The Nature of Existence - The Three Lakshanas

Buddhism says that Conditioned Existence (the world we live in) has three marks or Three Lakshanas. These marks are Anicca, Anatta and Dukkha. The claim is that conditioned existence is marked by being Impermanent, as having No Fixed Existence, and by being experienced as Unsatisfactory.

Anitya

Buddhism has one key idea, and that is change, all things change or rather all is change. Another way of explaining this is that all things are impermanent. The Sanskrit word for this is Anitya.

Anatta

If all things are constantly changing, then, strictly speaking there can be no "things" as such (bit of a brain teaser this). Buddhists call this Anatta, no thing-ness or no permanent "self". An ancient Greek Philosopher called Heraclitus put this very well; he said that you can't step into the same river twice, because it is constantly changing. In fact a river is a really good analogy to use to explain Anatta, there are no "things" only processes of change. A river starts off as a small stream, but ends in a great estuary. Is it the stream the same river as the estuary, or is it different?

This no-thing-ness applies to us too. According to Buddhism there is no fixed self, or no permanent soul that does not change. On this point Buddhism should be seen as contradicting the teaching of Hinduism that believes in a fixed self or Atman. Buddhism thinks that we are constantly changing, and this constant change can give us an opportunity to free ourselves. We do not have to accept the situation that we find ourselves in. Buddhism says that all things are conditioned, that is they are dependant on the circumstances

If we are constantly changing, then there are two options for us, we are either getting better, or we are getting worse; we can either develop and grow, or we can decay. With conscious effort we can evolve or decide to do nothing and experience entropy. This is symbolised by the second wheel of the Wheel of Life, or Bhavachakra, which is divided into two. One side has beings in light who are climbing up, the other has beings in darkness who are falling down.

Link to Bhavachakra Diagram and Key.

Dukkha

The fact that everything changes, including us, can be quite a scary idea. There is nothing that we can rely upon, everything is altering. We cannot depend on anything, even ourselves, our bodies grow old, get sick and die as do the bodies of others, including the people we love and depend upon. We cannot depend on anything; all of our best plans can come unstuck. We have a good day, we fall in love, we have a lovely holiday and the sun shines; but then the person we love can leave us, and the rain comes or the holiday ends. This feeling of frustration, uncertainty and limitation Buddhists call Dukkha.

The word Dukkha is difficult to translate. Some people translate it as "Suffering", some others translate it as "unsatisfactoriness", and still others translate it as anguish.

One way to understand it is in terms of the words origin or etymology. The word comes from the Sanskrit root for a "broken chariot wheel".

So what is Dukkah?

A chariot was the ancient Indian equivalent of a motorcar. Imagine that you have been invited to a wonderful party. You dress up in your best gear and finest scent. You set off to drive to the party, but on the way the weather worsens, it starts to rain, and then, to make things worse, you get a puncture. You have to get out to change the wheel at the side of the motorway. You kick the wheel in frustration. You are now soaking wet, you will get dirty from changing the wheel, and you will be late for the party. To say that you are suffering is too strong, but if someone came up to you and said "Oh, most unsatisfactory", you would want to hit them! What you are experiencing is Dukkha!