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]
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 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:[9][13][14]
All compounded phenomena are impermanent (anitya)
All contaminated phenomena are without satisfaction (duḥkha)
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]
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 (Sanskrit: anatman) refers to there being no permanent essence in any thing or phenomena, including living beings.[24][25]
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.[28][29] Some Buddhist traditions and scholars, however, interpret the anatta doctrine to be strictly in regard to the
five aggregates rather than a universal truth, despite the Buddha affirming so in his first sermon.[30][31][32] Religious studies scholar Alexander Wynne calls anattā a "not-self" teaching rather than a "no-self" teaching.[33]
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).[34][35] The teaching of three marks of existence in the Pali Canon is credited to the Buddha.[26][36][37]
^Richard Gombrich (2006).
Theravada Buddhism. Routledge. p. 47.
ISBN978-1-134-90352-8. 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.
^
abcdTse-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.
^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.
^[a] Christmas Humphreys (2012).
Exploring Buddhism. Routledge. pp. 42–3.
ISBN978-1-136-22877-3. [b] Brian Morris (2006).
Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge University Press. p. 51.
ISBN978-0-521-85241-8. (...) anatta is the doctrine of non-self, and is an extreme empiricist doctrine that holds that the notion of an unchanging permanent self is a fiction and has no reality. According to Buddhist doctrine, the individual person consists of five skandhas or heaps - the body, feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness. The belief in a self or soul, over these five skandhas, is illusory and the cause of suffering. [c] Richard Gombrich (2006).
Theravada Buddhism. Routledge. p. 47.
ISBN978-1-134-90352-8. (...) Buddha's teaching that beings have no soul, no abiding essence. This 'no-soul doctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon.
^
abcRichard Francis Gombrich; Cristina Anna Scherrer-Schaub (2008).
Buddhist Studies. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 209, for context see pp. 195–223.
ISBN978-81-208-3248-0.
^Bodhi, Bhikkhu (2003). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications. p. 1457.
ISBN978-0-86171-331-8.
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