impermanence, suffering, non-self, nirvana is peaceful
These four lines seal what a buddhist tradition is. Just like a stamp of approval that validates the way of getting out of suffering. Always thinking he would not dictate them but encourage them to run them under trial.
- Impermanence: All composite things are impermanent.
- Suffering: All contaminated things (conditioned by afflictions) of suffering nature.
- Non-self: Nothing possesses an independent, permanent self; everything is of the nature of emptiness and selflessness.
- Nirvana is peaceful: transcending sorrow is absolute peace.
| Seal | Pali | Sanskrit | Tibetan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Impermanence | anicca | अनित्य | དེ་རིང་མེད། |
| Suffering | dukkha | दुःख | སྡུག་བསྔལ། |
| Non-self | anatta | अनात्मन् | རང་དབང་མེད། |
| Nirvana is peaceful | nibbanam santam | निर्वाणं शान्तम् | མཐོང་བ་བདེ་བ། |
Help dispel the 4 Invesions (Ignorances).
The bases of this teaching are in the The Essence of the Dependent Origination Mantra.
Composite Phenomena
Thing which is constituted of either:
- Directional or material parts: made of electrons, protons, neutrons… they occupy space, have orientation (direction)
- Temporal parts: parts in time. Today I’m very happy. Today = 1 day = 24 temporal parts (hours) = 60 temporal parts (minutes).
WARNING
Material parts imply implicitely temporal parts too. But temporal parts can be temporal on their own with no material associated, e.g. our mind (can’t be located, but it is subject to time).
Impermanence
Buddha said meditation on emptiness is the greatest, like the footprint of an elephant. Why? — Because it brings a sense of urgency.
Two kinds:
- Gross: impermanent phenomena whose continuum terminates. E.g. 2025, youth, house building.
- Subtle: momentariness involved in all impermanent phenomena, without termination. Like our mind.
Something can be grossly impermanent but can have **subtle impermanent. What is impermanent phenomena can have subtle impermanence but cannot be subtle impermanence.
Just as in the same way you say “I have hands, but I am not hands”.
NDC Question — Subtle impermanence flower example. Being (impermanence) vs having it
In Buddhism Everything is Impermanent! → ❌
Be careful with such statements. It’s common to hear people interested in Buddhism saying such claims. Everything that is composite is impermanent.
There is permanent phenomena in Buddhism. This comes later on with the Tenet Systems.
Alexander the Great’s last wills at his time of death expresses very well gross impermanence.
Alexander the Great's Last 3 Wills
Alexander the Great. Refer as “great” because of how expanse was his empire. At time of death he wanted to leave 3 wills, each to exemplify special meaning:
Link to original
Will Meaning Only physicians (not daughters) should carry his coffin Even the best doctors can’t prevent death His wealth should be scattered along the path Wealth is meaningless at the end His hands should hang outside the coffin We leave the world empty-handed
Subtle Impermanence
Changing at every instant. Requires a deeper meditative process to understand it best.
Example: the growth of a tree. Only noticeable if you leave and come back after some time. The growing is continuous, but apparently unnoticeable. You can keep dividing every minute, second: it’s growing. Millisecond: it’s growing. Any time partition, ad infinitum.
Question: Gross arises and passes, it’s clear. But subtle impermanence has a rise-fall life-cycle too?
Link to original
3 Types of Suffering
3 Types of Suffering
suffering of suffering, suffering of change, all-pervaasive suffering of conditioning
Tib. སྡུག་བསྔལ་གསུམ་
Sufferings Tibetan Suffering of Suffering སྡུག་བསྔལ་གྱི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ Suffering of Change འགྱུར་བའི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ All-Pervasive Suffering of Conditioning ཁྱབ་པ་འདུ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ Suffering of Suffering
Anything that everyone identifies as suffering, e.g. headache, toothache. Birth, aging, old age and death belong to this category too.
Exists only in the form realm.
Pliancy: it’s harder to operate under this state.
Suffering of Change
For example the pleasure of eating delicious food. The experience of joy that you have for the first bite of that food — moderation does not escape it —, if you keep partaking in it, eventually changes into suffering of suffering.
The suffering of change is therefore the fact we are dealing with bait.
Exists in the desire and form realms.
Pliancy: It’s easier to operate under this state.
Pervasive Conditioned Suffering
The “mastermind” behind the other two sufferings (puppets).
Definition of pervasive and condition needs to be understood:
- Pervasive: is present in all 3 Realms
- Condition: we are conditioned, dictated by the “dream”, we are the slaves of (1) pervasive condition of suffering, (2) contaminated karmas and afflictions, (3) self-grasping ignorance.
5 examples of the pervasive condition of suffering:
Link to original
- Being in the sway of contaminated karmas and afflictions.
- 5 contaminated aggregates (body + mind).
- Involuntary birth in samsara.
- Contaminated neutral feeling.
- Being under under the control of self-grasping ignorance.