Three marks of existence
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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", "unsatisfactory", "unease"),[note 1] and anattā (without a lasting essence).[5][6][7][8] 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 and Noble Eightfold Path.
Description
There are different lists of the "marks of existence" found in the canons of the early Buddhist schools.[9]
Three marks
In the Pali tradition of the Theravada school, the three marks are:[4][9][10][11]
- 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:[9][12]
- All conditioned things are impermanent (sarvasaṃskārā anityāḥ)
- All dharmas are non-self (sarvadharmā anātmānaḥ)
- Nirvāṇa is calm (śāntaṃ nirvāṇam)
Four marks
In the
- 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.[15] 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.[16][17] This is in contrast to nirvana, the reality that is nicca, or knows no change, decay or death.[18]
Dukkha
As the First Noble Truth, dukkha is explicated as the physical and mental dissatisfaction of birth, aging, illness, dying; getting what one wishes to avoid or not getting what one wants; and "in short, the five aggregates of grasping" (skandha).[19][22][23] 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
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.[26] Thus, nirvana too is a state of without Self or anatta.[26] 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.[27]
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.
Application
In Buddhism, ignorance (
See also
- Ātman
- Existentialism
- Four Dharma Seals
- Index of Buddhism-related articles
- Lakshana
- Secular Buddhism
- Similarities between Pyrrhonism and Buddhism
Notes
References
- ^ Monier-Williams 1899, p. 483, entry note: .
- ^ Analayo (2013).
- ^ Beckwith (2015), p. 30.
- ^ a b Alexander (2019), p. 36.
- ISBN 978-0-521-57054-1.
- ISBN 978-1-134-90352-8.
All phenomenal existence [in Buddhism] is said to have three interlocking characteristics: impermanence, dukkha and lack of soul, that is, something that does not change.
- ISBN 978-1-4008-4805-8.
- ISBN 978-0-8135-3778-8.
- ^ a b c d 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.
- ^ Hahn, Thich Nhat (1999). The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching. New York: Broadway Books. p. 22.
- ^ Walsh 1995, p. 30.
- ^ Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching
- ^ Ulrich Timme Kragh (editor), The Foundation for Yoga Practitioners: The Buddhist Yogācārabhūmi Treatise and Its Adaptation in India, East Asia, and Tibet, Volume 1 Harvard University, Department of South Asian studies, 2013, p. 144.
- ^ "The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara (3) | 84000 Reading Room".
- ^ Anicca Buddhism, Encyclopædia Britannica (2013).
- ISBN 978-0-19-966383-5.
- ISBN 978-0-521-85942-4.
- ISBN 978-81-208-1144-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-119-14466-3.
- ISBN 978-1-136-81332-0.
(...) the three characteristics of samsara/sankhara (the realm of rebirth): anicca (impermance), dukkha (pain) and anatta (no-self).
- ISBN 978-1-317-50540-2.
dukkha (unsatisfactoriness or suffering) (....) In the Introduction I wrote that dukkha is probably best understood as unsatisfactoriness.
- ISBN 978-1-317-50540-2.
- ISBN 978-0-86171-491-9.
- ^ Anatta Buddhism, Encyclopædia Britannica (2013).
- ISBN 978-1-134-90352-8.
(...) Buddha's teaching that beings have no soul, no abiding essence. This 'no-soul doctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon.
- ^ ISBN 978-81-208-3248-0.
- ISBN 978-90-279-7987-2.
- ISBN 978-0-521-85942-4.
- ISBN 978-1-119-14466-3.
- ^ "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 Archived 2013-02-04 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Bhikkhu, Thanissaro. "There is no self". Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. Archived from the original on 2018-08-19. Retrieved 2018-08-19.
- ISBN 9789748097534.
- ^ Wynne, Alexander (2009). "Early Evidence for the 'no self' doctrine?" (PDF). Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies: 63–64. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-06-02. Retrieved 2017-04-22.
- ^ Nārada, The Dhammapada (1978), pp. 224.
- ISBN 978-0-86171-331-8.
- ^ Dhammapada Verses 277, 278 and 279.
- ISBN 978-90-279-7987-2.
Sources
- Alexander, James (2019), "The State Is the Attempt to Strip Metaphor Out of Politics", in Kos, Eric S. (ed.), Michael Oakeshott on Authority, Governance, and the State, Springer
- Analayo (2013), Satipatthana. The Direct Path to Realization, Windhorse Publications
- Beckwith, Christopher I. (2015). Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia (PDF). ISBN 9781400866328.
- Monier-Williams, Monier (1899), A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (PDF), London: Oxford University Press
- Walsh, Maurice (1995), The Long Discourses of the Buddha. A Translation of the Dīgha Nikāya, Wisdom Publications