The Human Condition

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The Human Condition

• The Three Universal Truths /
• Three Marks of Conditioned Existence

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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)

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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)

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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.

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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 its 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 its 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!

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

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3rd Mark Dukkha (cont)

• Not accepting that EVERYTHING changes We expect
  / hope for things to stay the same when they are
  good we worry theyll 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)

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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