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I have read every post on anicca dukkha anatta and I’m still very confused. I did not understand anything from these posts. I feel I lack the wisdom and intelligence because I have a heavily defiled mind- I’m quite an angry female thus I have quite a few defilements in my mind-might be why I can’t seem to understand and comprehend.
Perhaps someone with less defiled and cleansed mind and more wise and more intelligent too can define anicca dukkha anatta in their own words for me in the least difficult way as possible without too much big words or abstract and poetic speech- please keep it straight and to the point and as simple as possible???
I do not understand what anicca dukkha anatta mean at all. I’d like to someone to first define the words in direct translation.
I tried to understand the tilakhanna the best I could by directly translating them I’m Bengali -a language very close to Sanskrit/Hindi and Pāli too. I know what dukkha means – it means suffering. And anicca -it has the word “icca” in it which means “want” or “desire” in Bengali. This could be saying maybe any icca we have in this world means a defiled state of mind an unclean mind. Thus to be anicca or without desire is dukkha or suffering. And atta means soul in Bengali so I guess it is saying we are not our gandhabba or that we are not our manomaya Kaya nor our bodies- we are not ourselves basically- so what are we then? Who or what just typed this post. Who or what feels pain or who or what gets angry?
Realizing we are not our bodies nor our souls- atta anatta- is this the meaning of Enlightenment?
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See whether the following series of audios can be helpful:
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We don’t really need to know the exact meaning of the words in the most accurate form in order to attain Nibbana( obviously it’s very helpful to understand the truth, but after that it can be explained by an ariya without using complex terms and in any language)
It’s all about Understanding and Realising, the true Nature of the Mind and Sansara.
Read this and I won’t use any pali terms. I would try my best.
Everything is subject to Cause and Effect. Everything is a Manifestation.
Let’s take the example of Fire.
We need oxygen, wood, and temperature as causes and the combination of all three in the right amount as the condition. It would manifest a fire. As long as the causes and conditions are there, the fire would continue to Manifest.
In order to Cease the fire from arising, Change the cause or condition . Now the fire won’t manifest.
The fire was being Manifested every moment and then it was ceasing, but the causes and conditions were still there, so again manifestation and then cessation.
There was no One Continuous Fire!
Try to slow down the time and imagine it. Every moment the causes and conditions manifesting a fire. But the process is so fast , it appears as if there is one single fire.
This is Anicca. This applies to everything, even to the mind. Our ignorant mind feels as Self the same way it felt that the Fire is One and Is the Same fire burning. The mind likes to make Entities.
For Anatta, I understand it as nothing is worth holding onto, nothing has value in this Sansara.
Let’s the example of a Hungry dog eating a bone.
The dog would smell meat in that bone because of some residue and would start to lick it. Now the dog is convinced that this flavour is in the bone. It licks and eats it and also crushes it. After sometime the broken pieces of the Bone damage the gums of the dog and its gums start to bleed.
The foolish dog now believes that this tasty blood is in this bone. So it would continue to eat it, not being able to satisfy his hunger, his craving and also causing damage to itself.
Enjoying it’s own destruction!
In the same way us beings also find value in the Sansaric Phenomena. Sensuality, materialistic possession, etc. Here the Pleasure cycle works that gives us nothing of Value but degrades our mentality more and more causing nothing but misery.
Dukkha would simply not realising the above and therefore experiencing every horror possible. Fear, anger, desire, mental fatigue, depression, anxiety, confusion.
I hope I could explain it some extent.
These understandings can take time, it depends on the individuals mind and practice.
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Yes! Thank you Yash! That is what I was asking for! It was explained in a simple yet very easy to understand way! The fire example for anicca and hungry dog for ANATTA is very good way of explaining it. I can understand more easily when explained in more simpler terms like you did! Thank you again!
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Yash wrote: “But the process is so fast, it appears as if there is one single fire.”
And: “Try to slow down time and imagine it. Every moment, the causes and conditions manifest a fire. But the process is so fast that it appears as if there is one single fire.”
For the above, do you mean everything is energy vibrating at different frequencies that the eyes are not able to see visibly with the naked eye? We can only see such energies or the fire for what it truly is with our third eye when we open it, as the Buddha did after his enlightenment.
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Upekkha: “For the above, do you mean everything is energy vibrating at different frequencies that the eyes are not able to see visibly with the naked eye? We can only see such energies or the fire for what it truly is with our third eye when we open it, as the Buddha did after his enlightenment.”
Yes!
The world doesn’t look like anything!
There is nothing but energy out there taking different forms.
For light energy, our eye converts it in an electrical signal. What does an electrical signal look like? Nothing.
But somehow the brain processes it and then the mind now experiences sight and colour etc.
Wear a coloured goggle. Let’s take a yellow coloured goggle ( I have that one so that’s why). Everything would appear yellowish now, the world would appear yellowish. But did the world change? No. Even sight and colour is causal , that’s why this effect has changed as the condition has changed.
