Three Characteristics

In Buddhism, the three marks of existence are three characteristics (Pali: ''tilakkhaṇa''; Sanskrit: त्रिलक्षण ''trilakṣaṇa'') of all existence and beings, namely '' anicca'' (impermanence), '' dukkha'' (commonly translated as "suffering" or "cause of suffering", "unsatisfactory", "unease"), and ''anattā'' (without a lasting essence). The concept of humans being subject to delusion about the three marks, this delusion resulting in suffering, and removal of that delusion resulting in the end of dukkha, is a central theme in the Buddhist Four Noble Truths, the last of which leads to the Noble Eightfold Path.

Description

There are different lists of the "marks of existence" found in the canons of the early Buddhist schools.Tse-fu Kuan 關則富, 'Mahāyāna Elements and Mahāsāṃghika Traces in the Ekottarika-āgama' in Dhammadina (ed.) ''Research on the Ekottarika-āgama'' (2013). Dharma Drum Publishing, Taipei.

Three marks

In the Pali tradition of the Theravada school, the three marks are:
* ''sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā'' – all '' saṅkhāras'' (conditioned things) are impermanent
* ''sabbe saṅkhārā dukkhā'' – all ''saṅkhāras'' are unsatisfactory, imperfect, unstable
* ''sabbe dhammā anattā'' – all '' dharmas'' (conditioned or unconditioned things) have no unchanging self or soul
The northern Buddhist Sarvāstivāda tradition meanwhile has the following in their ''Samyukta Agama'':
* All conditioned things are impermanent (''sarvasaṃskārā anityāḥ'')
* All dharmas are non-self (''sarvadharmā anātmānaḥ)''
* Nirvāṇa is calm (''śāntaṃ nirvāṇam'')

Four marks

In the '' Ekottarika-āgama'' and in Mahayana sources like the '' Yogācārabhūmi-Śāstra'' and ''The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara'' ''( Sāgaranāgarājaparipṛcchā)'' however, four characteristics or “ four seals of the Dharma” (Sanskrit: ''dharmoddāna-catuṣṭayaṃ'' or ''catvāri dharmapadāni'', Chinese: 四法印) are described instead of three:
* All compounded phenomena are impermanent (''anitya'')
* All contaminated phenomena are without satisfaction (''duḥkha'')
* All phenomena are without self (''anātman'')
* Nirvana is peaceful/peace (''śānta/śānti'')

Explanation

Anicca

Impermanence (Pali: ''anicca'', Sanskrit: ''anitya'') means that all things (''saṅkhāra'') are in a constant state of flux. Buddhism states that all physical and mental events come into being and dissolve. Human life embodies this flux in the aging process and the cycle of repeated birth and death ( Samsara); nothing lasts, and everything decays. This is applicable to all beings and their environs, including beings who are reborn in deva (god) and naraka (hell) realms. This is in contrast to nirvana, the reality that is ''nicca'', or knows no change, decay or death.

Dukkha

'' Dukkha'' (Sanskrit: ''duhkha'') means "unsatisfactory", commonly translated as "suffering", or "pain". Mahasi Sayadaw calls it
unmanagable, uncontrollable
.

As the First Noble Truth, ''dukkha'' is explicated as the physical and mental dissatisfaction of changing conditions as in birth, aging, illness, death; getting what one wishes to avoid or not getting what one wants; and "in short, the five aggregates of clinging and grasping" (''skandha''). This, however, is a different context, not the Three Marks of Existence, and therefore 'suffering' may not be the best word for it.

The relationship between the three characteristics is explained in the Pali Canon as follows: What is ''anicca'' is ''dukkha''. What is ''dukkha'' is ''anatta'' ( Samyutta Nikaya.Vol4.Page1).
* "That which is impermanent is ''dukkha'' (i.e. it cannot be made to last). That which is ''dukkha'' is not permanent."

Anatta

'' Anatta'' (Sanskrit: ''anatman'') refers to there being no permanent essence in any thing or phenomena, including living beings.Anatta Buddhism
Encyclopædia Britannica (2013).

While ''anicca'' and ''dukkha'' apply to "all conditioned phenomena" (''saṅkhārā''), ''anattā'' has a wider scope because it applies to all ''dhammās'' without the "conditioned, unconditioned" qualification. Thus, ''nirvana'' too is a state of without Self or ''anatta''. The phrase "''sabbe dhamma anatta''" includes within its scope each ''skandha'' (group of aggregates, heaps) that compose any being, and the belief "I am" is a conceit which must be realized to be impermanent and without substance, to end all ''dukkha''.

The ''anattā'' doctrine of Buddhism denies that there is anything permanent in any person to call one's Self, and that a belief in a Self is a source of ''dukkha''. Some Buddhist traditions and scholars, however, interpret the ''anatta'' doctrine to be strictly in regard to the five aggregates rather than a universal truth."Selves & Not-self: The Buddhist Teaching on Anatta", by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/selvesnotself.html . Religious studies scholar Alexander Wynne calls ''anattā'' a "not-self" teaching rather than a "no-self" teaching.

Application

In Buddhism, ignorance ( ''avidyā'', or ''moha''; i.e. a failure to grasp directly) of the three marks of existence is regarded as the first link in the overall process of ''saṃsāra'' whereby a being is subject to repeated existences in an endless cycle of dukkha. As a consequence, dissolving that ignorance through direct insight into the three marks is said to bring an end to ''saṃsāra'' and, as a result, to that ''dukkha'' (''dukkha nirodha'' or ''nirodha sacca'', as described in the third of the Four Noble Truths).

Gautama Buddha taught that all beings conditioned by causes (''saṅkhāra'') are impermanent (''anicca'') and suffering (''dukkha''), and that not-self (''anattā'') characterises all ''dhammas'', meaning there is no "I", "me", or "mine" in either the conditioned or the unconditioned (i.e. ''nibbāna''). The teaching of three marks of existence in the Pali Canon is credited to the Buddha.

See also

* Ātman
* Existentialism
* Four Dharma Seals
* Index of Buddhism-related articles
* Lakshana
* Secular Buddhism
* Similarities between Pyrrhonism and Buddhism
* Dharmamudrā

Notes

References

Sources

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Three Marks Of Existence
Buddhist philosophical concepts
Buddhist eschatology
Ontology