THE THREE UNIVERSALS OF SAMSARIC EXISTENCE

         On the nature of existence in the domain of samsara

          (the cycle of rebirths), Buddha Shakyamuni has

          taught that it is marked by its three universal

          characteristics. They are, as he has spelt them out in the

          Dhammapada (verses 277, 278 and 279):

          All conditioned things are annica (impermanent)…

          All conditioned things are dukkha (suffering/unsatisfactory)…

          All things are anatta (not-self),,,

          “Whether the Tathagatas appear or not, O Bhikkhus, it remains a fact,

          an established principle, a natural law that all conditioned things are

          transient (annica), sorrowful (dukkha), and that everything is soulless

          (not-self) (anatta),: the Buddha said to his disciples in another discourse. (1)                                                                                                  

          “This fact the Tathagata realizes, understands and when He has realized

          and understood it, announces, teaches, proclaims, establishes, discloses,

          analyses, and makes it clear, that all conditioned things are transient,

          sorrowful (suffering), and that everything is soulless (not-self).”  30.9.2005 0208

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

              Mu Soeng, a former Zen monk and a Buddhist writer, comments: “The

          message of the Buddha, configured as the four noble truths, is that human

          existence is marked by the three characteristics known as dukkha

          (dis-ease), anitya (transitoriness), and anatman (lack of anything worthy of

          self-identification anywhere in the mind-body system). These fundamental

          assumptions are open to direct investigation by each one of us in our own

          experience... What the Buddha sought through his teachings was to

          establish a healthy relationship between the self and this fleeting,

          transitory world…” (2)

               Dr Peter Della Santina has written: “Once we understand that existence

          universally characterized by impermanence, suffering (The First Noble

          Truth in the Buddha’s teachings), and not-self, we eliminate attachment to

          existence. And once we eliminate our attachment to existence, we gain the

          threshold of nirvana (spiritual liberation and enlightenment)… (3)

              

               

           (1) “All conditioned things are impermanent”

                  --- when one sees this with wisdom,

                       one turns away from suffering.

                       This is the path to purification. (4)

               In Buddhist philosophy, human beings, like all other conditioned things

           in this phenomenal transient world, are simply combinations of ever-

           changing and fragile physical and mental elements and processes. In brief,

           a human being or “I” is a bundle of five physical and mental components or

           so-called aggregates of body (rupa) and mind (nama),  referred to as the

           five skandas of form, feeling, conception, impulse and consciousness.

               “What we call a ‘being’, or an ‘individual’, or ‘I’, is only a convenient name

          or a label given to the combination of these five groups. They are all

          impermanent, all constantly changing,” the Rev. Dr. Walpola Sri Rahula has

          written. (5)

               “As the Buddha told Ratthapala: ‘The world is in continuous flux and is  

          impermanent.’”

               Even the whole universe is said to be in continuous flux and to be

          impermanent as well. According to one account in Theravada Buddhism,

          the lifespan of our universe is 100 billion years. (6) 1.10.2005 0442

               About 63 billion years, according to a recent estimate based on

          Einstein’s simplest formulae of 1917, “from its explosive genesis to its

          compressive doomsday” collapse and destruction in a Big Crunch (from the

          Big Bang nearly 14 billion years ago) (7)

               About five billion years old, our Sun is expected to burn out and become

          extinct in another five billion years.

               About 4.65 billion years old, our planet Earth (looking beautiful and blue

          from outer space) will also undergo global incineration and destruction  

          probably not long before the Sun’s demise.

                As for the human lifespan, it averages and comes to about “three-score

           years and ten”. Despite the trend towards longer longevity as a result of

           better living conditions and advances in medical science, relatively few

           reach a ripe century.

                With the inevitability of death, the Buddha has taught his followers to

           contemplate human mortality. To quote the Venerable Acara Suvanno

           Mahathera: “According to the Buddha, death, far from being a subject to be

           shunned and avoided, is the key that unlocks the seeming mysteries of life.

