Three characteristics
The three characteristics of existence ( Pali : ti-lakkhana; Sanskrit : tri-laksana) in Buddhism - especially in Theravada - are the characteristics that are inherent in all physical and psychological phenomena of existence. The characteristics of existence, also known as the Dharma seal ( dharma mudra ), are considered indispensable for authentic Buddhism.
- Anicca - Everything is fleeting and nothing is everlasting. Everything is subject to change.
- Dukkha - Everything is subject to suffering. [The term dukkha can also be translated as inadequacy.]
- Anatta - All things and phenomena exist without an immutable core. There is no separate, permanent "I" and no eternal soul. Everything arises depending on something else. Every human being is conceived by his or her parents and has to eat food in order to exist.
In Mahayana - in addition to the universal givens of impermanence (anicca) and non-self (anatta) - there is not the suffering (dukkha) (first and second noble truth ) caused by the work of the three spiritual poisons , but nirvana , as the universal ground of being .
In Vajrayana , both views are united in the teaching of the "Four Dharma Seals": impermanence, suffering, not-self (emptiness), nirvana. In Vajrayana, too, it is true that without the four basic views, a system of teaching cannot be evaluated as Buddhist.
See also
Web links
- The Buddha explains the Three Characteristics, Anguttara Nikaya III, 137
- Ñānārāma Mahāthera. The seven reflections. www.theravadanetz.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Volker Zotz : Mastering life with Buddha . Buddhism for Practitioners. 8th edition, p. 64, Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag: 2009.
- ↑ Thich Nhat Hanh: The Heart of Buddha's Teaching . Herder publishing house, Freiburg i.Br. 1999, pp. 25-29.