DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post

**P1international** · 03-28-2011, 07:37 PM

and what are the three marks? I have never heard of it.

The three marks of existence are as mentioned by Kaarine -anicca, dukkha, anatta. = impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and not-self. (No permanent unchanging 'self' or belonging to self)

The problem is that the "world out there" is constantly changing, everything is impermanent and it is impossible to make a permanent relationship with anything, at all.

If we examine the notion of impermanence closely and honestly, we see that it is all-pervading, everything is marked by impermanence. We might posit an eternal consciousness principle, or higher self, but if we examine our consciousness closely we see that it is made up of temporary mental processes and events. We see that our "higher self" is speculative at best and imaginary to begin with.

We have invented the idea to secure ourselves, to cement our relationship, once again. Because of this we feel uneasy and anxious, even at the best of times. It is only when we completely abandon clinging that we feel any relief from our queasiness.

These three things: pain, impermanence and egolessness are known as the three marks of existence.

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/intro_bud.htm
Personally I think that 'unsatisfactoriness' or 'discontent' are better translations of dukkha than 'suffering' or 'pain'.

.

03-28-2011, 07:37 PM	#31
P1international Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 643 Senior Member	and what are the three marks? I have never heard of it. The three marks of existence are as mentioned by Kaarine -anicca, dukkha, anatta. = impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and not-self. (No permanent unchanging 'self' or belonging to self) The problem is that the "world out there" is constantly changing, everything is impermanent and it is impossible to make a permanent relationship with anything, at all. If we examine the notion of impermanence closely and honestly, we see that it is all-pervading, everything is marked by impermanence. We might posit an eternal consciousness principle, or higher self, but if we examine our consciousness closely we see that it is made up of temporary mental processes and events. We see that our "higher self" is speculative at best and imaginary to begin with. We have invented the idea to secure ourselves, to cement our relationship, once again. Because of this we feel uneasy and anxious, even at the best of times. It is only when we completely abandon clinging that we feel any relief from our queasiness. These three things: pain, impermanence and egolessness are known as the three marks of existence. http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/intro_bud.htm Personally I think that 'unsatisfactoriness' or 'discontent' are better translations of dukkha than 'suffering' or 'pain'. .
	Quote