           It is by understanding death that we understand life: for death is part of the

           process of life in the larger sense.

                 “Life, death and rebirth are the events in a long continuous process,

           each arising dependent on the dissolution of the previous one in continuity

           without any break in between their appearing. They will come and go as

           long as we are ignorant of the nature of their existence and in our

           ignorance, we crave for the coming of life, not knowing that its stay is only

           temporary, and that where there is life, death follows. Thus we drift from

           existence to existence, until we find the anchor of Dhamma, from which we

           acquire the knowledge to end the process.

                  “It is the contemplation of death, the conviction that it will come upon us

           at any time, beyond our control, that softens the hardest of hearts,

           showering others with love and compassion, and destroys the barriers of

           caste, creed and race among the peoples of this earth all of whom are

           subject to the common destiny of death. With this knowledge the fear of

           death is no more and we can go on with life knowing that we are ready at

           any time that death calls. This is facing reality and it builds calmness and

           clear thinking in our lives…”  (8)         

                   Quoting from the Visuddhi Magga:

                    The disciple who devotes himself to the contemplation of death is

                     always vigilant, takes no delight in any form of existence, gives up

                     hankering after life, censures evil doing, is free from craving as

                     regards the requisites of life, his perception of impermanence

                     becomes established, he realizes the painful and soulless nature

                     of existence and at the moment of death he is devoid of fear, and

                     remains mindful and self-possessed. Finally, if in this present life

                     he fails to attain to nibbana, upon the dissolution of the body he is

                     bound for a happy destiny. (9) 1.10.2005 1145

(2)      “All conditioned things are unsatisfactory”

--- when one sees this with wisdom,

    one turns away from suffering.

    This is the path to purification. (10)

Because all conditioned things are impermanent and subject to

            constant change, they are also described as unsatisfactory and they cause

            dukkha/suffering. As explained by Rahula, there are three aspects of

            dukkha or suffering.

Firstly, ordinary suffering. To quote Rahula: “All kinds of suffering in

            life like birth, old age, sickness, death, association with unpleasant persons

            and conditions, separation from beloved ones and pleasant conditions, not

            getting what one desires, grief, lamentation, distress – all such forms of

            physical and mental suffering, which are universally accepted as suffering

            or pain…” (11)

                   Secondly, there is suffering as a result of change, such as happiness

            turning into unhappiness, sadness, misery and suffering.

                    Thirdly, it is the form of suffering associated with conditioned things,

            conditioned existence arising fundamentally from the roots of ignorance

            and craving. It is suffering inherent in the five aggregates of beings.

                     The Buddha has said (Samyutta-nikaya III): “O bhikkhus, what is

            dukkha? It should be said that it is the five aggregates of attachment.”

                     Narada has written: “All (beings) are subject to birth (jati) and

            consequently to decay (jara), disease (vyadhi and finally to death

            (marana). No one is exempt from these four causes of suffering…” (12)

                     In the Majjhima Nikaya the Buddha says: “One thing only does the

            Buddha teach, namely, suffering and the cessation of suffering.”

                     Suffering is the first of the Four Noble Truths taught by the Buddha.

            Narada has commented: “This First Truth of suffering which depends on

            this so-called being and various aspects of life, is to be carefully analysed

            and examined. This examination leads to a proper understanding of

            oneself as one really is.

                      “The cause of this suffering is craving or attachment (tanha), which is

            the Second Noble Truth…

                       “Both suffering and craving can only be eradicated by following the

            Middle Way, enunciated by the Buddha Himself, and attaining the supreme

            Bliss of Nibbana.

                        “The Third Noble Truth is the complete cessation of suffering which

            Is Nibbana, the ultimate Goal of Buddhists. It is achieved by the total

            eradication of all forms of suffering.

                         “This Nibbana is to be comprehended by the mental eye by

            renouncing all internal attachment to the external world.

