UNSATISFACTORINESS

One of the hallmarks of this life, the Buddha pointed out, is its unsatisfactoriness.

For example, a boy had a favorite style of shoe that he always bought.  “Desert boots” they were called.  One day he bought a pair that did not fit him well.  How could that be, he wondered.  He always bought that same shoe, and from the same store, and they always fit him fine.

He went on to buy more of them, but over and over again they no longer fit him.  He was frustrated beyond description--dukka, suffering in Buddhism
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But he did not return any of the shoes, figuring that it was just a fluke, that he would wake up one morning and one or all of the pairs would actually fit him.

He had no such luck, however.  The shoes just got tighter and tighter.  It must be the manufacturer’s fault, he concluded.  They were cutting corners, using a lesser grade of leather, trying to increase their profit margin.

Alas, It turned out that at age fifteen his feet simply were growing bigger.

At the heart of unsatisfactoriness is what Buddhism calls anicca, impermanence.  Everything in this life is forever changing, even feet.