The three marks of existence Flashcards
What are the three marks of existence?
Annica, anatta and dukkha
Annica
Impermanence - everything is changing nothing lasts forever
Anatta
No self - no permanent self, I am always changing
Dukkha
Suffering - or unsatisfactoriness - the world cannot provide permanence
Why does impermanence exist?
Because all things are in a continuous state of flux and probably decay
Second law of thermodynamics
entropy (the degree of disorder) tends to increase - captures annica in modern thinking
Why do we suffer?
Because we try and hold onto things and stop them changing
Is there such thing as a self, possessing feelings thoughts and sensations?
No, those feelings thoughts and sensations are me and are in a constant state of flux
What is the mind, according to Buddhism?
A complex compound of fleeting mental states
How can we sure a river to describe the mind?
The mind persistently flows like a river with birth for its source and death for its mouth
But does anything carry on after death?
Yes
In the questions of king milinda how does nagasena describe the ‘self’?
It is all the parts of the body plus the five skandhas
What are the five skandhas?
Matter/body Feelings/sensations Perceptions Mental formations Consciousness
Anatta both rejects and concludes that we exist after death, how?
‘Is the schoolboy one person, and the one who has finished school another?’ The answer is it’s both and neither, and the same after death, what carries on is both the same and different.
What are the three categories of dukkha?
The dukkha of genuinely painful experiences- physical and mental sufferings
The dukkha of the changing nature of all things - includes frustration of not getting what you want
The dukkha of conditioned experience - lack of satisfaction. Nothing ever measures up to our standards
