Tuesday, July 8, 2014

3 marks


Sabbe sankhara anicca: "All conditioned things are impermanent."
Everything is changing; every experience or phenomenon, no matter how dear or pleasant or seemingly reliable, is impermanent; it doesn't last long. This is heartbreaking, but it's also freeing.

Sabbe sankhara dukkha: "All conditioned things are suffering."
No experience is ultimately or completely or forever satisfying. Once we know and accept this, we can be compassionate and responsive (responsible) to ourselves and others.

Sabbe dhamma anatta: "All things are not-self."
Nothing is separate or independent; everything is dependent on causes and conditions. We can influence situations, but we are not in control.

Know these three characteristics, and live from that knowing, and you're free. This is all "emptiness" is or means. There is no such thing or state as emptiness. Things are simply empty of the permanence and independence and ultimate satisfaction that we mistakenly project onto them. That's all, and that's everything.