Three Universal Characteristics
Ven. Buddhadasa Bhikkhu
We shall now discuss, in detail the three Characteristics common to all things,
namely impermanence unsatisfactory-ness (suffering), and non-selfhood.
All things whatsoever have the property of changing incessantly; they are unstable.
All things whatsoever have the characteristic of unsatisfactory-ness; seeing
them evokes disillusionment and disenchantment in anyone having clear insight
into their nature. Nothing whatsoever is such that we are justified in regarding
it as "mine." To our normally imperfect vision, things appear as selves;
but as soon as our vision becomes clear, un-obscured, and accurate, we realize
that there is no self-entity present in any of them.
These three characteristics were the aspect of the teaching, which the Buddha
stressed more than any other. The entire teaching when summed up amounts simply
to insight into impermanence, unsatisfactory-ness, and non-selfhood. Sometimes
they are mentioned explicitly, sometimes they are expressed in other terms,
but fundamentally they aim at demonstrating the same single truth. The impermanence
of all things had been taught before the time of the Buddha, but it had not
been expounded as profoundly as it was by the Buddha. Unsatisfactory-ness, likewise
had been taught but not in its full depth. It had not been treated from the
point of view of causation, and no directions had been given as to how it could
be thoroughly and completely done away with. Earlier teachers had not understood
its true nature as did the Buddha in his enlightenment. As for non-selfhood
in the ultimate sense, this is taught only in Buddhism. This doctrine tells
us that a person who has a complete understanding of the "what is what"
or the nature of things will know that nothing whatsoever is a self or belongs
to a self. This was taught only by the Buddha, who truly had a complete and
thorough understanding of the "what is what" or the tree nature of
things.
The ways of practice designed to bring about insight into these three characteristics
are numerous; but one single noteworthy fact is bound to be revealed once that
perfect insight has been attained, namely the fact that nothing is worth grasping
at or clinging to. There is nothing that we should want to get, to have, to
be. In short: Nothing is worth getting. Nothing is worth being. Only when one
has come to perceive that having anything or being anything is a delusion, a
deception, a mirage, and that nothing at all is worth getting or worth being,
has one achieved true insight into impermanence, unsatisfactory-ness, and non-selfhood.
A man may have been reciting the formula: "anicca, dukkha, anattá"
morning and evening hundreds and thousands of times and yet not be able to perceive
these characteristics. It is just not in their nature to be perceptible through
hearing or reciting.
Now intuitive insight, or what we call "seeing Dhamma," is not by
any means the same thing as rational thinking. One will never come to see Dhamma
by means of rational thinking. Intuitive insight can be gained only by means
of a true inner realization. For instance, suppose we are examining a situation
where we had thoughtlessly become quite wrapped up in something which later
caused us suffering. If, on looking closely at the actual course of events,
we become genuinely fed up, disillusioned, and disenchanted with that thing,
we can be said to have seen Dhamma, or to have gained clear insight. This clear
insight may develop in time until it is perfected, and had the power to bring
liberation from all things. If a person recites aloud: "anicca, dukkha,
anattá" or examines these characteristics day and night without
ever becoming disenchanted with things, without ever losing the desire to get
things or to be something, or the desire to cling to things, that person has
not yet attained to insight. In short, then, insight into impermanence, unsatisfactory-ness,
and non-selfhood amounts to realizing that nothing is worth getting or worth
being.
There is a word in Buddhism that covers this completely, the word sunnata, or
emptiness, emptiness of selfhood, emptiness of any essence that we might have
a right to cling to with all our might as being "mine." Observation,
which leads to the insight that all things are devoid of any essence that is
worth clinging to is the real core of the religion. It is the key to Buddhist
practice. When we have come to know clearly that everything of every kind is
devoid of selfhood we can be said to know Buddha-Dhamma in its entirety. The
single phrase "empty of self" sums up the words "impermanent
(anicca), unsatisfactory (dukkha) and not self (anattá)." When something
is perpetually changing, devoid of any permanent unchanging element, it can
also be said to be empty. When it is seen to be overflowing with the property
of Inducing disillusionment, it can be described as empty of any entity that
we might have a right to cling to. And when we discover on examination that
it possesses no stable component whatever that could be its "Self,"
that it is simply nature, changing and fluctuating in accordance with the laws
of nature, which we have no right to call a self, then it can be described as
empty of self. As soon as any individual has come to perceive the emptiness
of all things, there arises in him the realization that it is not worth getting
or being any of those things, This feeling of not desiring to get or to be has
the power to protect one from falling slave to the defilements or to any kind
of emotional involvement. Once an individual has attained this condition, he
is thenceforth incapable of any unwholesome state of mind. He does not become
carried away by or involved in anything. He does not become in any way attracted
or seduced by anything. His mind knows permanent liberty and independence, and
is free from suffering,
The statement "Nothing is worth getting or being" is to be understood
in a rather special sense. The words "get" and "be" refer
here to getting and being with a deluded mind, with a mind that grasps and clings
wholly and entirely. It is not suggested that one could live without having
or being anything at all. Normally there are certain things one can't do without.
