Сукха: Подлинное счастье в буддийской традиции.

Sanskrit and Pali term for an authentic state of happiness

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.

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 duḥkha (Sanskrit; Pali: dukkha; often translated as "suffering"), which was established as the major motivating life principles in early Vedic religion. This theme of the centrality of dukkha was developed in later years in both Vedic and the offshoot Buddhist traditions. The elimination of dukkha is the raison d'être of early Buddhism.

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).

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

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):
May all beings be at ease! Sabbe sattā bhavantu sukhitattā. 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.

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).

In the Yoga Sūtras, Patañjali uses the word 'sukha' when he defines asana as the balance between "Sukha" and "Stirah" (strength, steadiness, firmness).

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.