                          “This Truth has to be realized by developing the Noble Eightfold

            Path which is the Fourth Noble Truth. This unique path is the only

            straight route that leads to Nibbana…” (13)

                          In “The Wake-up Sermon” Bodhidharma, the Indian monk who

            came to China in the early part of the sixth century A.D. and became the

            first patriarch of its Chan/Zen school of Buddhism, taught: “Every suffering

            is a buddha-seed, because suffering impels mortals to seek wisdom. But

            you can only say that suffering gives rise to buddhahood. You can’t say

            that suffering is buddhahood.

                           “Your body and mind (of the five aggregates or skandas) are the

            field (of spiritual cultivation). Suffering is the seed, wisdom the sprout, and

            buddhahood the grain…” (14)  1-2.10.2005 0011   

(3)      “All things are not-self” ---

when one sees this with wisdom,

one turns away from suffering.

This is the path to purification.  (15)

“One thing (arises and then) disappears, conditioning the appearance

             of the next in a series of cause and effect. There is no unchanging

             substance in them,” Rahula has explained. (16)

                    “There is nothing behind them that can be called a permanent Self

             (Atman), individuality, or anything that can in reality be called ‘I’.

                    “Everyone will agree that neither matter, nor sensation, nor

             perception, nor any one of those mental activities, nor

             consciousness can really be called ‘I’. But when these five physical and

             mental aggregates which are interdependent are working together in

             combination as a physio-psychological machine, we get the idea of ‘I’. But

             this is only a false idea, a mental formation of the Fourth Aggregate (the

             Aggregate of Mental Formations)...

                       “These five Aggregates together, which we popularly call a ‘being’,

             are dukkha itself…”

                        The Buddha has said: “In short these five aggregates of attachment

             are dukkha.” (17)

                         Rahula has written: “They are not the same for two consecutive

             moments. Here A is not equal to A. They are in a flux of momentary arising

             and disappearing.” (18) They are all constantly changing, all impermanent.

      Rahula has also written: “According to the teaching of the Buddha,

             the idea of self is an imaginary, false belief which has no corresponding

             reality, and it produces harmful thoughts of ‘me’ and ‘mine’, selfish desire,

             craving, attachment, hatred, ill-will, conceit, pride, egoism, and other

             defilements, impurities and problems. It is the source of all the troubles in

             the world from personal conflicts to wars between nations. In short, to this

             false view can be traced all the evil in the world…” (19)  

       All the things in the universe, the conditioned and the non-

             conditioned, the relative and the absolute, have this not-self

             characteristic: They are all “without Self.” Rahula has explained that

             “there is no Self, no Atman (soul, self, ego), not only in the Five

             Aggregates, but nowhere else too outside them or apart from them…” (20)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1100                                                       2.10.2005 1100

                                       

                            The 13^th century Japanese Zen master Dogen has composed:

                                Studying the Buddha Way is studying oneself.

                                Studying oneself is forgetting oneself;

                                Forgetting oneself is being enlightened by all things;

                                Being enlightened by all things is causing the body-mind

                                (the five aggregates or skandas) of oneself and the body-mind

                                of others to be shed. (21)   3.10.2005 0421 

                             “Once you understand non-self, then the burden of life is gone.

               You’ll be at peace with the world. When we see beyond self, we no longer

                cling to happiness and we can truly be happy,” Ajahn Chah has taught.

                              “Learn to let go without struggle, simply let go, to be just as you

                 are – no holding on, no attachment, free…” (22)

            Let go of the self. Detach the self; throw off upadana (attachment to self and others). Throw away all this burden of self, as

the great contemporary Thai master has wisely taught us to do.

            Re-move self-centredness. And, cut off ego-centricity.

 

            “Discarding the self, or egoism, occurs in a number of stages.

The first stage is awakening to the simple truth, or principle, that human suffering is brought about by the collection of greeds and wants – desires –that make up the self. The realization of this alone represents a substantial step away from the self, but this is not enough if there is no awareness of the truth of what the self may give rise to,” Nikkyo Niwano, a well-known Japanese author of many works on Buddhism, has written. (23)

             “At the second stage, there must be the realization that in accordance with the Law of Causation (the Buddhist doctrine of the conditioned existence of all phenomena, the interrelationship of all things in the universe, and universal impermanence) all that we so urgently want and are attached to is a temporary appearance brought about by a concurrence of primary and secondary causes.

