According to Buddhism, to truly understand the nature of life, we need to look at the Four Noble Truths and The Wheel of Life

together. This will give us ‘the whole picture’.

Anatta

Dukkha

Anicca

This is the doctrine or teaching on Impermanence.

This is the doctrine or teaching on no permanent self.

This is the doctrine or teaching on Suffering or

Unsatisfactoriness

Buddhists describe life as impermanent and full of change.

This is a crucial Buddhist teaching and one that we must understand. It

has implications for our understanding of the rest of the

Buddha's teachings.

Buddhists say that life is characterised by Three

Marks of Existence.

•‘Anicca’literally means ‘impermanence’•It is the First Mark of Existence / Universal Truth•This means that everything is constantly changing•Nothing stays the same (nothing is permanent)

This concept is at the root of all Buddhist belief – if you accept and understand

anicca, you are on the road to enlightenment!

“All created things perish”

We can see Anicca in the life of the Buddha:

1.The Four Sights

2.The Great Renunciation

3.Search for the correct path

4.His travelling and teaching

5.His death.

So is it real?

Buddhists believe life is full of suffering. This suffering is mainly caused by people’s unrealistic EXPECTATIONS of things – wanting more money / wanting to be happy forever / not wanting to get old / etc.We resist change and are upset by it, we get upset when we don’t get what we want, etc.If we understand that everything is impermanent and will always change, we shouldn’t have these unreasonable expectations. We will always realise that good things come to an end, and also that bad things will also pass.This gives a realistic and truthful outlook on the world, and allows Buddhists to properly understand other Buddhist teachings.

This literally means “no soul”

This is Anicca applied to people.

All Life is Suffering

By looking at the centre of the Wheel of Life we can understand more about what causes us to suffer and what we

can then do to stop it.

The Wheel of life is a symbol of what life is really like.

Just like a real wheel that turns, our life continually turns

round and round until it is stopped.

Just like a real wheel the Wheel of life turn at its centre or the axis.

As human beings, it is how we are at the very centre of our being, that determines how our life will turn.

The Cause of Suffering is Craving/Greed

(Tanha)

Remember the analogy

of the Doctor and the Cure!!!

If we want to stop a Wheel turning we have to find the

Cause, then stop it.

Greed / Craving

Tanha

Hatred / Aggression

Ignorance

The animals at the centre of the wheel represent the three

poisons or the three fires. These fuel the wheel and

help it turn.

The animals are shown biting each other because they feed off each other

and so cause each other.

In order to stop the Wheel turning we need to stop

feeding these fires and so stop suffering and

recognise the true nature of life. We will then have achieved enlightenment

and attained Nirvana/Nibbana.

In Pali this is called Tanha. This is the

Second Noble Truth.

The Buddha identifies three types of craving:(1)Craving for objects of sense pleasure

(2)Craving for Existence(3)Craving for Non Existence

We attach ourselves to things and expect things to

provide us with pleasure and satisfaction – when it

does not we suffer.

ANICCA

ANATTA

Give examples of the three

types of craving!!

BODILY PLEASURES

SWEETS AND ALCOHOL

LUXURY GOODS

We place high expectations on these items as we assume that they will give us lasting pleasure.

When they don’t we get upset and we then suffer.

We get attached to the experience of pleasure and as we know this never lasts (Anicca). We will

always want more and we are never satisfied. Our desire for an object may also increase the more we

use it. This may cause us more suffering.

This is the desire to be someone. We crave recognition and acceptance of

who we are. We want people to recognise us a certain person.

When they don’t recognise us as that person we suffer. We become upset

and this may lead us to anger because we are ignorant of the truth.

Even if we become that person it will not last forever

– WHY…? …because of Anicca!

There are often times in life that we want to be a nobody and want to run away from the various situations that life has thrown at us.

This again could lead us to do harmful or anger-fuelled actions because we have

been ignorant of the fact that this will not last forever. (ANICCA)

It is these actions that we have committed as a result of craving non existence that

may cause us further suffering.

Also remember that there is no permanent self so these times will not last forever.

DHAMMAPADA 334 – 342

If a man watches not for NIRVANA, his cravings grow like a creeper and he jumps from death to death like a monkey in the forest from one

tree without fruit to another.

And when his cravings overcome him, his sorrows increase more andmore, like the entangling creeper called birana.

But whoever in this world overcomes his selfish cravings, his sorrowsfall away from him, like drops of water from a lotus flower.

Therefore in love I tell you, to you all who have come here: Cut offthe bonds of desires, as the surface grass creeper called birana is cut

for its fragrant root called usira. Be not like a reed in a stream which MARA,the devil of temptation, crushes again and again.

DHAMMAPADA 334 – 342

Just a s a tree, though cut down, can grow again and again if its roots are undamaged and strong, in the same way if the roots of craving are not

wholly uprooted sorrows will come again.

