Characteristics, or Reminders?
One of the primary teachings in Buddhism, particularly within the Pali tradition, is that of the three lakkhana (Sanskrit lakshana), typically translated as the three “characteristics” or “marks”. The three lakkhana are in turn typically translated as impermanence (anicca), non-self (anatta) and suffering (dukkha), and apply to everything that is conditioned. Conventionally, something is conditioned if it arises from causes and conditions, and thus is of a composite nature. And since that applies to everything we can possible be conscious of, everything that exists is conditioned, whether it is ourselves, a thought we have, or the coffee cup on the table across the room.
By this, these three terms are not just universal in application, but they are also definitive, in that they offer an affirmative description of “the way things really are”. A customary explanation of how these three characteristics or marks work is that everything arises based on causes and conditions (i.e., everything is "conditioned", and of a component or composite nature), is inherently subject to change, and is therefore impermanent. Because of this, nothing can have separate “self”, substance or essence, and becoming attached to anything inevitably leads to suffering.
For example, we can reflect (i.e., think about) how things such as flowers and coffee cups are of a composite nature, and are therefore impermanent and subject to decay and destruction. By this line of thinking, they cannot have an enduring "self", substance or essence, therefore seeking lasting satisfaction from them is not possible. We can further reflect that everything in existence is the same; this results in what appears to be a universal description of ourselves and the world around us. By this, impermanence, no-self and suffering are three characteristics that accurately describe everything that exists.
However, this assumes that “existence” is what we assume it is. Upon awakening, what we find is that “existence” is an illusion we project onto what we experience in order to make sense of it: we have only conditioned ourselves to experience it all in that way. In other words, the three lakkhana only apply to what we condition our experience of, and unless we are awake, that is in fact everything.
This begs the question: what is “everything”? As the Buddha explained in The Discourse on Everything (SN 35.23), all that we experience, and thus condition, is really just the result of interpretations that occur in sensory consciousness:
Monks, what is it that I call “everything”?
It is the eye and forms, the ear and sounds,
the nose and odors, the tongue and tastes,
the body and what is contacted, the mind and mental phenomena.
That’s it: that’s everything.
As summarized in this passage, what we call “consciousness” is divided up into six types of consciousness: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking. Prior to awakening, it really does seem as though there are these six types of consciousness, each operating autonomously to monitor what is happening both in and around us. The constant sensory information they provide is compiled into a very convincing and tangible three-dimensional presentation in our mind. At the “personal” level it results in what appears to be our body and mind “in here” that comprise "me", while the world “out there” takes form as everything else that is "not me".
And yet, what we actually experience is really just a constant stream of mental interpretations that have no inherent boundaries or separate “existence”. We don’t recognize this because we have conditioned our experience of it to be something real that we can know. In other words, nothing is conditioned until we condition it, or perhaps better, until we condition our experience of it. And until we stop conditioning what we experience, everything in the world, our world, remains conditioned, by us.
The Three Reminders
A helpful way to start waking up from this self-imposed conditioning is to be reminded in no uncertain terms that what we perceive isn't as it seems. I therefore suggest that the lakkhana be seen as the Three Reminders. As reminders, these three terms don’t say anything definitive or affirmative about the nature of what we see, hear or think. Instead, they merely negate the qualities we think we perceive. The Three Reminders are:
This phrasing is perhaps not as elegant or affirming as "everything is impermanent", but it emphasizes that the Three Reminders simply negate what we presume is the case: nothing is as it currently appears to us, as opposed to saying that "everything is..." as an affirmative description. Phrasing them this way also emphasizes that nothing is in and of itself conditioned: it is we who cause (our experience of) something to be conditioned. Finally, as described later, what we most condition is how we ostensibly experience "me", by which a helpful addition at the end of each reminder would be "...especially having to do with all aspects of me", in order to bring the focus where it needs to be.
