The Three Lakshanas

Question 1

What are the three types of Dukkha?

Answer 1

• Dukkha Dukkha
• viparinama Dukkha
• Sankhara Dukkha

Question 2

What does Dukkha Dukkha mean?

Answer 2

All suffering is a necessary part of human existence

Question 3

What does Viparinama Dukkha mean?

Answer 3

We suffer when things change beyond our control

Question 4

What does Sankhara Dukkha mean?

Answer 4

We suffer due to our own limitations and powerlessness to control our own life.
We don’t know where our actions will lead or what will happen in the future.
Our achievements are pointless as they ultimately end with our death and the death of everyone we care about

Question 5

What is an example of Dukkha Dukkha?

Answer 5

Being separated from someone you love

Question 6

What is an example of viparinama Dukkha?

Answer 6

Even when we are happy, we know it was last e.g. a holiday

Question 7

What is an example of Sankhara Dukkha?

Answer 7

We don’t know what will happen to us in the future

Question 8

What is a quotation for Dukkha Dukkha?

Answer 8

“birth is suffering, sickness is suffering, ageing is suffering, death is suffering…“

Question 9

For Theravada Buddhists, what is the only true escape from suffering?

Answer 9

Nirvana

Question 10

What are the three lakshanas?

Answer 10

Dukkha
Anicca
Anatta

Question 11

What is Dukkha?

Answer 11

Physical or mental pain or suffering, however, dukkha underpins the nature of pleasurable experiences as well e.g. if you go on holiday, it is very enjoyable but the awareness is coming to an end isn’t quite as enjoyable. This is Dukkha

Question 12

What is Anicca

Answer 12

The idea that there is not one thing that stays the same e.g. people age and die.
Nothing can escape Anicca
Anicca is not just limited to painful experiences, change is good when a baby grows healthy and strong

Question 13

What is Anatta ?

Answer 13

The belief we have no soul

Question 14

What is a reference to the Buddha about Anatta ?

Answer 14

When the Buddha reflected upon himself through meditation, he could not find any one thing that was un-changing within himself. There was no evidence of the underlying soul. Instead, the Buddha discovered that there are many things that combine to make a human being

Question 15

There are two types of change in the world. What are they?

Answer 15

• momentary change

- the gross level of change

Question 16

What is the gross level of change?

Answer 16

The gross level of change is the change that we experience in our day-to-day lives e.g. We can see the seasons change and also the age of people around us

Question 17

What is momentary change?

Answer 17

Momentary change is a subtle change. Even when objects don’t appear to be changing, they are never the same from one moment to the next e.g. a chair or table may look the same day today but through a microscope, atoms are in constant motion and changing, ageing and replacing

Question 18

What is the illusion of continuation?

Answer 18

we are always changing even if you think you are the same e.g a candle flickering, never flickers the same again

Question 19

How does the awareness of Anicca affect Buddhists?

Answer 19

Accepting that people will die, objects will decay etc. It will helps us to loosen our attachment. This may lead to us accepting that change is necessary and good and we will stop craving things we can’t have, and be more content

Question 20

What analogy can be used for Anatta and what does it mean?

Answer 20

The analogy of the chariot can be used for this.
The analogy of the chariot is saying that if you take away a part of the chariot, it is no longer a chariot. It is just pieces of wood, wheels and other parts of the chariot.
This can be applied to a human and a soul to say that you need to have all five skandas to make up the body or otherwise it is not a person

Question 21

What are the five skandas?

Answer 21

• form — body
• sensations
• perceptions
• mental formations (impulses and habits)
• consciousness - form — body
• sensations
• perceptions
• mental formations (impulses and habits)
• consciousness

Question 22

Explain the five skandas ?

