Anicca – Impermanence - The first universal truth

When the Buddha meditated under the bodhi tree he became very calm and clear. He began to analyse the
world to find out the truth about it. He found just three things about the whole universe that were always
true. These are called the Three Universal Truths. The first truth he found out was that everything was
always changing from moment to moment. He called this the truth of impermanence.
Trees & plants: change from day to day. From season to season. They bloom, die, then bloom again.

Buildings: Seem so strong. Built to last, but no matter how

strong they seem, left alone they soon collapse

People: From birth, people change from day to day. When

young they grow, but as they get older, they get weaker and more
fragile, their skin wrinkles, their hair goes grey and finally they will
die.

Mountains: The most solid looking objects. So strong and

immovable. But over the years the wind, rain and ice begin to
take their toll. Mountains are eroded by the elements.

Suns/Planets/Galaxies/Universes: Everything, said the

Buddha, is subject to change. From the smallest atoms to the
universe itself, everything is subject to this law... there is no
unchanging Truth or Reality like God or heaven beyond this.
Actually it is the impermanence of things that is there reality.

Try this: Sit still and watch a candle flame for a few minutes. Keep your all of your attention on it. See how
it appears to stay the same from moment to moment... but if you observe it closely actually it is always on
the move. Notice how the wax is sucked up the wick to be used as fuel, how the flame moves with every
breeze. Look at the photo of the flame... that is completely still. It doesn’t change at all.
Try to observe if the real flame is ever still, whether it stays the same for even a split second.

Tasks: Put the title The Three Universal Truths. Then underneath put 'Anicca - The First Truth'

1. What is anicca?
2. Give five examples of how anicca can be seen in the world.
3. Describe what happened when you observed the candle. Try and explain what the differences were
between the photo of the flame and how the flame really is. Try and list all the things that changed.
4. Was the Buddha right about anicca? Is everything impermanent? If not explain what IS permanent?
5. .Explain whether you think an understanding of anicca helps people overcome suffering or not.
Anatta – No permanent self/soul - The Second Universal Truth
If he wanted to find out how to stop suffering, he would need to know the truth about everything. .After
discovering that all things in the universe were anicca; Siddartha turned his attention to himself. He
needed to know the truth about who he was. “Who, or what am I?”

All through his life he had been taught that he was made up of a body and a soul or spirit.
His body was supposed to be all the things he could see like his arms and legs.
His soul was supposed to be all the things he couldn’t see; like his emotions and ideas that he had.

He was taught that while the body grew, changed and eventually died, his soul remained the same.

Task: Carefully think about yourself. Can you put your finger on the thing that makes you YOU?
In the centre of your page write your name and around it list down the things that make up your self. Is
it your body, your memories, your thoughts and ideas? Your soul? Does your SELF have a shape? A
colour? Is it the same today as it was yesterday? Last week; 10 years ago?!

While he meditated under the tree, Prince Siddartha thought ‘the body doesn’t suffer when it is dead, so
may be it is the soul that suffers”. In which case he would have to look deep within himself to discover
what the soul was actually like, maybe then he could find an answer to suffering. What he found
surprised him.

Task
1. Why did Siddartha want to look for his SELF?
2. What two things were supposed to make up a SELF?

The Five Skandhas

No matter how hard he looked although he could find his body, he could not find ideas
his soul. He only found five different things that made him up. He called
these the five skandhas or the five heaps.

They were:
1. Body (everything you can see like arms, legs, bones and
blood.)
2. Feelings: (sense of smell, taste, touch, hearing)
3. Perception: (The way you see things)
4. Ideas: (what sort of thoughts you have. Like ‘Good’ ‘bad’ ‘boring’ etc)
5. Awareness: (The fact that you know who you are and where you are)

When he examined each one of these skandhas a little closer, Siddartha found that each of them was
impermanent. They continually changed from moment to moment, like a candle flame flickering in the
breeze. There was nothing at all that remained the same, no thing that could be the soul. So where was
it? Siddartha believed that actually it never existed in the first place! There was no soul!

Siddartha thought that the self or the soul was an ‘illusion’ based on the coming together of different parts
or heaps.

Example: A rainbow appears to exist. But it is only an illusion. A

rainbow is nothing other than the coming together of rain and sun. If
you take one of these causes away the rainbow will disappear. So
does it really exist or not?

Task
3. When he looked for his soul, what were the five things that Siddartha actually found?
4. Give an example of how each of these five skandhas changes from moment to moment.
5. Siddartha did not believe there was any such thing as a soul or a self. Try to sum up his argument.
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Dukkha - Suffering - The third universal truth
What is dukkha?
In his first teaching the Buddha said that suffering is part of the very fabric of our lives. He put it like this:
“Birth is dukkha, ageing is dukkha, sickness is dukkha, and death is dukkha; Sorrow, crying, pain, grief and
despair are dukkha; meeting with what one dislikes is dukkha, separation from what one likes is dukkha,
not to get what one wants is dukkha…”
Dukkha can be divided in another way like this:
1. Physical pain; 2. Dukkha due to change; 3.Dukkha of conditioned phenomena
Dukkha as physical pain
This is the most obvious kind of dukkha:
Example:
Broken bones, illness, old age and so on.
Any kind of suffering that is to do with the body. So being hungry might fall into
this category for example.

Dukkha due to change

A little more subtle. When a happy feeling passes, this may lead to the dukkha
of change. No moment of happiness lasts. Everything that causes us
happiness will at some stage either fade or die, or simply cease to make us
happy anymore.
Example:
The drug abuser craves for the bliss of the drug running through their
system. Just before they inject they have the expectation of pleasure. While
the drug runs through their system, they experience intense happiness. But
no more than thirty minutes later the experience begins to wear off. They
feel the great loss of the feeling they used to have. Soon the happiness
passes, only the memory remains. They long to repeat the experience and
crave for the drug. This leads to dependency and of course the suffering of
not getting what one wants.

Dukkha of conditioned phenomena

The subtlest kind of suffering. This is based on the fact that even while we may
be experiencing happiness this happiness is limited as it is conditioned and
imperfect. It is not truly satisfactory.
This can be experienced in feelings of a vague unease at the fragility of life.
It is said that only the wise really see this kind of suffering.
It is like an unpleasant background noise that the rest of us block out by
making ourselves busy; going to the cinema; going shopping; playing computer
games; drinking alcohol; …all ways of avoiding having to really face up to this
uneasy feeling of: “what is the point?”

Example:
The happiness you feel when you are on holiday is limited by the nagging
thought that it can’t last. Soon the Easter holidays will be over and you will
have to go back to school. (Not the same as the dukkha of change. THAT is
experienced when the holidays ACTUALLY end and you ARE at school!)

Tasks: Put the heading ‘Dukkha - the Third Truth’

1. Copy down the quote at the top of the page beginning with “Birth is dukkha…”
2. Under three different sub-headings explain the three different types of dukkha. Use examples to
illustrate each one.