The Three Universal Truths in Buddhism

Buddhism appeared in India more than 2500 years ago, and during a few centuries,
Buddhism spread all over the world. In Buddhism, Buddhists have not used violence to
survive, and Buddha did not give teachings to advise followers using violence to
propagate Dharma. Also, Buddhists didn’t use benefits to attract anyone to become a
Buddhist. Buddhism with lots of methods from Buddha’s teaching has been attracting
lots of people, they could be non-religion or they could be followers of other religions.
Buddhists do not have the purpose to convert anyone to be a Buddhist. Buddhists only
give the best advice and best methods of the Lord Buddha to help people, who are
seeking a good way to practice on their process of improvement of their minds or their
spirits. It is known that there are 84000 methods for practice in Buddhism, and every
method is a perfect way that the Buddha gave us; every method can lead people to
enlightenment or Nirvana. But to understand deeply and to benefit from practice, we
should have a basic understanding about Buddha’s teaching. And the three truths of the
universe are basic and most important knowledge that we should study to understand
the nature of things.

The first of three truths are impermanence. Buddha said that all things are
impermanent. Impermanence can be known in other words ‘change’. We can realize the
change in every material thing around us. For instance, the flower in our garden, think
about a point of time in the past, when we went to our garden, we saw some flowers
which were beautiful, but the next day after that, when we looked at those flowers, we
could realize that they were withering, and not beautiful as the last days. Those flowers
changed. For example, looking at a fish which we have fed from a small fish, we can
realize that it grew up fast; one month ago, it was a small fish, but now it is bigger. Or,
let’s think about ourselves when we were in primary school, at that time we were so
short and small; but right now, we are different from that time; we are stronger and
taller than at that time.
Furthermore, every abstract thing also changes moment to moment. Such as time, time
also changes. Our minds change moment after moment, too. Because of continuity of
thought, we always think that the mind is unchangeable. But in fact, our minds are
compounded by small segments of thoughts. Our minds are influenced by outside
objects; when we hear, when we see, the minds always run following outside objects.
Let us think back to the time when we were children, at that time we had a superficial
way of thinking about everything. But now we are different from that time; we have a
deeper understanding about things and phenomena than we were as children.

What changed us? Someone might think that the time is the cause of change, but the
time also changes. Precisely, time is separated into three categories: past, present and
future; so we have yesterday, today and tomorrow; this concept about time indicates
that time also changes. According to Abhidharma Pitaka, time is the concept of human
kind; it is measured by action of events or actions of phenomena. It is clearer; in recent
centuries, people use the duration of the circle of the earth moving around the sun to
measure the time. Even though we cannot measure the time without basing on the
action of things, we cannot deny, time does not exist. Anyway, time is not a factor that
makes us change moment after moment. We also cannot find out anything that makes
us change. Because, according to Buddha, changing is the truth of the universe.

In addition, impermanence is necessary for the development and improvement of every

one of us and society. Without impermanence the seed cannot develop into a plant, then
a tree. Also, without impermanence, a baby cannot develop into an adult person.
Without impermanence we don’t have modern technology. Instead, we could be in the
same condition as our ancestors. At that time, people had to hunt animals and get fruit
to eat. Naganarjuna, a famous Buddhist scholar who lived in the 1st BC, in his works on
emptiness, said that impermanence is the necessity of life. Like other aspects of a coin;
impermanence is the other aspect of survival. Impermanence leads everything to be
changing, and then ceasing. If everything does not change, what is the problem? The
spaces will not be enough to contain the things that will appear in future. Nagarjuna also
mentioned that impermanence is a valuable gift that we have, because it is an important
thing in our lives and our activities.

Besides, impermanence is also the cause of our suffering. The change, whether good or
bad, can turn our emotions from suffering to happiness and vice versa. For instance, we
love someone very much, and we always want to live close to that person, but one day
we have to separate with that one, then our suffering will appear. For example, when we
hate someone very much, but we have to meet that one every day, every time we meet
that one, we feel anger and our destructive emotions will appear, then one day, that one
moves away, then we will feel happy. These two examples give us a thinking of the
influence of change. Of course, impermanence does not always bring suffering to us, and
the Buddha, in some of his teachings, talked about impermanence as one of causes of
suffering.

Suffering

To base on Buddha’s teachings, in specific analysis, there are eight kinds of sufferings.
Firstly, suffering that is caused by birth. Most people have the same thought that why
does birth cause suffering? Nowadays, scientists found out that when a mother gets
pregnant for more than six months, the baby in the mother’s womb is affected by the
temperature of the mother when a mother eats food, water that the mother eats and
drinks. Also, the process of going out of the mother’s womb is so painful for the mother
and the baby. Secondly, the suffering caused by old age. When we were young, the
physical body often stayed healthy, at that time we could run for a long time, could
swim, or could play some kind of sport that required quick and strong actions. But when
we are old, our physical bodies often stay weak. At that time, it was difficult even to
walk around our gardens. When we are 60 years old, maybe we can but in the age of 70
or more than that for some people, it is difficult, even for eating. Apparently, when the
state of the body is uncomfortable, it makes us suffer.

