{"id":7562,"date":"2021-04-14T10:23:38","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T10:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theravada.gr\/?page_id=7562"},"modified":"2024-04-03T10:27:51","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T10:27:51","slug":"the-three-characteristics-of-existence","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.theravada.gr\/en\/about-buddhism\/the-three-characteristics-of-existence\/","title":{"rendered":"Basic Buddhist Teachings – I"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Basic Buddhist Teachings \u2013 I<\/p><\/div>\n\n

Home<\/a><\/span> \u00bb About Buddhism<\/a><\/span> \u00bb Basic Buddhist Teachings – I<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

The Three Characteristics of Existence<\/h2>\n\n

According to Buddhism, the three universal characteristics of existence are:<\/p>\n\n

  1. transience (anicca),<\/li>\n\n
  2. pain or suffering (dukkha), and<\/li>\n\n
  3. the non-self, the non-soul, the non-egoism (anatt\u0101).<\/li><\/ol>\n\n
    <\/div>\n\n

    \u200bAs the Buddha stated:
    \u201cWhether the Buddhas appear in the world or not, this secular element (dh\u0101tu), this constant state, this eternal law, this conditional domination still exists, that is: all activities are transient (sabbe sa\u1e45kh\u0101r\u0101 anicc\u0101), all activities are pain and suffering (sabbe sa\u1e45kh\u0101r\u0101 dukkh\u0101), and all phenomena are non-self (sabbe dhamm\u0101 anatt\u0101)\u201d<\/em>. (AN Upp\u0101da Sutta).<\/p>\n\n

    \u200b1. Transience (Anicca)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

    Transience points out the basic fact that nothing in the world is fixed or permanent. Instability and change prevail in all activities and energies, in all the mental and material phenomena that all have the nature to rise and fall.<\/p>\n\n

    \u200bAlthough the phenomena around us give us the impression that they are permanent and unchanging, in reality they are elusive processes that are constantly changing.<\/p>\n\n

    \u200bWe ourselves are not the same people, either physically or emotionally or spiritually as we were ten years ago or even ten minutes ago. Therefore, living as we live as moving beings in quicksand, it is not possible to achieve lasting security and happiness.<\/p>\n\n

    \u200bThus, each person is essentially subject to constant change, as his body, his feelings, his perceptions, his thoughts, etc. change from time to time.<\/p>\n\n

    \u200b2. Pain, Suffering (Dukkha)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

    The word dukkha means the physical and psychological pain one experiences due to attachment to transient and unstable things, such as material and mental phenomena, and in general the unsatisfactory and imperfect nature of life itself.<\/p>\n\n

    \u200bThe oppressive nature of all mental and material phenomena due to their constant rise and fall thus becomes the basis of suffering, pain and suffering in the unstable world.<\/p>\n\n

    However, this does not mean that Buddhists believe that life contains only pain. They believe that there are moments of happiness in life, but they do not last because they are subject to the law of change and transience.<\/p>\n\n

    3. The Non-Self, the Non-Soul, the Non-Egoism (Anatt\u0101)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

    The notion of the non-self points out that in the final analysis there is nothing eternal or unchanging in human nature that one can call \u201cself\u201d, \u201csoul\u201d or \u201cI\u201d, and anchor a fixed sense of \u201cI\u201d. The whole concept of \u201cI\u201d is in fact a fundamentally wrong idea that tries to settle into an unstable and temporary aggregation of material and mental elements.<\/p>\n\n

    \u200bAlthough everything gives the impression that it is compact, but in reality they are nothing but assembled and composed of various elements. If we remove tiles, beams, bricks, stones, etc. from a house that seems to be solid, then there will be no \u201chouse\u201d separate from these elements. The name \u201chouse\u201d that we gave is just an assembly, a pile of building blocks that lasts as long as those elements are placed in this shape. The same elements can be disconnected and reconnected like something else.<\/p>\n\n

    \u200bSimilarly, what we call \u201cI\u201d, \u201cself\u201d or \u201csoul\u201d and which gives us the impression that it is compact, is in fact just a set (khandha) of various elements that includes:<\/p>\n\n

