The Three Characteristics of Existence. The nature of existence includes the following characteristics, more important than any others:
1) Impermanence (anicca),
2) Suffering (dukkha),
3) No-self (anatta).
1) Impermanence means that nothing in this world is permanent. Everything that we see around us seems the same but is actually in a state of constant flow. The flowers that bloom today will dry up tomorrow. Impermanence is a law of the universe which nothing can escape, from the stars and plants to the smallest living things on earth.
2) Suffering is the second of the main characteristics of existence. The word dukkha is translated into English as suffering, sorrow, or unsatisfactoriness. The First Noble Truth can be summed up in this one word. The cause of suffering, as seen in the Second Noble Truth, is desire—the craving for sensual pleasures, for existence, or for self-destruction. By the complete removal of desire by man’s own conscious efforts, the Buddha taught that man can reach absolute peace and bliss, Enlightenment. The Buddha taught the existence of suffering, but he also taught the way out of suffering. He not only determined what the sickness is, but he also described a practical cure—the practice of the Eightfold Noble Path. “This above all do I teach,” he said, “suffering and the way out of suffering.”
3) No-soul is the teaching that there is no permanent being in man which can be called a self or soul. The so-called “self” or “I” is made up of five groups of attachment, the five aggregates. These are body, sensations, perceptions, intentional activities, and consciousness. Just as the word house is but a way of taking about bricks, wood, and other building materials, even though in the truest sense there is in reality no one separate thing that is a house, so in exactly the same way the words living being and ego are but ways of talking about the five groups of attachment.
The value of understanding the three characteristics of existence lies in progress made toward lessening one’s attachment to material objects, mental concepts, and the existence of the senses in general. In this way we go beyond avoidable suffering and unhappiness.
1) Impermanence (anicca),
2) Suffering (dukkha),
3) No-self (anatta).
1) Impermanence means that nothing in this world is permanent. Everything that we see around us seems the same but is actually in a state of constant flow. The flowers that bloom today will dry up tomorrow. Impermanence is a law of the universe which nothing can escape, from the stars and plants to the smallest living things on earth.
2) Suffering is the second of the main characteristics of existence. The word dukkha is translated into English as suffering, sorrow, or unsatisfactoriness. The First Noble Truth can be summed up in this one word. The cause of suffering, as seen in the Second Noble Truth, is desire—the craving for sensual pleasures, for existence, or for self-destruction. By the complete removal of desire by man’s own conscious efforts, the Buddha taught that man can reach absolute peace and bliss, Enlightenment. The Buddha taught the existence of suffering, but he also taught the way out of suffering. He not only determined what the sickness is, but he also described a practical cure—the practice of the Eightfold Noble Path. “This above all do I teach,” he said, “suffering and the way out of suffering.”
3) No-soul is the teaching that there is no permanent being in man which can be called a self or soul. The so-called “self” or “I” is made up of five groups of attachment, the five aggregates. These are body, sensations, perceptions, intentional activities, and consciousness. Just as the word house is but a way of taking about bricks, wood, and other building materials, even though in the truest sense there is in reality no one separate thing that is a house, so in exactly the same way the words living being and ego are but ways of talking about the five groups of attachment.
The value of understanding the three characteristics of existence lies in progress made toward lessening one’s attachment to material objects, mental concepts, and the existence of the senses in general. In this way we go beyond avoidable suffering and unhappiness.
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