Mahathera Ledi Sayadaw - Abhidhamma.com

Here is an illustration to show the difference between the vedayita-dukkha and bhayattha-dukkha.
A man has a dangerous disease. He has to live on a simple diet, such as vegetables and fruit, so as
to keep himself healthy and the disease in a subdued condition. If he takes rich diet, such as
poultry, fish, meat, and confectionery, even though a sense of comfort and enjoyment may
accompany such a dainty meal, after partaking of it he will suffer almost deadly pain for the
whole of that day or maybe for many days from indigestion, which will cause to arise again in full
force the disease that was subsiding. The more dainty the meal was, the longer will he suffer.
Now suppose that a friend of his, with a view to acquiring merit, brings him some nicely cooked,
buttered rice, fowl, fish, and meat. The man, fearing the agony of pain which he will undergo if he
should eat of the meal so well prepared , though only for a few moments, has to thank his friend
but decline it, telling him that the meal is too rich for him, and that should he partake of it he
would be sure to suffer. In this instance, the richly prepared food is, of course, the pleasurable
object (vedayitasukha-vatthu), for it will probably furnish a nice savour to the palate while it is
being eaten, which feeling of pleasure is called Vedayitasukha. But to him who foresees that it
will cause him such pain as may break down his health, this same food is really an unpleasurable
object. He shrinks from and fears it, for he knows that the better the savour the longer he must
sufffer; hence the pleasure his palate will derive from the food is to him a real fear-producing ill.
ln the world, he who has not got rid of the error of Ego and become safe against the danger of the
dispersion of life (vinipatanabhaya), and its passage to realms of misery, is like the aforesaid man
who has the dangerous disease. The existences of men, Devas and Brahmas, and the pleasures
experienced therein, are like the richly prepared food and the feeling of pleasure derived from it.
The state of being reborn in different existences after death is like the agony which the man has to
suffer after the enjoyment of the food.
Here Vedayita-dukkha is synonymous with Dukkha-vedana which is present in the Vedana Triad
of Sukhaya-vedanaya-sampayutta- dhamma, Dukkhaya - vedanaya-sampayutta-dhamma, and
Adukkhamasukhaya-vedanaya-sampayutta-dhamma. Bhayattha-dukkha is synonymous with
Dukkha-saccam and with Dukkham, which is present in the three salient features, Anicca, Dukkha,
and Anatta.
Hence, the perfect as well as the qualified knowledge of the intrinsic nature of the ill of the
existences of men, Devas and Brahmas, as of the pleasures experienced therein, is called the
Dukkha-parinna.
Anatta-parinna means the perfect or the qualified knowledge of things mental and material as
possessing the characteristic of No-soul." By this knowledge of things as no-soul, the Anattananna,
all the mental and material phenomena that belong to the ultimate truths are discerned as
having no-soul. By it also is discerned the non-personality of the "person" of conventional truth.
Neither are persons and creatures discerned as the soul or personality of mental and material
phenomena; nor is it discerned that there exists, apart from these, a soul or personality which
never dies but transmigrates from one existence to another. If this knowledge attains to its highest
degree, it is called Anatta-parinna. The triple Parinna (of' Anicca, Dukkha, and Anatta), is called
Tirana-parinina.
Pahana-parinna means the perfect or the qualified knowledge which dispels hallucinations. It
dispels the three Nicca-vippallasas by means of the insight acquired through the contemplation of
Impermanence, the three Sukha-vipallasas and the three Subha-vippallasas, by means of the
insight acquired through the contemplation of Ill, and the three Atta-vippallasas by means of the
insight acquired through the contemplation of No-soul.
(Note by Translator.---Here the three Nicca-vippallasas are :-
114. Anicce niccanti sannavippallaso,
115. Anicce niccanti cittavippallaso