Hi Sybe!
I just came across your posts.
The thing is normal people do have the anicca sanna in the various ways that you mention, yes, but they stop there. This may lead to hopelessness and even depression. But the anicca sanna is only a part of the cure.
If you read AN 7.49 :
Sattimā, bhikkhave, saññā bhāvitā bahulīkatā mahapphalā honti mahānisaṃsā amatogadhā amatapariyosānā. Katamā satta? Asubhasaññā, maraṇasaññā, āhāre paṭikūlasaññā, sabbaloke anabhiratasaññā, aniccasaññā, anicce dukkhasaññā, dukkhe anattasaññā……I am not copying the English translation because some terms are not renedered correctly.
The seven perceptions are given and linked together starting with that of Asubha -unfruitfullness (the translation gives that as unattractiveness, implying the sense of sight mainly) then on to death, food,’all the worlds’then anicca, followed by ANICCE DUKKHA and
DUKKHE ANATTA. That is, the Buddha showed that when the perception of anicca arises, that perception should be GONE INTO not just fleetingly, which brings one to see the Dukkha in it, and go into that, then from the perception of Dukkha , DUKKHE ANATTA follows, that is , one sees that DUKKHA is ANATTA, or that the perception of ANATTA follows from DUKKHA. That is why, at the very start, the seven perceptions are not only developed but PURSUED, they have a great effect and bring great reward…and they lead ‘into’ the DEATHLESS(as the path or ground) and TO the DEATHLESS (as the final goal) ,that is NIBBANA. How more positive can it be?
Moreover, when one sees Anatta in everything, one then sees that Ultimate Reality cannot be that, it can only be ATTA -which is Sukkha and Nicca. You take the right road only when you have seen the wrong one for what it is.
Lal has got it all condensed in half a sentence and one: …’even though just getting a glimpse of it makes one’s mind joyful. One can see that there is a Path to happiness (via getting rid of suffering)’
y not