              “Further, it must be seen that in accordance with the Law of the Twelve Causes (the doctrine of pratityasamutpada, dependent origination) the origin of those desires is ignorance, a basic misapprehension that the flesh is oneself.

               “When one perceives these laws, it becomes clear that the self to which one has clung is in fact something that has no real substance, and as a result one is automatically removed from self-centered thinking.

                “Then, with further practice, one may perceive the truth that all beings in this universe are at bottom void (the same and equal) and identical, and with this realization one may fully taste the sense of unity that all are brothers (and sisters), that all equally partake of the great life-force of the universe. When one has come this far, the self vanishes…”

                  Diligently practise what the Buddha has taught us to do:

                      Let go of the past,

                      let go of the future,

                      let go of the present,

                            and cross over

                  to the farther shore of existence.

                     With mind wholly liberated,

            you shall come no more to birth and death. (24)    3.10.2005 0816

NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHA

Mahasthama Mindfulness Center

25 Selasar Rokam 40

Taman Ipoh Jaya

31350 Ipoh

Perak, Malaysia

Telephone: 05-3134941

12 pages 4,073 words 3.10.2005 0838 11.10.2005 0220 11.10.2005 0925 12.10.2005 0208

NOTES:  THE THREE UNIVERSALS

1. Anguttara Nikaya Part I, p. 286, and as quoted by the Venerable Narada Maha Thera in his

    book THE BUDDHA AND HIS TEACHINGS, published by the Buddhist Missionary Society,

    Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1988, p. 296

 2. Mu Soeng, THE DIAMOND SUTRA: Transforming the way we perceive the world,

     published by Wisdom Publications, Boston, 2000, p. 136

 3. Peter Della Santina, The Tree of Enlightenment, reprinted in 2001 for free distribution by The

     Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation, Taiwan. p.106.

     Born in the USA, Santina did Ph. D. in Buddhist Studies at the University of Delhi in 1979.Has

     spent many years studying and teaching in South and East Asia. For over a quarter century, he

     has been a student of H. H. Sakya Trizin, leader of the Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism. 

    

 4. Dhammapada, translated by Venerable Sri Acharya Buddharakkhita, and published for free

     distribution by Sukhi Hotu, Malaysia, verse 277, p. 180

 5. Walpola Sri Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, published by the Buddhist Missionary Society,

     Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in conjunction with Gordon Fraser, 1978, pp. 25-26

 6. C.P. Ranasinghe, THE BUDDHA’S EXPLANATION OF THE UNIVERSE, published by Lanka

     Buddha Mandalaya Fund, Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), 1957, p. 264

 7. Nigel Calder, EINSTEIN’S UNIVERSE, originally published by Viking Press, NY, 1979, and

     subsequently published by Greenwich House, NY, 1982, p. 123

 8. Bhante Suvanno, Kamma, Death & Rebirth, edited by Jinavamsa, published for free

     distribution by INWARD PATH, Penang, Malaysia, 2002, pp. 26-27

 9. Ibid., p. 27

     “When one does not understand death, life can be very confusing,” said Venerable Ajahn Chah,

      in his reflections compiled in NO AJAHN CHAH (originally published by Yuan Kuang, Taiwan,

      1994, and subsequently reprinted for free distribution by Majujaya Indah, Ampang New Village,

      Selangor, p. 6).

      “Death is as close as our breath…” (p. 7)

    In his admirable book BUDDHA’S NATURE (published by Rider, London, 1998, pp.82-83),

     Wes Nisker, a well-known American lecturer on Buddhist meditation, has written: “Contrary

     to what most people might believe, meditation on death (which the Buddha has described as

     “supreme” of all mindfulness meditations in the Parinirvana Sutra) is not about morbidity

     or denial of life. Many meditators report that contemplating death brings them a renewed

     appreciation for being alive. Suddenly, this very breath seems to be enough. After reflecting

     on death, one’s life needs no other justification than itself…

     “As you reflect on death, you might acknowledge that it is not only you who dies, but everybody

     and everything. Death happens to people, cities, civilizations, knowledge, and fashions, even

     planets and world systems.

