ABSTRACT
As we have seen, Buddhist sources claim that Awakened people achieve knowledge of the three characteristics (Sanskrit: trilakùaõa, Pâli: tilakkhaõa) of existence and thus put an end to their craving and suffering. These three characteristics are impermanence (Sanskrit: anityâ, Pâli: anicca), suffering (Sanskrit: duþkha, Pâli: dukkha), and not-self (Sanskrit: anâtman, Pâli: anattâ). Awakened individuals have woken up to or fully understood these truths. As the Aïguttara Nikâya 3, 134 (trans. Nyanaponika and Bodhi, 1999, p. 77) declares, a tathâgata – that is, a Buddha – ‘fully awakens’ to and ‘penetrates’ the facts of impermanence, suffering and not-self. And the Dhammapada 20, 5-7 says that discerning the three characteristics is ‘the path to purity’. Thera Nârada’s commentary (1978, p. 224) on these verses explains that ‘impermanence (anicca), sorrow (dukkha) and no-soul (anattâ) are the three characteristics of all things conditioned by causes. It is by contemplating them that one realizes Nibbâna.’