Once awake, we will no longer need reminding - the Three Reminders will have done their job, and will no longer have any particular benefit or meaning. As with reminder that "there is no Tooth Fairy", we will no longer be conditioned to believe otherwise. Whatever we experience will then be unconditioned or, in traditional Buddhist terms, what is seen will be "simply the seen".
By this, these three terms are not just universal in application, but they are also definitive, in that they offer an affirmative description of “the way things really are”. A customary explanation of how these three characteristics or marks work is that everything arises based on causes and conditions (i.e., everything is "conditioned", and of a component or composite nature), is inherently subject to change, and is therefore impermanent. Because of this, nothing can have separate “self”, substance or essence, and becoming attached to anything inevitably leads to suffering.
For example, we can reflect (i.e., think about) how things such as flowers and coffee cups are of a composite nature, and are therefore impermanent and subject to decay and destruction. By this line of thinking, they cannot have an enduring "self", substance or essence, therefore seeking lasting satisfaction from them is not possible. We can further reflect that everything in existence is the same; this results in what appears to be a universal description of ourselves and the world around us. By this, impermanence, no-self and suffering are three characteristics that accurately describe everything that exists.
However, this assumes that “existence” is what we assume it is. Upon awakening, what we find is that “existence” is an illusion we project onto what we experience in order to make sense of it: we have only conditioned ourselves to experience it all in that way. In other words, the three lakkhana only apply to what we condition our experience of, and unless we are awake, that is in fact everything.
This begs the question: what is “everything”? As the Buddha explained in The Discourse on Everything (SN 35.23), all that we experience, and thus condition, is really just the result of interpretations that occur in sensory consciousness:
Monks, what is it that I call “everything”?
It is the eye and forms, the ear and sounds,
the nose and odors, the tongue and tastes,
the body and what is contacted, the mind and mental phenomena.
That’s it: that’s everything.
As summarized in this passage, what we call “consciousness” is divided up into six types of consciousness: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking. Prior to awakening, it really does seem as though there are these six types of consciousness, each operating autonomously to monitor what is happening both in and around us. The constant sensory information they provide is compiled into a very convincing and tangible three-dimensional presentation in our mind. At the “personal” level it results in what appears to be our body and mind “in here” that comprise "me", while the world “out there” takes form as everything else that is "not me".
And yet, what we actually experience is really just a constant stream of mental interpretations that have no inherent boundaries or separate “existence”. We don’t recognize this because we have conditioned our experience of it to be something real that we can know. In other words, nothing is conditioned until we condition it, or perhaps better, until we condition our experience of it. And until we stop conditioning what we experience, everything in the world, our world, remains conditioned, by us.
The Three Reminders
A helpful way to start waking up from this self-imposed conditioning is to be reminded in no uncertain terms that what we perceive isn't as it seems. I therefore suggest that the lakkhana be seen as the Three Reminders. As reminders, these three terms don’t say anything definitive or affirmative about the nature of what we see, hear or think. Instead, they merely negate the qualities we think we perceive. The Three Reminders are:
- Nothing in our conditioned experience is permanent
- Nothing in our conditioned experience is substantial
- Nothing in our conditioned experience is what we want it to be.
This phrasing is perhaps not as elegant or affirming as "everything is impermanent", but it emphasizes that the Three Reminders simply negate what we presume is the case: nothing is as it currently appears to us, as opposed to saying that "everything is..." as an affirmative description. Phrasing them this way also emphasizes that nothing is in and of itself conditioned: it is we who cause (our experience of) something to be conditioned. Finally, as described later, what we most condition is how we ostensibly experience "me", by which a helpful addition at the end of each reminder would be "...especially having to do with all aspects of me", in order to bring the focus where it needs to be.
Once awake, we will no longer need reminding - the Three Reminders will have done their job, and will no longer have any particular benefit or meaning. As with reminder that "there is no Tooth Fairy", we will no longer be conditioned to believe otherwise. Whatever we experience will then be unconditioned or, in traditional Buddhist terms, what is seen will be "simply the seen".