    1. the material body (r\u016bpa \u2013 khandha)<\/li>\n\n
    2. the feeling (pleasant, unpleasant, neutral) (vedan\u0101 \u2013 khandha)<\/li>\n\n
    3. the perception (sa\u00f1\u00f1\u0101 \u2013 khandha)<\/li>\n\n
    4. mental functions (sa\u1e45kh\u0101ra \u2013 khandha), and<\/li>\n\n
    5. consciousness (vi\u00f1\u00f1\u0101na \u2013 khandha)<\/li><\/ol>\n\n
      <\/div>\n\n

      \u200bAnd these elements are constantly changing. They are fluid like a river, which retains an apparent identity, although the water droplets that shape it are different at all times. Similarly, a person maintains an apparent identity, which he calls \u201cself\u201d, \u201cI\u201d or \u201csoul\u201d, although the body, emotions, perceptions, ideas, and consciousness that shapes it is subject to constant change and is different every moment. Thus the terms \u201cself\u201d, \u201cI\u201d, or \u201csoul\u201d are an illusion when one tries to identify with one of the five assemblies, or with all of them.<\/p>\n\n

      \u200bIn the supreme reality (paramattha-sacca) there are only changing processes of physical and mental phenomena that are constantly rising and falling according to causes and conditions (hetu-paccaya) which themselves are constantly changing. Rise and fall is a fundamental feature of the entire universe and is characteristic of condition-dependent phenomena. Dependence on conditions, like causality, are integral parts of existence.<\/p>\n\n

      All phenomena in the material, physical and spiritual worlds are produced by a combination of causes and conditions. They are not absolute, self-existent, unchanging, independent and irrelevant to other things. They consist, are formed, shaped, formed, shaped and created by conditions. They depend on and are interdependent on conditions. That is why they are called dependent on conditions. And all conditions are constantly rising and falling according to other conditions and causes. Thus, ups and downs reveal that the nature of conditions is transient, temporary, short, temporary, momentary, fleeting, transient, unstable, non-permanent.<\/p>\n\n

      \u200bIn the final analysis, neither inside nor outside the mental and material phenomena can be found something that could be considered as an autonomous, independent, separate ego, soul or any other substance that is unchanging, unchangeable, permanent, continuous, lasting. , fixed, immovable, unbreakable, self-existent, autogenous, eternal, eternal, immortal and incorruptible.<\/p>\n\n

      \u200bWhat exists is the changing process of conditions (paccaya) and the effects of conditions (paccayupanna-dhamma), not a being, a person, a woman, a man, a self, something that belongs to a self, an ego and something mine, someone and something that belongs to someone.<\/p>\n\n

      Beings are complex and constantly changing, with existence not autogenous but dependent on causal factors. The words \u2018self\u2019, \u2018soul\u2019, \u2018personality\u2019, \u2018I\u2019, \u2018person\u2019, \u2018man\u2019, \u2018woman\u2019, etc., are mere ordinary expressions; relevant, ceremonial, conventional truths (voh\u0101ra- vacana, loka-voh\u0101ra, sammuti-sacca).<\/p>\n\n

      All knowledge of the supreme reality (paramattha-sacca) can be achieved through methodical and systematic observation through insightful meditation (vipassan\u0101) which eliminates ignorance (avijj\u0101) or delusion (moha).<\/p>\n\n

      Ignorance or delusion about the three characteristics of existence is considered to be the first link in the whole process of sa\u1e43s\u0101ra (sansara) \u2014the birth and death \u201c, or the\u201d cycle of rebirth \u201c\u2014 where a being is subject to repetitive beings in an endless cycle of suffering.<\/p>\n\n

      Thus, eliminating this ignorance through direct insight into the three characteristics puts an end to the sa\u1e43s\u0101ra and, consequently, to the pain and suffering as described in the third of the Four Noble Truths about the cessation of pain (dukkha nirodha or nirodha sacca).<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n

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