One needs property, children, wife, garden, fields, and so on. One is to be
good, one can't help being a winner or a loser, or having some status or other,
One can't help being something or other. Why then are we taught to regard things
as not worth getting or being? The answer is this. The concepts of getting and
being are purely relative; they are worldly ideas based on ignorance. Speaking
in terms of pure reality, or absolute truth, we cannot get or be anything at
all. And why? Simply because both the person who is to do the getting and the
thing that is to be got are impermanent, unsatisfactory (suffering), and nobody's
property. But an individual who doesn't perceive this will naturally think "I
am getting...I have...I am..." We automatically think in these terms, and
it is this very concept of getting and being that is the source of distress
and misery.
Getting and being represent a form of desire, namely the desire not to let the
thing that one is in the process of getting or being disappear or slip away.
Suffering arises from desire to have and desire to be, in short, from desire;
and desire arises from failure to realize that all things are inherently undesirable.
The false idea that things are desirable is present as an instinct right from
babyhood and is the cause of desire. Consequent on the desire there come about
results of one sort or another, which may or may not accord with the desire.
If the desired result is obtained, there will arise a still greater desire.
If the desired result is not obtained, there is bound to follow a struggling
and striving until one way or another it is obtained. Keeping this up results
in the vicious circle: action (karma), result, action, result, which is known
as the Wheel of Samsara. Now this word samsara is not to be taken as referring
to an endless cycle of one physical existence after another. In point of fact
it refers to a vicious circle of three events; desire; action in keeping with
the desire; effect resulting from that action; inability to stop desiring, having
to desire once more; action; once again another effect; further augmenting of
desire...and so on endlessly. The Buddha called this the "Wheel" of
samsara because it is an endless cycling on, a rolling on. It is because of
this very circle that we are obliged to endure suffering and torment. To succeed
in breaking loose from this vicious circle is to attain freedom from all forms
of suffering, in other words Nirvana. Regardless of whether a person is a pauper
or a millionaire, a king or an emperor, a celestial being or a god, or anything
at all, as long as he is caught up In this vicious circle, he is obliged to
experience suffering and torment of one kind or another, in keeping with his
desire. We can say then that this wheel of samsara is well and truly overloaded
with suffering. For the rectifying of this situation morality is quite inadequate.
To resolve the problem we have to depend on the highest principles of Dhamma.
We have seen that suffering has its origins in dears, which is just what the
Buddha set down in the Second Noble Truth. Now there are three kinds of desire.
The first kind is sensual desire, desiring and finding pleasure in things; in
shapes and colors, sounds, scents, tastes, or tactile objects. The second kind
is desire for becoming, desire to be this or that according to what one wants.
The third kind is desire not to become, desire not to be this or that. That
there are just these three kinds of desire is an absolute rule. Anyone is defied
to challenge this rule and demonstrate the existence of a kind of desire other
than these three.
Anyone can observe that wherever there is desire, there is distress too; and
when we are forced to act on a desire, we are bound to suffer again in accordance
with the action. Having got the result, we are unable to put an end to our desire,
so we carry right on desiring. The reason we are obliged to continue experiencing
distress is that we are not yet free from desire, but are still slaves to it.
Thus it can be said that an evil man does evil because he desires to do evil,
and experiences the kind of suffering appropriate to the nature of an evil man;
and that a good man of to do good, and so is bound to experience another kind
of suffering, a kind appropriate to the nature of a good man. But don't understand
this as teaching us to give up doing good. It is simply teaching us to realize
that there exist degrees of suffering so fine that the average man cannot detect
them. We have to act on the Buddha's advice: if we are to break free from suffering
completely, simply doing good is not sufficient. It Is necessary to do things
beyond and above the doing of good, things that will serve to free the mind
from the condition of serfdom and slavery to desire of any kind. This is the
quintessence of the Buddha's teaching. It cannot be bettered or equaled by any
other religion in the world, so ought to be carefully remembered. To succeed
in overcoming these three forms of desire is to attain complete liberation from
suffering.
