Dhamma Talks - The Three Universal Characteristics :: Buddhapadipa Thai Temple

The Dhamma that all Buddhists are supposed to know is the three characteristics of existence; impermanence, suffering and non-self. These characteristics are universal to all things both living and non-living. They must be subject to these three characteristics. The Buddha explained these when he became enlightened and taught people as follows.

The first characteristic is impermanence which means that all things have the nature to change. All things mentioned mean compounded things which consist of many factors, for instance four elements; earth, water, air and fire and the five aggregates; matter, feeling, perception, mental formation and consciousness. They are under these processes; occurring, remaining and vanishing and going on and on if there are causes and effects. Those, who don’t understand these rules, will misunderstand and believe that all things are permanent. When the truth comes to life, they could
become depressed and so suffer etc. On the contrary, if they understand the three characteristics, they can accept the truth of existence. Things either good or bad which happen to them means that they are still OK because of the understanding of the characteristic of the flux.

Optimistically the change gives human life an opportunity to escape from the pain or suffering happening to it, for example a patient can recover from illness, escaping from a bad situation of life. He can be relieved or can recover again.

The second characteristic is suffering which consists of two meanings; the truth is that suffering exists in this world and it is an unbearable feeling for living beings and suffering in the characteristic of existence means all things must be subject to it; no one can escape from it. They all are in the same situation. The phenomenon of the compounded things which appear to human eyes, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind are transient because things are changing all the time and in the flux of things contains suffering, or unbearable feelings.

This suffering-status characterises all the compounded things, both living and non-living. They are in flux, if the impermanence is understood, so is the characteristic of suffering. They are very similar.

The third characteristic is non-self or selflessness. It is the main teaching of the Buddha which makes Buddhism different from the other faiths. The characteristic of impermanence and suffering are found in the other faiths, but non-self is found and taught only in Buddhism.

Non-self is explained as non-ego, selflessness and no soul which means all things, both living and non-living, have no permanent entity. Everything is compounded; it doesn’t belong to anyone. The Buddha said in the Non-self discourse “That is not mine, that does not belong to us and it is non-self. It is compounded and lives under the cause and effect. Human beings misunderstand that things belong to them and become attached to them. When there is attachment, suffering will definitely follow”.

There is a doubt that if there is no soul, then how can life exists. In Tipitaka the Buddha answered this question by saying that all things occurred interpedently; nothing occurred on its own. And so he taught his disciples, “Behold monks, all things, both name and form, depend on each other as fire depends on fuel, without fuel, the fire is out”. The gist of the non-self’s teaching is “No permanent entity”. When there is this, that exists. When there is that, this exists. Without this, that does not exist. Without that, this does not exists. In the Assutavata Sutta, the Buddha said, “Behold monks, people should not attach to matter which consists of the four elements and is subject to impermanence; it cannot be controlled. Some last one year, some last two years, three years, ….four years….eighty years, … ninety years … etc. I call this matter non-self”.

These three characteristics are regarded as the basic things that Buddhists should know and understand. The first two, impermanence and suffering seem to be easy to understand because they are obvious to us as we ourselves change and because of the flux, sometimes we cannot bear it so suffering happens to us. Non-self is hard to understand but it is not beyond human ability as it is said, “Human life is non-self comparing it to the flame of fire”; it illustrates this point with the candle as follows. The body is regarded as the candle, the mind is regarded as the flame of fire, and so food, water and air are regarded as life supporters. As long as the factors are appropriate, the fire (of candle) goes on, so does life. For instance, if the body lacks food, water and air, the flame of life is shrinking or in danger. Without the understanding of these characteristics, we may misunderstand the teachings of the Buddha so it is very important that we understand these essential factors of Buddhism.