The Three Marks of Existence

Religious Studies: KS3, topic 2.3.7

Buddhism follows the Three Marks of Existence. These are the teachings from the Buddha that help us understand the nature of existence.

The first mark is Anicca. This means impermanence.
When the Buddha saw both old age and death in the Four Sights of his travels, he realised that life comes into being and then decays.
Nothing is permanent. This is true of all living things.

The Buddha saw this as a mark of human existence.
People are born. They grow young and strong. They grow old and weak, and then they die.
The Buddha taught that for human beings this cycle starts again, and human life follows a cycle of birth and death.
In Buddhism, this cycle is called samsara.

The second mark, Dukkha. This means suffering or pain. Living in luxury brought the Buddha no happiness because it could not please him. It actually caused him suffering. This is a mark of human life.
Throughout their lives, human beings have things that they want. Usually getting what they want leads to craving another thing and so they are never happy.
This is because none of these things are permanent. What seems to bring happiness is just temporary. It passes like everything else.

The third mark of existence is Anatta. This has no translation but generally means ‘not-self’.
This belief is quite different from Christianity. Christians believe that they are a body and a soul.
The body may die but their soul lives on, and so the person hopes that they will be united with God in heaven.

The Buddha taught that there is no such thing as the soul.
People hope and that who they are lives on after death – having the same likes, the same beliefs, the same memories.
But Anatta says that we must let go of that clinging to ‘me’ to what is ‘mine’. Even the person is impermanent.
Only when someone accepts this are they able to escape from the cycle of birth, suffering, death and rebirth.

Test yourself on The Three Marks of Existence