How can we eliminate desire, extinguish it, cut it out at its roots and put
an end to it for good? The answer to this is simple: observe and take note of
impermanence, unsatisfactory-ness (suffering) and non-selfhood until we come
to see that there is nothing worth desiring. What is there worth getting or
being? What is there such that when a person has got it or has become it, it
fails to give rise to some kind of suffering? Ask yourself this question: What
is there that you can get or be that will not bring distress and anxiety? Think
it over. Does having a wife and children lead to lightheartedness and freedom
or does it bring all sorts of responsibilities? Is the gaining of high position
and title the gaining of peace and calm or is it the gaining of heavy obligation?
Looking at things in this way, we readily see that these things always bring
only burdens and responsibility. And why? Everything whatsoever is a burden
simply by virtue of its characteristics of impermanence, unsatisfactory-ness,
and non-selfhood. Having got something, we have to see to it that it stays with
us, is as we wish It to be, or is of benefit to us. But that thing is by nature
impermanent, unsatisfactory, and nobody's property. It cannot conform to the
aims and objectives of anyone. It will only change as is its nature. All our
efforts, then, are an attempt to oppose and withstand the law of change; and
life, as an attempt to make things conform to our wishes, is fraught with difficulty
and suffering.
There exists a technique for coming to realize that nothing at all is worth
getting or being. It consists in examining things deeply enough to discover
that in the presence of craving one has feelings of a certain kind towards getting
and being; and that when desire has given way completely to insight into the
true nature of things, one's attitude towards getting and being is rather different.
As an easy example let us consider eating. One man's eating accompanied by craving
and desire for delicious tastes must have certain features that distinguish
it from another man's eating, which is accompanied not by desire, but by clear
comprehension, or insight into the true nature of things. Their eating manners
must differ, their feelings while eating must differ, and so must the results
arising from their eating.
Now what we have to realize is that one can still eat food even though one lacks
all craving for delicious to tastes. The Buddha and Arahants, individuals devoid
of craving, were still able to do things and be things. They were still able
to do work, far more in fact than any of us can with all our desires. What was
the power by virtue of which they did it? What corresponded to the power of
craving, of desiring to be this or that by virtue of which we do things? The
answer is that they did it by the power of insight, clear and thorough knowledge
of "what is what" or the true nature of things. We by contrast are
motivated by desire, with the result that we are, unlike them, continually subject
to suffering. They did not desire to get or possess anything, and as a result
others were benefited thanks to their benevolence. Their wisdom told them to
make it known rather than remain indifferent, and so they were able to pass
the teaching on to us.
Freedom from craving brings many incidental benefits. A body and mind freed
from craving can look for and partake of food motivated by intelligent discrimination
and not, as before; by desire. If we wish to break free from suffering, following
the footsteps of the Buddha and the Arahants, then we must train ourselves to
act with discrimination rather than with craving. If you are a student, then
learn how to distinguish right from wrong, good from bad, and verify that studying
is the very best thing for you to be doing. If you have a job of some kind,
then learn how to distinguish right from wrong, good from bad, and satisfy yourself
that that job is the best thing for you to be doing, and of benefit to all concerned,
Then do it well, and with all the coolness and equanimity your insight provides.
If, in doing something, we are motivated by desire, then we worry while doing
it and we worry when we have finished; but if we do it with the guiding power
of discrimination, we shall not be worried at all. This is the difference it
makes.
It is essential, then, that we be always aware that, in reality, all things
are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not selves, that is, that they are not
worth getting or being. If we are to become involved in them, then let us do
so with discrimination, and our actions will not be contaminated with desire.
If we act wisely, we shall be free of suffering right from beginning to end.
The mind will not blindly grasp at and cling to things as worth getting and
being. We shall be sure to act with wakefulness, and be able to proceed a accordance
with tradition and custom, or in accordance with the law. For example, though
we may own land and property, we need not necessarily have any greedy feelings
about them. We need not cling to those things to the extent that they become
a burden, weighing down and tormenting the mind. The law is bound to see to
it that our piece of land remains in our possession. We don't need to suffer
worry and anxiety about it. It isn't going to slip through our fingers and disappear.
