The Three Dharma Seals

Three distinctive elements that are fundamental to the Buddha’s teaching about the true reality of existence are impermanence, suffering and no self. These three characteristics of the nature of existence are therefore also seen as authentic marks of the Buddha’s teachings. Realized through the perfect wisdom of the Buddha, the essence of the three Dharma seals is inherent in the core Buddhist teachings of Dependent Arising (Origination) and the Four Noble Truths.

According to the principle of Dependent Arising, all that come into being or existence are dependent on causal conditions. The result or effect that arises out of a set of causal conditions is itself a potential condition that contributes to the cause of other effects, and hence the causal process develops into a complexity of interdependent phenomena that are subject to constantly changing conditions. To see permanence in any form of conditioned existence is therefore a delusion, for change is intrinsic in worldly existence. On a macroscopic level, things around us are observed to form, endure for a period of time, then decay or disintegrate before eventually becoming void. Having been born into the world, sentient beings must inevitably go through the process of aging and death. On a microscopic level, each happening in daily life is transient, as the continuous flow of every experience and feeling keeps moving into the past. Although we may not be totally aware of it, every state of our mental and physical being is actually changing from one moment to the next.

Having established that the nature of existence is impermanent, the notion of a self in any form of existence is rendered meaningless. ‘Self’ here specifically refers to the presupposition of a lasting identity, the solid idea of a being subjectively referred to as ‘I’ or ‘me’. In clinging onto the idea that there is a permanent, independent existence within the form of every living being, we become entrenched in the delusion of a self that segregates ‘I’ from ‘not I’, or by extension, what is ‘mine’ from ‘not mine’. From this illusion stems duality, which in turn breeds all kinds of discrimination, craving and aversion - the seeds of defilement and suffering.

The source of suffering is therefore ignorance about the truth of impermanence and no self, and it is because we abide in the delusion that there is permanence and self in worldly existence that suffering becomes a reality of life. However, it is only when we are unable to see the truths of impermanence and no self that suffering continues to persist. As elucidated in the teachings of the Four Noble Truths, suffering could be ended if we follow the Noble Eightfold Path, of which the most relevant content in the present context is Right View. It is in seeing things as they really are that ignorance is dispelled, and to be awakened to the wisdom of seeing impermanence and no self in all phenomena is to have uprooted the main cause of suffering.

It is therefore vital for Buddhist practitioners to cultivate insight into the true reality of things by living the Noble Eightfold Path as expounded in the Buddha’s teaching of the Four Noble Truths. Only when there is realization of impermanence and no self in worldly existence would we be liberated from suffering and attain a nirvanic state in the here and now.

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