     “Scientists believe the universe itself will either die a “cold death,” thinning out into nothingness,

     or a “heat death,” collapsing into a very dense point or singularity (the same word for its

     inexplicable birth)…”   1.10.2005 1159

10. Dhammapada verse 278 p. 180

11. What the Buddha Taught, p. 19

      In Mahayana Buddhism, the various kinds of suffering are referred to collectively as the

      Eight Major Sufferings. Re Dharma Master Thich Thien Tam, BUDDHISM OF WISDOM &

      FAITH, first published in 1991 by the International Buddhist Monastic Institute CA and

      subsequently reprinted for free distribution Feb 2003 by The Corporate Body of the Buddha

      Educational Foundation, Taiwan.

12. Narada, THE BUDDHA AND HIS TEACHINGS. p. 83

13. Ibid., pp. 322-323

      The Noble Eightfold Path is made up of Right Understanding, Right Thoughts, Right Speech,

      Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.

14. Quoted in one of the notes to Letter 1 Turn Afflictions into Bodhi in PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN

      PURE LAND: Letters from Patriarch Yin Kuang (1861-1940), first published in 1992 by

      Sutra Translation Committee of the United States and Canada, New York, and subsequently

      reprinted for free distribution by Amitabha Buddhist Society (Singapore)  2.10.2005 0023

15. Dhammapada verse 279 p. 181

16. What the Buddha Taught, p. 26

17. Ibid., p. 20, quoted from Samyutta-nikaya III

18. What the Buddha Taught, p. 25

19. Ibid., p. 51

20. Ibid., p. 58, citing the Buddha’s statement that “All dhammas are without self” in the Majjhima-

      nikaya I (one of the five original Collections of the Buddha’s teachings)

     Recent neuroscientific research has indicated that the human brain seems to be working mostly

      on its own, with an implication that questions to what an extent a human being is in actual

      possession and control of this mental faculty, intelligence and the intellect.

      “We are discovering that what we each call “my” mind is primarily run by Nature. And,

      presumably, She is doing the best She can for us,” Nisker has written in his recent book

      BUDDHA’S NATURE (published 1998, p. 175)

      “After examining the cognitive process with all their sophisticated scans and scopes, the

      scientists can’t seem to locate the self, the one who directs the show. They know, for

      instance, that knowing is going on, but they can’t figure out who or what is doing the knowing,

      and where he or she resides. Neuroscientists are searching through the passageways of the

      brain, calling out, “Take me to your leader!” But nobody is calling back.” (p. 183)

      A cover story on the latest brain research entitled “In Search of the Mind” in Time

      magazine, published in the summer of 1995, reported that “Most people were probably not

      aware that the mind was lost, and chances are they became quite disturbed to discover that

      even the neuroscientists couldn’t find it.”

      The Time article concluded: “Despite our every instinct to the contrary, consciousness is not

      some entity inside the brain that corresponds to ‘self,’ some kernel of awareness that runs …

      the show. After more than a century of looking for it, brain researchers have concluded that

      such a self does not exist.”  (Quoted by Nisker, pp, 183-184)

      Nisker has written (p. 186): “For now, most leading neuroscientists would agree that no

      independent, individual consciousness, self, soul, or spirit can be separated out from the

      natural evolutionary processes going on within us and without us, based on the universal laws

      of causality. It turns out that Buddhist meditators have been saying something very similar for     

      two and a half millennia.”  

     The distinguished and influential Thai monk Ajahn Chah (1918-93) is quoted: “When we

      examine all that we call mind, we see only a conglomeration of mental elements, not a self.