Answer 22

Form - this is our body, including our sense organs
Sensations - these are our reactions to our environment, including our senses, emotions, pleasure and pain
Perception - this is when our feelings are given personal meaning and prescribed withprescribing labels such as “red”, “ugly”,”old”
Mental formations - this is the aspect which determines how person will act to an experience. “Do I like this kind of experience?” “How do I respond to things like this?”
Consciousness - this is the awareness of all of our experiences, and makes the overall decisions about our actions

Question 23

anatta - and that it is split into three sections. The no self of living beings, the no self of independent entities and also the no self of inanimate objects. Explain the no self of living beings

Answer 23

The no self of living beings - this is the belief that we don’t have a soul but also that there is nothing in it that is really our “self”, this is an illusion caused by the combination and continuation of all our Skandas

Question 24

anatta - and that it is split into three sections. The no self of living beings, the no self of independent entities and also the no self of inanimate objects. Explain the no self of inanimate objects

Answer 24

The no self of inanimate objects - just like the chariot, objects don’t really have an essence which makes up that object. They are a combination of different properties which could all change over time. Things are simply the sum of the parts E.g a mug is not a mug if it doesn’t have a handle, it would then be a cup.

Question 25

anatta - and that it is split into three sections. The no self of living beings, the no self of independent entities and also the no self of inanimate objects. Explain the no self of independent entities

Answer 25

Everything is interdependent.
This is the Buddhist principle called dependent origination or dependent arising.
This means that things only come into existence in dependence on causes. Objects are not distinct entities everything depends on the many causes which lead to the coming together of all its parts

Question 26

What is Ockhams Razor?

Answer 26

• If a belief adds no further explanation to the theory, we should remove it from our understanding of the world.
• We can explain everything with the brain - we don’t need to believe in a soul. We can see the brain as it’s physical, whereas we can’t see the mind or soul so there is no proof it’s there

Question 27

What is the illusion of perception?

Answer 27

• The idea of the soul is just our perception of what we think we experience through our senses, thoughts and feelings. But it’s just our brains
• The perception of something objectively existing in such a way to cause misinterpretation of its actual nature
• it is not an objective, clearly defined as an experience. Vision is the construction of the mind, so you can say that all visions are illusions. Perception involves interpretation, and our thoughts, memories and emotions determine how we interpret what we see
• The way our brain and eyes work makes us think that we are looking out for something. Our eyes and brains put everything we look at into a picture so we look at one thing and our brain fills the rest

Question 28

What is modern scientific evidence?

Answer 28

• we don’t have a soul, it is just our brain
• our mental properties are the brains physical properties. If you remove the brain, we stop thinking, if you alter the brain, it affects how we think. Therefore, the brain is the soul
• mental properties = thoughts and feelings

Question 29

If we don’t have a soul, what is reborn?

Answer 29

For Buddhists, we are reborn every second, as we are never the same person from one moment to the next. The only way it makes sense to say we are the same is because Ellie a second ago caused Ellie now. The chain of causation which connects the two versions of Ellie is called karma,. This is the same thing that connects lives between rebirth

Question 30

What is Nirvana?

Answer 30

In Sanskrit it means blowing out or extinguishing. It means extinguishing the three fires of desire, hatred and ignorance which rage inside (Tanha). Nirvana isn’t a place or a thing, it’s more a way of seeing the world without any delusion, greed or fear.

Question 31

What is Samsara?

Answer 31

• The belief that life is a continuous cycle of birth, death and rebirth, escaping Samsara is the main goal
• in Sanskrit it means wondering on. This describes the way we walk endlessly from life to life, looking for happiness, security, and home. However, we can never have these things because we will always die and everything ends.

Question 32

What is pratiyasmutpada?

Answer 32

The interconnectedness of all things within samsara. Also called interdependence, or dependent origination

Question 33

What is nirvana for Mahayana Buddhists ?

Answer 33

Just one stage on the path to full brotherhood. On reaching Nirvana one is a bodhisattva, three from the cycle of Samsara, and able to choose rebirth deliberately in order to help other beings reach nirvana too.

Question 34

What are the six realms of existence ?

Answer 34

• The gods.
• Humans.
• Hungry ghosts.
• Hells.
• Animals.
• Asuras

Question 35

What is Pari Nirvana ?

Answer 35

• Nirvana can be experience in this life.
• Once someone has reached enlightenment, they understand the truth, and will have ceased all craving, and therefore no longer experience Dukkha.
• We still have our body, which is a limitation. We still feel physical pain, but this will not affect the mental state.
• Someone in the state is called an arhat.
• On death we reach full Nirvana, which is called pari Nirvana