What are the three marks of existence within Buddhist philosophy?

Taught by the Buddha in his second sermon after gaining enlightenment, the Buddha expressed the idea that all beings in Samsara are effected by three phenomena, which characterise existence. That is to say, beings that are alive and within Samsara will experience the following:

Dukkha

·        Literally means ‘dis-ease’ or ‘dissatisfaction’. Most commonly translated as “suffering”.

·        The Buddha explained in the 4 Noble Truths that life is full of suffering – he classed suffering in 3 ways – plain ordinary suffering (emotional and physical pain) – suffering caused by anicca (impermanence) and craving (tanha) permanence in a constantly changing world and dissatisfaction with the fact that all things change and end.

·        Some argue that this classes Buddhism as a pessimistic religion, as it hinges on the teaching that life is full of suffering and that suffering cannot be overcome, it can only be escaped. However, it could also be argued that there are aspects of Buddhism that are very positive – for example it preaches as positive end goal of people escaping suffering, and the Buddha himself was said to be extremely joyful. It could also be argued that Buddhism is simply realistic and reflects the true reality of the world: it acknowledges that bad thing happen and one must work to overcome them.

Anicca

·        Anicca is the teaching that everything is impermanent and in a constant state of flux. Impermanence is demonstrated in every aspect of human life: ageing, sickness and death are all as a result of impermanence. Impermanence also applies to human relationships, and one’s status, as in the next life one could be reborn into a completely different form. This is the basis of the First and Second Noble Truth. Anicca does not just apply to life itself, but also feelings and experiences - something that we crave and desperately desire will later becoming boring and lose its allure, humans can never be satisfied with what they have, and will constantly crave for more. Craving (Tanha) is therefore linked to anicca, as humans crave permanence, and when they do not experience this they suffer.

·        The personal expression of anicca is anatta (see below)

·        Anicca is intricately linked with dukkha: humans suffer because they crave permanence, but they do not realise that permanence is impossible in the constantly changing world. The Buddha describes anicca as "grasping", because humans are continually and desperately hoping that something will remain permanent when this is impossible.

Anatta

·        Anatta literally means “not-self” or “no-self”, it is the personal expression of the doctrine of anicca – it follows logically that if everything is impermanent, then there can be no soul or permanent ‘self’ to a being. This challenged the philosophical belief of the day that beings have an “atman” (soul) inside them – for example, this is a key belief of Hinduism.

·        The Buddha argued that beings are made up of 5 constituent parts or “aggregates” (a part that makes up a whole). He called these the 5 skandhas – they are one’s form; perception; impulses; sensations and consciousness. The Buddha argued that when these 5 aspects are taken away, nothing remains of a being, so there can be no soul.

·        The doctrine of anatta is illustrated in Book 2 Chapter 1.1 of the Questions of King Milinda in the Pali Canon. The monk Nagasena explains to King Milinda that his name functions merely as a convenient label for a collection of parts, and in reality there was no permanent self that constituted “Nagasena” or “Milinda”. He demonstrated this by verbally breaking down Milinda’s chariot, showing him that when the wheel; spoke; axel etc. was taken away, there was nothing left that could be described as a “chariot”. The term “chariot” is just a convenient name for a collection of parts, just as our names conveniently label a collection of the 5 skandhas. This shows that within Buddhist teachings there can be no permanent essence to a person.

·        Therefore, Buddhism rejects reincarnation, the belief that a soul is reborn into a new body, and instead suggests that the whole being transforms at death into a new form (rebirth).