This emerged in my practice when I tried to locate the "Characteristic" of suffering/unsatisfactoriness aspect of sensations, but I only succeeded in noticing that I didn't like some of them, which is plain old garden-variety aversion, as far as I can tell.

I don't understand this business of the illusion of duality being painful -- which is the focus of the most obviously relevant passage in MCTB -- and even granting that it were, that would be a no-self issue, wouldn't it?

I imagine this has been discussed at great length as it is clearly a central issue... could someone please point me to a few of their favorite resources, or perhaps suggest another angle from which to approach the question?

Thanks.

There's a lot to be said here, as suffering is a main theme of theravadan Buddhism so I'll try to be brief and give you a few pointers:

1. Suffering is one translation of the pali word Dukkha, it is one that works some of the time but not always. In the Buddha's teaching of the 4 noble truths, suffering is a mostly adequate translation of dukkha but when talking about the three characteristics, I find that translating dukkha as 'unsatisfactoriness' is more helpful.

2. Exploring what leads to aversion is interesting. Similarly what leads to craving, the difference between experiences that lead to craving and to aversion.

3. Exploring what comes after aversion (and craving) is also interesting. This may take more detailed exploration on your side so don't feel like you have to crack it right now.

4. It's been my experience that seeing the illusion of duality more clearly and seeing the pain that is causes can take a while so, again, don't think you have to see it all or understand it all right now. For now, noticing the aversion might be enough.

Is any of this helpful?
Eran.

Thanks for the answer. I don't see duality as problematic, which leads me to infer that I am missing something basic because it is much more likely that my perception is not yet keen enough even to pick up the problem (if not The Problem), than it is that I am walking around "seeing through the illusion of duality" without realizing it. I will keep practicing, and attend to the nuances of craving and aversion and see what I notice. Thanks again.