Even if someone comes along and snatches it from us, we can surely still resist
and protect it intelligently. We can resist without becoming angry, without
letting ourselves become heated with the flame of hatred. We can depend on the
law and do our resisting without any need to experience suffering. Certainly
we ought to watch over our property; but if it should in fact slip out of our
grip, then becoming emotional about it wont help matters at all. All things
are impermanent, perpetually changing. Realizing this, we need not become upset
about anything.
"Being" is the same. There is no need to cling to one's state of being
this or that, because in reality there is no satisfactory condition at all.
All conditions bring about suffering of one kind or another. There is a very
simple technique, which we must have a look at later, known as vipassana, the
direct practice of Dhamma. It consists of close introspection, which reveals
that there is nothing worth being, or that there is really no satisfactory state
of being at all. Have a look at this question yourself; see if you can discover
any satisfactory condition or state of being. Being a son? parent? husband?
wife? master? servant? Is any of these agreeable? Even being the man with the
advantage, the one with the upper hand, the winner ---is that agreeable? Is
the condition of a human being agreeable? Even the condition of a celestial
being or a god ----would that be agreeable? When you have really come to know
the "what is what," you find that nothing whatsoever is in any way
agreeable. We are making do with mindlessly getting and being. But why should
we go risking life and limb by getting and being blindly, always acting on desire?
It behooves us to understand things and live wisely, involving ourselves in
things in such a way that they cause a minimum of suffering, or ideally, none
at all.
Here is another point: we must bring to our fellow men, our friends, and particularly
our relatives and those close to us, the understanding that this is how things
are, so that they may have the same right view as we have. There will then be
no upsets in the family, the town, the country, and ultimately in the whole
world. Each individual mind will be immune to desire, neither grasping at nor
becoming wrapped up in anything or anyone. Instead everyone's life will be guided
by insight, by the ever-present, un-obscured vision that there is in reality
nothing that we can grasp at and cling to. Everyone will come to realize all
things are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and devoid of any self-entity, that
none of them are worth becoming infatuated with. It is up to us to have the
sense to give them up, to have right views, in keeping with the Buddha's teaching.
A person who has done this is fit to be called a true Buddhist. Though he may
have been ordained nor even taken the precepts, he will have really and truly
penetrated to Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. His mind will be identical with that
of Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. It will be uncontaminated, enlightened, and tranquil
simply by virtue of not grasping at anything as worth getting or worth being.
So a person can readily become a genuine, full-fledged Buddhist simply by means
of this technique of being observant, perceiving impermanence, unsatisfactory-ness,
and non-selfhood until he comes to realize that there is nothing worth getting
or being.
The lowest forms of evil originate in and are powered by desire to get and to
be; milder forms of evil consist of actions less strongly motivated by desire;
and all goodness consists of action based on the finest, most tenuous sort of
desire, the desire to get or to be, on a good level. Even in its highest forms,
good is based on desire which, however, is so fine and tenuous that people don't
consider it in any way a bad thing. The fact is, however, that good action can
never bring complete freedom from suffering. A person who has become completely
free from desire, that is to say an Arahant, is one who has ceased acting on
desire and has become incapable of doing evil. His actions lie outside the categories
of good and evil. His mind is free and has transcended the limitations of good
and evil. Thus he is completely free of suffering.
This is a fundamental principle of Buddhism. Whether or not we are able to do
it or wish to do it, this is the way to liberation from suffering. Today we
may not yet want it; some day we are bound to want it. When we have completely
give up evil and have done good to our utmost, the mind will still be weighed
down with various kinds of attenuated desire, and there is no known way of getting
rid of them other than by striving to go beyond the power of desire, to go beyond
the desire to get or be anything, bad or good. If there is to be Nirvana, freedom
from suffering of every kind, there has to be absolute and complete absence
of desire.
In short to know "what is what" in the ultimate sense is to see everything
as impermanent, unsatisfactory, and devoid of selfhood. When we really know
this, the mind comes to see things in such a way that it does not cling to get
or to be anything. But if we have to become involved in things in the ways known
as "having" and "being", then we become involved intelligently,
motivated by insight, and not by desire. Acting thus, we remain free from suffering.