Thirdly, suffering caused by sickness. We all, at some point of time in the past, got sick.
Sickness, whether serious or unserious, causes us to suffer. Sickness, generally, is
separated into two types: physical sickness and spiritual sickness. Physical sickness
involves all kinds of sickness that the body may get; Such as, headache, stomachache;
toothache, sore eye; cancer, flu; and so on. Spiritual sickness includes all kinds of
sickness that concerning mentality, spiritual sickness, itself, is a state of suffering.

Fourthly, suffering caused by death. Most people feel frightened when they think about
death, and when some are going to die, they are often in a bad mood because they do
not want to die, they fear that death is going to happen to them. If we go to the hospital,
we can observe how people suffer when they are in the state of waiting for death; of
course, they look so bored and sad.

Fifthly, suffering that is caused by separation from things or people that we love very
much. Because of attachment, we always want to prolong our possession with what we
have had. But nothing lasts forever, so our possession of what we have had also cannot
last forever. We suffer when we have to separate from what we love very much. Such as,
a person has kept a gift that his best friend gave him for ten years, and one day, if he
loses it, he will suffer.

Sixthly, suffering that is caused by living together with those we hate very much. The
nature of human beings is that we love what is interesting and attractive to us, and we
hate what makes us feel tedious. And when we have to live or face those tedious things,
we suffer. Such as, we suffer when we have to listen to a very boring story. We suffer
when we have to see those people that we hate every day. On the other hand, we are
happy and pleasant when we are far away from things or people that we hate very
much.

Seventhly, suffering that is caused by not getting what we want. Desire is one of three
characteristics of human beings. Desire makes us develop, makes us happy, and also it
makes us suffer. According to Buddhist view, desire for us is unlimited. Normally, we
are never satisfied with what we have. We always try to get more and more to satisfy
our desire. For human beings, desire seemingly is pointless. And when we cannot get
what we attach very much, we suffer.

Finally, suffering that causes by five aggregates. Our physical body and our spirits are
made by compound of five aggregates, form, feeling, perception, mental formation and
consciousness. When they are not in good state, they also make us suffer. When five
aggregates do not work well together, we get sick, and sickness is one cause of suffering.
Sometimes, we feel that the body is somehow that cannot be control by us completely; it
is also causes us to suffer. For instance, when we stay in a place where there is nobody
else, at night we feel frightened by ghosts. We try to remind our- self that do not to think
about ghosts any more, but our minds at that time seem not to follow us, that will make
us feel frightened of ghosts. For other example, when our body get cancer, we cannot
order it, ‘’ please, be healthy.’’
Why did Buddha talk about suffering in most of his lessons? With perfect wisdom and
great compassion, Buddha wanted to help us free from suffering. But it is not easy to be
free from suffering if we do not understand suffering. Also, if we do not understand why
do we have to free from suffering? We, of course, never want to practice to free from
suffering. For instance, if a prisoner wants to escape from the prison, the first thing he
should know clearly about the prison; otherwise, he will not be able to escape from the
prison.

In addition, understanding about suffering is very useful for us. On the way to work for a
living, unpleasant things can approach us whenever. So, the knowledge of suffering will
be a good fortune for us; we can apply our understanding about suffering whenever we
suffer. In this way, we will become spiritual therapists for ourselves; and we can also be
spiritual therapists for others. Also, understanding suffering is the way to live with
happiness. We all do not want to live with suffering, so if we comprehend suffering, we
can know how to limit its approach to us. Also, understanding of suffering is the first
necessary step of the process of practicing Dharma.

The last of three universal truths is non-self. According to Buddha’s teachings, all things
are non-self; there is no single thing that can create a thing or phenomenon. The good
example is about a car. A car is called a car when it is compounded by the wheels,
machine, glass, chassis and so on. When we separate it into parts, at that time, every
part cannot be called a car. Similarly, we are compounded by five aggregates, when they
get together, there are our bodies, our spirits, but when they are separated, there is
nothing that can be called our body, our spirit. A common question concerning non-self
is that if we are non-self, what will be reborn in the afterlife? Based on the law of Karma,
there should be something that continues to be reborn into six realms. So, it seems to
be opposed to non-self. But we cannot refuse neither the law of Karma nor non-self. We
always have doubts about things that we cannot understand clearly. According to
Abhidharma Pitaka, the mind-consciousness will store all our Karma and bring Karma
to the next life. Mind-consciousness is not a mortal self; it can be understood as one kind
of energy; that is an easy way to understand it. But it is not exactly like that.

In some branches of Buddhism, people believe that each of us has got six faculties (eye,
ear, nose, tongue, body and mind faculty), Manas and Alaida. Alaida, is believed, is the
storehouse of Karma for us. Alaida is the only thing that will take rebirth in the afterlife.
But this theory is not accepted by some traditions; because, if we accept Alaida, we
unintentionally refuse with the teaching on non-self of Buddha. Non-self is the way to
get Nirvana, if we do not follow it, we are going far from Buddha’s teaching.

In conclusion, the three universal truths are the fundamental understanding about
Buddha’s teaching. It is also the first step in the process of practicing Buddha’s teaching.
It is not for Buddhists only. It is for every person who is finding the way to happiness or
finding the way to free from suffering.