      Feelings, memory, perception, are all shifting through the mind like leaves in the wind. We can

      discover this through meditation…”

      Nisker has also written (p. 188): “At the core of the Buddha’s teaching of (spiritual) liberation is

      the concept of nonself, or anatta. This is often misunderstood as some kind of nihilistic doctrine

      that says you and I don’t exist in any sense of the word. Instead, the Buddha was teaching that

      our lives are a play of natural elements and processes, that there is no independently existing

      self apart from all of biological and cosmic evolution.

      “The Buddha realized that by experiencing this truth inside us, we can weaken our inordinate

      attachment to our individual drama, reli(e)ve our suffering, and increase our compassion for all

      life…”

      In the Buddhist thinking, the nature of mind is essentially empty, yet is of the essence of light

      and omniscience.

      A well-known lecturer on Buddhist meditation, Nisker has written (p. 199): “According to the

      noted twentieth-century Thai Buddhist master Ajahn Chah, the Buddha’s awakening

      began with this look into the nature of mind. “The Buddha saw that whatever the mind gives rise

      to are just transitory, conditioned phenomena, which are really empty. When this dawned on

      him he let go and found an end to suffering. The true nature of mind is free, shining,

      resplendent. The mind becomes occupied only because it misunderstands and is deluded by

      these conditioned phenomena, this false sense of self”…”     3.10.2005 0345

      The Buddha has thus taught: “True happiness consists in eliminating the false idea of ‘I’.”

      (quoted by Nisker, p. 7)

  

      In the Diamond Sutra, “Buddha explains that nirvana is open to all who are willing to give up

      their ego and individuality, since the way of the ego is false…” (to quote Dr Annellen and Dr

      Alexander Simpkins, ZEN AROUND THE WORLD, pp. 37-38).

      Albert Einstein (1879-1955) said: “The true value of a human being is determined

      primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self.”

     (quoted by Nisker, p. 7)

21. Quoted by Mu Soeng, THE DIAMOND SUTRA, p. 126, from Thomas Cleary, Shobogenzo:

      Zen Essays by Dogen (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986), p. 32   3.10.2005 0429

        In ZEN AROUND THE WORLD (published by Charles Tuttle, Boston, 1997), Dr Annellen and

      Dr Alexander Simpkins have written on Dogen (1200-53), the founder of Soto Zen in Japan:

      “His single-minded zeal and absolute adherence to a strict life of only Zen inspired awe in

       those around him. He took Zen to its absolute extreme. He urged all to follow the Buddha Way

      and become monks. In taking a strong position and living it unwaveringly, Dogen had a

      profound influence on Zen for all time…(p.90)

      “He believed that not to cling to anything, to be unattached, is a primary guiding principle…”

      (p. 95)

22.   NO AJAHN CHAH: Reflections of Venerable Ajahn Chah, p. 107

23.   Nikkyo Niwano, A Guide to the THREEFOLD LOTUS SUTRA, translated and adapted by

Eugene Langston, published by Kosei Publishing, Tokyo, 1998 (sixth printing), pp. 49-50

24.   Dhammapada verse 348 p. 224

A spiritual aspirant can meditate on any one of the three universals to gain emancipation,

Narada Maha Thera has written in A Manual of Abhidhamma (which he has translated and edited with explanatory notes), published originally by the Buddhist Missionary Society, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1956, and subsequently reprinted for free distribution in May 2002 by The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation, Taiwan, pp. 416-417

7.10.2005 1739 4,070 words

In BODHIYANA, A Collection of Dhamma Talks by The Venerable Ajahn Chah,  the fifth W.A.V.E. reprint in 1999 sponsored by Miao Yuan Monastery of Taman Sai Kat, Gunung Rapat, Ipoh, p. 54, Luang Por Chah (1918-93) has commented: “When the mind has seen Anicca-Dukkha-Anatta (ADA), it lets go and releases itself. It no longer attaches to suffering or to happiness…”       3.10.2005 0855 0933 11.10.2005 0219 12 pages 4,073 words