The Three Characteristics of Existence
In the Anguttara Nikaya 111. 134, the Buddha teaches as follows:”Whether Perfect Ones appear in the world or not, it still remains a firm condition, an immutable fact, and fixed law that all formations (sankharas) are impermanent, that they are subject to suffering, and that every thing is without and Ego.” These three characteristics of Anitya, Dukkha and Anatma, are the salient features of sentient existence. In the Buddha-Dharma these are called the “Trilakshana” or The Three Cardinal Features of Life.- Anitya (Impermanence) - Everything is limited to a certain duration and, consequently, liable to disappear.
- Duhkha (Suffering) - Everything is unsatisfactory. There is nothing that can be relied upon. There is nothing that can bring true happiness.
- Anatma (No Soul) - Everything is deprived of a self. There is no self-inherent entity, nothing that can be controlled.
1. Anitya
Anitya means the absence of continuity and permanence. Anitya is a universal law that is applicable to all phenomena of the universe, indeed to all our sensual experiences.
Everything that occurs in the world, perceived by us, is inherently subject to decay, as soon as it appears. The aspect of change, the aspect of impermanence is vividly shown by the simple fact that phenomena appear. As soon as a phenomenon manifests, we are duly informed about its impermanent nature as before it occurred, it had not manifested yet and then it is here before us. We can ascertain that it just appeared. Therefore, a change took place, and as a matter of fact, in particular when a phenomenon appears. Then, this phenomenon will have a limited duration, and it will inevitably disappear. As soon as it appears, a natural law compels it to ultimately vanish. This is valid for all of them, without exception.
Anitya is a characteristic common to all phenomena, ascribable to all realities, which pertain to our conscious and tangible experiences. Thus, our consciousness undergoes ceaseless mutations and all our experiences, even in the occurrences of meditative, transcendental or else mystical attainments, are transitory by nature. If, by means of meditation, we succeeded in reaching transcendent, unitary stages, similar to the ones depicted to us in the spiritual literature, we could imagine to have seen "face to face" an eternal substratum, essence or substance.
It is the result of training into various spiritual exercises or variegated meditation techniques. Therefore, this is not yet the refuge we are searching, a refuge endowed with steadiness, with eternity. Indeed, this refuge doesn't exist.
At the depth, two types of trainings can be followed by us. Some of them belong to a category that we can conveniently name samatha while others belong to the category called vipassana. Vipassana is a Pali word that means direct inner sight or vision, superior vision indeed. Superior vision in the sense that it is superior to others, because it is directed by nature, truly speaking an insight into reality.
What is reality? Reality is a non-reversible fact, which is universally verified and that can be applied to all phenomena. That fact is of threefold nature:
All phenomena that appeared will disappear.
All phenomena undergo the law of impermanence, the law of change - Anitya.
All phenomena that appeared have a limited duration.
Duhkha means sorrow, pain, and suffering. It is a dominant characteristic in the world in which we live. According to the Buddha, the simple fact of living is marked by the characteristic of duhkha, which is suffering manifesting in all its forms. It can be the sorrow that one experiences in sadness, in the misery or the difficulties of this life. It can be also the sorrow that can be felt when one is saturated with pleasure to the point the one the object of pleasure itself becomes disgusting and repulsive. It is the pain to be separated from those we love, but it is also that of having to endure the presence of those whom we do not love. It is the pain of not living in places where we would like to live, and also that of being forced to live in places where we do not want to live.
In one way or the other, whether we want it or not, numerous situations in which we find ourselves are painful. But at the same time, the world is not so painful because there is hope. There is the hope of a better world, the hope to gain paradise, to create a happier world, to build an environment that is more humane, more balanced.
Thus, people live in hope for a better future; this is already in itself a way of admitting that the present is not so pleasant. Unfortunately, it is obvious that the world is full of difficulties. For some people there are unbearable sufferings, some must suffer very serious and very painful diseases. Some suffer accidents or catastrophes. Others, who do not face such cruel sufferings, have, nevertheless, experienced all kinds of sorrows in daily life, like having to work in a firm with people one does not like, or the difficulty of having lost a close relation, the difficulty of having been ill, or, even, the pain that one can experience when seeing the others' suffering.
It is for this reason that people – almost all – have, in the course of the centuries, imagined a paradise, where all beings live in perfect happiness. For some, this paradise is democracy. For others, it is wealth and prosperity. For some, it is the artificial paradise of drugs; when living amid personal malaise or existential problems.
Hence, we tend to imagine and plan a better world for the future, even in outer space. Thus, it proves that the world in which we live is full of sufferings.
3. Anatma
Anatma is the most abstruse and perfect, and at the same time subtlest doctrine ever to have been expounded throughout mankind's history. Its special feature is rooted in the fact that it can only be explored, expounded, revealed and and taught, by the Buddha.
Anatma, that is the absence of "self", applicable to everything, every idea, every characteristic and virtually all mental or material phenomena. From this starting point, we can, naturally, give details and explanations so as to understand that in such and such cases, such and such field, in this manner, should the Anitya doctrine are expressed or perceived. The standard description that you probably already heard of lies, for instance, in saying: Let's take a cart. This cart undergoes the law of Anitya. We cannot claim that a cart exists in a true sense. Indeed, if we take it to pieces and we spread it out on the ground, we can no longer claim that this is a cart. However, all its pieces are spread before us.
The Buddha expounds what he conceives to be endowed with this character of absence of "self". He tells: "There is no "atta" in this body. Because if, in this body, there was an "atta". At this very moment, "atta" may have this power to decide or to choose that this body should assume this shape or shouldn't."
We can trace back this demonstration in numerous suttas. Throughout his life span, he very often used this method in order to make his talks understood. Here is the way he carries out:
Someone is convinced that in this body is seated a substance, a seed, an entity, or that in all cases this body and this mind are the emanation of an immutable, unconditioned and eternal principle.
The Buddha tells this fellow:
“Is that body motionless, immutable or does it undergo changes?
It undergoes changes (old age, illness, decay, etc...), Lord.
That which undergoes changes, is it a source of pleasure or a source of dissatisfaction?
That which undergoes changes is a source of dissatisfaction, Lord.
How can a source of dissatisfaction be considered as our property?”
Here one must be crazy to keep in hands a burning coal, which is a source of intense pain. One would be silly to keep this body, which is a source of transformations and dissatisfactions. Here is the specific point that the Buddha, in his demonstration about Anitya focused on. That is the idea of total absence of control. That is not only the idea that there is neither an "owner", nor an "entity". That is also the idea of absence of control as Anitya suggests the total absence of control or mastery.
For example, we would like to put an end to the ageing process. We would like to keep a young, dynamic, flexible and, in every possible way, beautiful and attractive body. However, there is an uncontrollable and natural ageing process taking place. There is no means at all to control that, not only because there is no one, no individual, no ego, but also because it's impossible to control that. It is explained by the simple fact that in this material body, there is no inner regent that controls its material constitution. Neither is there any "self control", nor is found a "self controlling" agent. Matter cannot control itself. The same process is applicable to mental phenomena as well.
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