The 3 Dharma Seals: Impermanence, Nonself, and Nirvana

All Buddhist teachings rest on these three concepts

Impermanence

Things change. Flowers grow and die; nations rise and fall; gods are invented, worshiped, and then forgotten. In billions of years, the sun will turn red, grow to eat the Earth, and then explode.

All things, physical and mental, come into being for a time and then fade away.

The Four Noble Truths describe that the cause of our suffering is our ignorance or inability to accept the truth of impermanence. We become emotionally attached to a comfortable job, relationship, belief — and then we crumble when reality doesn’t live up to our expectations anymore.

Impermanence is also a blessing. A seed transforms into a flower; a musician learns to play guitar; suffering can be transcended. Knowing that every thing and moment is impermanent, we have a greater reason to savor it while it’s here.

Nonself

Carl Sagan said: “To bake a pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”

The apples in the pie come from apple trees, and apple trees come from sunlight, dirt, and living things, and sunlight, dirt, and living things come from all the laws of chemistry and all the…