When the thirty six stream of desire that run towards pleasures arestrong, their powerful waves carry away that man without vision whose

imaginings are lustful desires.

Everywhere flow the streams. The creeper of craving grown everywhere.If you see the creeper grow, cut off its roots by the power of wisdom.

The sensuous pleasures of men flow everywhere. Bound for pleasuresand seeking pleasures men suffer life and old age.

DHAMMAPADA 334 – 342

Men who are pursued by lust run around like hunted hares.Held in fetters and in bonds they suffer and suffer again.

In groups of no more than four – highlight the places in the source that describe the Buddhist teachings we

have learned about i.e Tanha, Anicca, Anatta, Dukkha.

Then rewrite the passage summarising the meaning or message

the Buddha was trying to convey.

DHAMMAPADA 334 – 342

If a man watches not for NIRVANA, his cravings grow like a creeper and he jumps from death to death like a monkey in the forest from one

tree without fruit to another.

And when his cravings overcome him, his sorrows increase more andmore, like the entangling creeper called birana.

But whoever in this world overcomes his selfish cravings, his sorrowsfall away from him, like drops of water from a lotus flower.

Therefore in love I tell you, to you all who have come here: Cut offthe bonds of desires, as the surface grass creeper called birana is cut

for its fragrant root called usira. Be not like a reed in a stream which MARA,the devil of temptation, crushes again and again.

DHAMMAPADA 334 – 342

Just a s a tree, though cut down, can grow again and again if its roots are undamaged and strong, in the same way if the roots of craving are not

wholly uprooted sorrows will come again.

When the thirty six stream of desire that run towards pleasures arestrong, their powerful waves carry away that man without vision whose

imaginings are lustful desires.

Everywhere flow the streams. The creeper of craving grown everywhere.If you see the creeper grow, cut of its roots by the power of wisdom.

The sensuous pleasures of men flow everywhere. Bound for pleasuresand seeking pleasures men suffer life and old age.

DHAMMAPADA 334 – 342

Men who are pursued by lust run around like hunted hares.Held in fetters and in bonds they suffer and suffer again.

The Buddha is teaching us about the roots or cause of craving.He compares craving to a creeper called birana. A

creeper is supported by another structure but eventually overcomes it. It overcomes this structure until it starts to damage it – just like

craving will start to damage us – it will cause us to suffer. Only by overcoming craving, or cutting out the roots, can we stop

the cycle of rebirth and achieve enlightenment and Nibbana.

These are acts like assault or physical

abuse or active acts.

These are acts like ignoring

someone or more passive acts

Acts that are a result of hatred or aggressive acts will ultimately cause suffering. Harmful acts will result in you building up bad kamma and this will cause the wheel to continue turning. Medical

research shows that anger can cause bad effects on our health.

Anger includes puttingThe blame for something on

someone else.

What does it mean to be ignorant of something?

It means that you didn’t know any better or that you did not know the truth about something and didn’t bother to find out.

IGNORANCE

According to Buddhism, if we are ignorant then we do not know how things really are. As humans we are

ignorant of the true nature of things,. We are ignorant of the Three Marks of existence. For

Buddhists it is this ignorance that is the root of the other two poisons or fires.

So how do they cause each other?

IGNORANCE

We do not know what true happiness is so we

want what we thinkwill make us happy.

CRAVINGWe crave and Attach Ourselves to objects and ideas. When they

don’t meet our expectations we get angry

and suffer.

ANGER

We are aggressive to others because we have

suffered andwe do not understand

the true nature ofsuffering.

ANGER TO IGNORANCE

We are angry so we are further deluded by the true

nature of things.

A cycle of poisons that cause each other.

The Three Poisons work together and cause selfish action to take place. This keeps the Wheel turning and we are caught in the

Samsaric Cycle.

They cause even more suffering if we don’t stop them and because the

wheel keeps on turning we still have to go through the

suffering of life.

The only way that we can stop it is if we realise the truth, and build up good kamma to move on…

We are the result of our own

actions.

This type of existence is Samsara.

The type of existence we are aiming for is Nibbana

The Wheel turning is called Samsara. We are caught in this continual turning cycle

of birth, life, death and rebirth. We want to stop this and achieve enlightenment.

• It is a long process• It happens over time. • There have been

numerous rebirths.• Innumerable past

lives. • We wander aimlessly

from life to life.

The Six Realms of Rebirth and how a

being moves through them.

There are three good existences on the

right and three bad existences on the

left.

So what is life like for a Buddhist?

It is characterised by the three Marks of Existence and also by the fact that we are caught in the Wheel of Samsara.

You will need to know about each of these things in detail. You should also be able to talk about these with references to sources.