The Human Condition

The Human Condition The Three Universal Truths / Three Marks of Conditioned Existence

1st Mark: Anicca (Impermanence) • The first key concept you need to know is ‘Anicca’ • The word literally means ‘impermanence’ • It is the First Mark of Existence / Universal Truth • This means that everything is constantly changing • Nothing stays the same (nothing is permanent) • Everything is changing around you just now: weather, light, table, chair, apple, Bennachie – everything. • This applies to relationships and conditions as well. • See story of Nun Kisagotami (mustard seed story)

2nd Mark: Anatta (No Soul) • The Second Mark of Existence / Universal Truth is Anatta • Anatta literally means ‘no soul’ • This is basically Anicca applied to people! • If nothing is permanent, and everything changes, then you also constantly change. • There is no permanent ‘thing’, so there can be no eternal / lasting soul or ‘self’ • Buddhists believe we are made up of five changing ‘bits’ / aggregates called the Five Skandhas. • The skandhas constantly change, so we are constantly changing. • The only thing that stays the same is our ‘label’ • See Questions of King Milinda (Chariot story)

Sunyata (Emptiness) - Higher • This is NOT a Mark of Existence, but is related to the first two marks. • This is Anatta and Anicca taken one stage further • Found in the Prajna-Paramita Sutras • Sunyata is a Mahayana Buddhist concept – you will not find it in the ‘strict/original’ Theravada Buddhism • It states that every time you analyse something (like you did with a person for anatta) you find that no object / thing has any inherent substance – it is ‘empty’.

Sunyata (Emptiness) – Higher [cont] • Everything is always made up of smaller ‘bundles of bits’ (like humans are made of the skhandas) • Every named object amounts to the sum of its parts – all an object is is a particular configuration of it’s parts. • The name is just a label given to that particular collection of changing pieces. • If you analyse everything into small enough bits you find that everything is empty – has no existence of it’s own. • Car = mechanical and electrical bits = made up of smaller and smaller components = made up of basic material = made up of atoms = made up of subatomic particles = made up of ‘nothingness’!

If everything can reduce down to this nothingness, or emptiness, then everything is essentially the same, or linked together.

3rd Mark: Dukkha (Unsatisfactoriness) • Third mark of existence is ‘Dukkha’ • It literally means ‘unsatisfactoriness’ or ‘suffering’ • Usual interpretation of Dukkha is suffering, but it is ‘more’ than that. • It is the dissatisfaction with life – the good and bad, the fact that things change, things failing to live up to our expectations, etc. • 3 Types of Suffering: Ordinary suffering, suffering from change, and from conditioned states. • Human failure to understand anicca means that we have a misunderstanding of our ‘human condition’ and live our lives ‘wrongly’, so we ‘suffer’

3rd Mark: Dukkha (cont) • Not accepting that EVERYTHING changes = We expect / hope for things to stay the same when they are good; we worry they’ll never change when they are bad; we strive to achieve goals that are ultimately meaningless  we are ignorant to the truth of the world • We are tied to the reality of samsara (the cycle of life, death and rebirth) because of our failure to understand the fact that not accepting anicca leads to dukkha, which in turn stops us becoming enlightened, and therefore keeps us tied to samsara! • We are ‘tied’ to the Three Mental Poisons of Greed, Hatred, and Ignorance which keep this cycle going. • Understanding anicca and dissolving the Three Poisons is the key to ridding ourselves of dukkha and becoming enlightened • See Dhammapada 147-156 (Ageing)

Quick Tasks • Write a SHORT paragraph to explain: • Anicca • Anatta • Dukkha • Explain briefly how the three marks of existence are linked. Use a diagram to illustrate your answer. • Higher: Explain the concept of Sunyata

The Human Condition