Published by As a student of literature, a pet peeve of mine has always been misquotes. I get irked when Thoreau is mistakenly claimed to have said “In wilderness is the preservation of the world.” The word he actually used was “wildness.” And the Bible is frequently invoked improperly with the classic “Money is the root of all evil.” A slight, but significant correction: “The love of money is the root of all evil.” And in the world of Buddhism, I’m always a bit disappointed to run across, yet again, one of the first things the Buddha supposedly said: “life is suffering.”
This one line has probably done more to deter interest in Buddhism than any other. It flies in the face of our Western attempts to carpe diem, and seemingly negates the positive aspects of life that we all know exist. Fortunately, it’s not what the Buddha said. Unlike the examples from the Bible or Thoreau, however, this is not merely an example of a misquote, but a mis-translation, or rather, a gross simplification of a translation.
So what did the Buddha really say? Aside from the fact that nobody knows for sure, since he didn’t write anything, we do have the words as recorded from his disciples. In Sanskrit, this seminal teaching (the first of the four noble truths) is:
“Upadana Panca Skandha Dukkha”
Dukkha is the word usually translated as “suffering,” although it would be more accurately described as “pervasive dissatisfaction,”or “stressful.”
Panca Skandha means “Five Heaps,” or “Five Aggregates.” These are the five groups that comprise everything that can be regarded as human experience: forms, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness.
And finally, Upadana means “clinging.”
So, the first noble truth literally is something like: “Clinging to the five aggregates of existence is pervasively dissatisfying.”
That first word, Upadana is frequently forgotten. Clinging. Grasping. Holding onto. Take form, for example. If you cling to your form (that is, your body), you will be greatly dissatisfied when it changes. Such as when old age transforms a beautiful body into wrinkles and disease. One of the primary truths of the world that Buddhism constantly seeks to teach is impermanence. If all things are impermanent, then clinging to them will only end up with loss, despair, fear, and grief. If, instead, we accept the impermanent nature of all reality, when things come and go, we will welcome them and bid them farewell as naturally as we do the wind.
Finally, we have to ask whether the translation is actually incorrect at all! What is the difference between “Clinging to the five skandhas” and “life?” This, however, is a question that I cannot answer for you. May your exploration of such questions guide you finally to the very heart of peace.