Similarly for all senses, it’s just pure energy out there, but our mind experiences taste,touch,smell,sight, sound, etc.
It’s all Fabricated! It’s a completely Mental World!
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Uppekha are you interested to have a noble guidance?🙏🏿
Yes Jittananto I’m interested to have a noble guidance!
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You know the explanations of Yash came from the Jethavaranama monastery. This website teaches the same thing as the monastery. However, the monastery organizes online meetings with people. If you are interested you can talk with the monks or lay female anagarikas. Some even came from India. They will help you according to your personal situation on the path. You can contact me on my Email [email protected] if you are interested. I will not put the personal number of Mr Harsha on the website since that can make complication.
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Hi all, I was just looking for a thread in the anicca, dukkha, anatta forum to write something, based on a recent discussion with someone, and I’ll just right it here, and hopefully some things will be relevant to the discussion at hands. It has to do with an analogy I came up with about the difference between ditthi and saññā conerning anicca, and I wish to get input about the analogy.
But first, a couple of things in response to upekkha100:
You said you have read every post on anicca, dukkha, anatta. In fact, I came upon this website many years ago precisely because of these topics.
I assume some of the posts you read are in this section:
Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta
I do come here from time to time to review. As you see, anicca is discussed under 4 angles/perspectives:Anicca – Inability to Keep What We Like
Anicca – Repeated Arising/Destruction
Anicca – Worthlessness of Worldly Things
Anicca – The Incessant Distress (“Pīḷana”)Lately, the perspective about “Worthlessness of Worldly Things” resonates with me a lot.
Anicca – Worthlessness of Worldly Things
Also, years ago we were discussing a desana from Waharaka Thero, and Lal kindly translated it. The theme of the talk was also related to anicca from the point of view of how we put high value on things that are worthless. See if this way of looking at anicca clicks with you. Best of luck!
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Now, to the main reason I wanted to write; it also has to do with anicca. We learned that:(1) Having samma ditthi about anicca regarding kāma to a certain extent can get one to the sotapanna stage; let’s call it “anicca ditthi” if we can create a new phrase.
(2) A sotapanna still enjoys kāma until he/she develops “anicca saññā” to overcome that. And a few posts in the above-mentioned section is about developing annica saññā.Recently I was sharing this with someone and was asked: “What is the difference between “anicca ditthi” and “anicca saññā“? At that time I was able to only say that saññā is deeper understanding, that ditthi was “vision” whereas saññā was “perception”.
Later, I came up with the following analogy since I enjoy watching magic shows.
Let’s say two adults and a child are watching a magic show in which a magician produces a bird from a supposedly empty hat and then vanishes it.
The child truly believes that the magician has the magic power to conjure the bird from thin air and then vanish it into thin air. The child is engrossed in the act.
Adult A KNOWS that the magician uses a trick, that it’s not possible to create a bird and then make it disappear, but he has no idea how the magician does it; and he also enjoys the show.
Adult B can see through the trick — for example when the magician distracts (misdirects) the audience to slip the bird into the hat, when he pulled the bird out, when he misdirects the audience again and slips the bird into his coat, etc. Adult B may just watch the show knowingly without being attached to it.
I liken the child to someone with no “anicca ditthi,” Adult A has “anicca ditthi” but not “anicca saññā,” and Adult B has “anicca saññā.”
Does that make sense?
Thank you,
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Yes. It is excellent, Lang.
- It is not easy to distinguish between diṭṭhi and saññā.
- Your analogy of a magic trick is a good one.
- I will discuss the analogy of an alcoholic in the next post. The following is part of the text there.
“There are two steps in overcoming attachment to sensual pleasures: (i) “See with wisdom” that it is unwise to attach to sense pleasures. When this understanding sinks into the mind, three “diṭṭhi saṁyojana” (sakkāya diṭṭhi, vicikicchā, silabbata parāmāsa) will be broken with the removal of sakkāya diṭṭhi. (ii) Even though the wrong view of sakkāya diṭṭhi is removed, one would still attach to sensory pleasure due to the “sense of pleasure” arising via the distorted kāma saññā. To overcome that “distorted kāma saññā” (which is built-in to our bodies), a Sotapanna must cultivate Satipaṭṭhāna. That leads to the removal of two more sansaric bonds/Saṁyojana (kāma rāga and paṭigha), leading to the Anāgāmi stage of Nibbāna.
- The following analogy can give the basic idea. An alcoholic will be able to “see” that drinking leads to many adverse consequences, including health risks, by reading medical literature. That understanding can eliminate the “wrong view” that drinking is good for you. However, it takes an additional effort (usually therapy sessions) to overcome attachment to the “pleasure saññā” generated by having a drink. Just “seeing with wisdom” that drinking can have harmful consequences is not enough. That second step is equivalent to removing kāma rāga (and patigha) by overcoming kāma saññā. That requires cultivating Satipaṭṭhāna. In the analogy of an alcoholic, therapy sessions are comparable to cultivating Satipaṭṭhāna.”
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