( Pāli दुक्ख ; according to grammatical tradition from Sanskrit '''' "uneasy", but according to Monier-Williams more likely a Prakrit ized form of '''' "unsteady, disquieted") is a central concept in Buddhism , the word roughly corresponding to a number of terms in English including sorrow, Suffering (or Pain) , affliction, Anxiety , dissatisfaction, discomfort, anguish, stress, misery, and frustration. The term is probably derived from duḥstha, "standing badly," "unsteady," "uneasy."
In classic Sanskrit, the term ''dukkha'' was often compared to a large potter's wheel that would screech as it was spun around, and did not turn smoothly. The opposite of ''dukkha'' was the term ''sukkha'', which brought to mind a potter's wheel that turned smoothly and noiselessly. In other Buddhist-influenced cultures, similar imagery was used to describe ''dukkha''. An example from China is the cart with one wheel that is slightly broken, so that the rider is jolted each time the wheel rolls over the broken spot.
Although dukkha is often translated as "suffering", its philosophical meaning is more complex. It also contains such deeper ideas as "imperfection", "unease", "anguish" and "unsatisfactoriness". "Suffering" is too narrow a translation and it is sometimes best to leave ''dukkha'' untranslated
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