Sukha (Pali and ) means happiness, pleasure, ease, joy or bliss. Among the early scriptures, 'sukha' is set up as a contrast to 'preya' (प्रेय) meaning a transient pleasure, whereas the pleasure of 'sukha' has an authentic state happiness within a being that is lasting. In the Pāli Canon, the term is used in the context of describing laic pursuits and meditation.

Etymology

According to Monier-Williams (1964), the etymology of sukha is "said to be su ['good'] + kha ['aperture'] and to mean originally 'having a good axle-hole'"; thus, for instance, in the Rig Veda sukha denotes "running swiftly or easily" (applied, e.g., to chariots). Monier-Williams also notes that the term might derive alternatively as "possibly a Prākrit form of su-stha, q.v.; c.f. duh̩kha", literally meaning su ['good'] + stha ['standing']. Sukha is juxtaposed with dukha (Sanskrit; Pali: dukkha; often translated as "suffering"), which were established as the major motivating life principles in early Vedic religion. This theme of the centrality of dukha was developed in later years in both Vedic and Buddhist traditions. The elimination of dukha is the raison d'être of early Buddhism.

Pali literature

In the Pali Canon and related literature, the term is used in a general sense to refer to "well-being and happiness" (hitasukha) in either this present life or future lives. In addition, it is a technical term associated with describing a factor of meditative absorption (jhāna) and a sensory-derived feeling (vedanā).

General life pursuit

In the Pāli Canon, the Buddha discusses with different lay persons "well-being and happiness" (hitasukha) "visible in this present life" (diha-dhamma) and "pertaining to the future life" (samparāyika), as exemplified by the following suttas.

Anana Sutta

In the Anaa Sutta (AN 4.62), the Buddha describes four types of happiness for a "householder partaking of sensuality" (gihinā kāma-bhoginā): Of these, the wise (sumedhaso) know that the happiness of blamelessness is by far the greatest householder happiness. Economic and material happiness is not worth one sixteenth part of the spiritual happiness arising out of a faultless and good life.

Kalama Sutta

In the Kālāmā Sutta (AN 3.65), townspeople ask the Buddha how they are to ascertain which spiritual teaching is true. The Buddha counsels that one should "enter and dwell" (upasampajja vihareyyātha) in "things" or "qualities" (dhammā) that are: Using the latter criterion, the Buddha then asks the townspeople to assess greed (lobha), hate (dosa) and delusion (moha) whereby it is agreed that entering and dwelling in non-greed, non-hate and non-delusion lead to well-being and happiness. The Buddha states that, given this understanding, a noble disciple (ariyasāvako) pervades all directions with lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity (see the four brahmaviharas); and, by doing so, one purifies oneself, avoids evil-induced consequences, lives a happy present life and, if there is a future karmic rebirth, one will be born in a heavenly world.

Dighajanu Sutta

In the Dighajānu Sutta (AN 8.54), Dighajānu approaches the Buddha and states: In a manner somewhat similar to his exposition in the aforementioned Anaa Sutta, the Buddha identifies four sources that lead to well-being and happiness in the current life: In terms of well-being and happiness in the next life, the Buddha identifies the following sources:

Mettā practice

As indicated above, in the Kālāmā Sutta, the Buddha identifies the practice of the four divine abodes (brahmavihara) as being conducive to one's own well-being and happiness. The first of these abodes is mettā (benevolence, kindness), which is, for instance, classically expressed in the Pali canon's Karaniya Mettā Sutta ("Scripture of Compassionate Benevolence") (Sn 1.8) by the sincere wish (in English and Pali): Similarly, the Pali commentaries (SN-A 128) explicitly define mettā as "the desire to bring about the well-being and happiness [of others]" (hita-sukha-upanaya-kāmatā) Thus, in Buddhism, to dwell wishing for others' general happiness is conducive to the development of one's own happiness.

Feeling attribute

In the Buddhist frameworks of the five aggregates (Sanskrit: skandha; Pali: khandha) and dependent origination (Sanskrit: pratītyasamutpāda; Pali: paticcasamuppāda), "feelings" or "sensations" (vedanā) arise from the contact of an external object (such as a visual object or sound) with a sensory organ (such as the eye or ear) and consciousness. In the Pali Canon, such feelings are generally described to be of one of three types: pleasant (sukha), unpleasant (dukkha), or neither-unpleasant-nor-pleasant (adukkha-asukha).

Mental factor in meditation

In the commentarial tradition on Buddhist meditation, the development of jhāna (Sanskrit: dhyāna) is described as the development of five mental factors (Sanskrit: caitasika; Pali: cetasika) that counteract the five hindrances: Both pīti and sukha are born of bodily seclusion and mental quietude in first jhāna, but both are then born of focused concentration (samādhi) in the second jhāna and only sukha is sustained in the third jhāna until it is abandoned for pure, mindful equanimity (upekkhāsatipārisuddhi) in the fourth jhāna. The Visuddhimagga distinguishes between pīti and sukha in the following experiential manner: Providing a bare-bones conditional chain of events that overlaps the above more narrative exposition, the Upanisa Sutta (SN 12.23) states that sukha arises from tranquillity (passaddhi) of the body and mind, and in turn gives rise to concentration (samādhi). Citing traditional post-canonical Pali literature related to this discourse, Bodhi (1980) adds the following functional definition of sukha:

As a characterization of awakening

Nibbāna (Sanskrit: Nirvāṇa) entails the foundational extinction or "blowing out" of the processes of unwholesome desire, aversion, and delusion. From the perspective of awakened experience, the latter deleterious processes are appreciated as "agitations" of the mind. In comparative contrast to such agitation, sukha and its cognates are at places in the Pali Canon used to characterize the calm of Nibbāna, the "Unconditioned," as a bliss:

Sanskrit literature

In Bhagavad Gita verses 6.21-23, the term 'sukha ' is used to define the boundless happiness that characterizes yoga. It states that when the yogi attains this happiness, understood by the discriminative faculty (buddhi) but beyond the senses, he becomes firmly established in this state, free from suffering, and does not waver from it, a state known as yoga. The Taittiriya Upanishad figuratively quantifies the bliss of Brahman, starting with the bliss of humans: "'Let us take a young man - a first class young man who is the most learned, cultured and strong person. And let us suppose that he owns this whole world with all its resources. This situation would constitute one measure of human bliss. A single measure of the bliss of earthly gandharva celestials ...equals one hundred measures of human bliss; a single measure of the bliss of celestial gandharvas ...equals one hundred measures of the bliss of earthly gandharvas; ...equals one hundred measures of bliss of the forefathers; a single measure of bliss of the gods who attained their status by good deeds …equals one hundred measures of the bliss of Indra; a single measure of the bliss of Prajapati, the progenitor of species, ...equals one hundred measures of the bliss of Brhaspati; a single measure of the bliss of Brahman equals one hundred measures of the bliss of Prajapati.'" In the Yoga Sūtras, Patañjali uses the term 'sukha' in verse II.46, where he defines asana as the balance between "sukha" and "sthira" (strength, steadiness, firmness). In Sutra I.33, sukha refers to those who are happy, and suggests fostering friendship towards them to promote mental lucidity. In Tattvartha Sutra, Jain scholar Umaswati explains the concept of sukha in context of spiritual liberation from karma. Umaswati explains four different meanings of sukha: as the quality of objects, as freedom from pain, as happiness resulting from meritorious actions, and as the ultimate sukha in the state of liberation (moksha).

Neuro-scientific basis

Some researchers have proposed that a "shift" in the activity of the medial prefrontal cortex is what supports a state of inner fulfillment and equanimity.

Sources