2000. ‘The Cause of the Buddha’s death’. The Journal of the Pali Text Society 26: 105–118.

Norman, K. R., trans. 1969. The Elders’ Verses. London: Pali Text Society.

Nyanaponika Thera and H. Hecker, ed. 2003. Great Disciples of the Buddha. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications.

Premasiri, P. D. 2008. The Philosophy of the Aṭṭhakavagga. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society.

Wallace, B. A. 1993. Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications.

 

Webster, D. 2005. ‘The Weary Buddha or Why the Buddha Nearly Couldn’t be Bothered’. Buddhist Studies Review 22(1): 15–26.

Wijeratne, R. P. and R. Gethin, trans. 2007. Summary of the Topics of Abhidhamma and Exposition of the Topics of Abhidhamma. Lancaster: The Pali Text Society.

Xing, G. 2005. The Concept of the Buddha. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203413104


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.



Equinox Publishing Ltd - 415 The Workstation 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0)114 221-0285 - Email: [email protected]

Privacy Policy