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See The Three Basic Facts of Existence (The Wheel, Publication no. 186, p. 187) (details in bibliography).
All conditioned phenomena are impermanent; all defilements are suffering; all phenomena are without self; nirvāṇa is peace.
One of the first Buddhist monasteries, located in a park outside Śrāvastī, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Kośala in northern India. This park was originally owned by Prince Jeta, hence the name Jetavana, meaning Jeta’s grove. The wealthy merchant Anāthapiṇḍada, wishing to offer it to the Buddha, sought to buy it from him, but the prince, not wishing to sell, said he would only do so if Anāthapiṇḍada covered the entire property with gold coins. Anāthapiṇḍada agreed, and managed to cover all of the park except the entrance, hence the name Anāthapiṇḍadasyārāmaḥ, meaning Anāthapiṇḍada’s park. The place is usually referred to in the sūtras as “Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park,” and according to the Saṃghabhedavastu the Buddha used Prince Jeta’s name in first place because that was Prince Jeta’s own unspoken wish while Anāthapiṇḍada was offering the park. Inspired by the occasion and the Buddha’s use of his name, Prince Jeta then offered the rest of the property and had an entrance gate built. The Buddha specifically instructed those who recite the sūtras to use Prince Jeta’s name in first place to commemorate the mutual effort of both benefactors.
Anāthapiṇḍada built residences for the monks, to house them during the monsoon season, thus creating the first Buddhist monastery. It was one of the Buddha’s main residences, where he spent around nineteen rainy season retreats, and it was therefore the setting for many of the Buddha’s discourses and events. According to the travel accounts of Chinese monks, it was still in use as a Buddhist monastery in the early fifth century ᴄᴇ, but by the sixth century it had been reduced to ruins.
The first of the four truths of the noble ones. The term “suffering” includes all essentially unsatisfactory experiences of life in cyclic existence, whether physical or mental. These comprise (1) the suffering of suffering, i.e., the physical sensations and mental experiences that are self-evident as suffering and toward which spontaneous feelings of aversion arise; (2) the suffering of change, i.e., all experiences that are normally recognized as pleasant and desirable, but which are nonetheless suffering in that persistent indulgence in these always results in changing attitudes of dissatisfaction and boredom; and (3) the suffering of the pervasive conditioning underlying the round of birth, aging, and death.
Indian preceptor and translator.
Impermanence, suffering, and no-self. They are called in Pāli tilakkhaṇa, the “three characteristics,” a term that has no direct equivalent in the Sanskrit or Tibetan literature; in Tibetan, these three factors are usually called the “three seals of the Buddha’s teaching” in parallel to the “four seals of the Buddha’s teaching,” q.v.
Yeshé Dé (late eighth to early ninth century) was the most prolific translator of sūtras into Tibetan. Altogether he is credited with the translation of more than one hundred sixty sūtra translations and more than one hundred additional translations, mostly on tantric topics. In spite of Yeshé Dé’s great importance for the propagation of Buddhism in Tibet during the imperial era, only a few biographical details about this figure are known. Later sources describe him as a student of the Indian teacher Padmasambhava, and he is also credited with teaching both sūtra and tantra widely to students of his own. He was also known as Nanam Yeshé Dé, from the Nanam (sna nam) clan.
mi rtag pa nyid kyi mdo (Anityatāsūtra). Toh 309, Degé Kangyur vol. 72 (mdo sde, sa), folios 155a.2–155b.4.
mi rtag pa nyid kyi mdo (Anityatāsūtra). bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vol. 72, 434–36.
DiSimone, Charles and Choi, Jin Kyoung, trans. The Sūtra on Impermanence (2) (Anityatāsūtra, Toh 310).
Nyanaponika Thera, transl. Anicca Sutta: Impermanent (SN 36.9), translated from the Pali. Access to Insight, 30 June 2010, www.accesstoinsight.org. Retrieved on 10 May 2013.
“The Three Basic Facts of Existence: I. Impermanence (Anicca), with a preface by Nyanaponika Thera.” Access to Insight, 2 December 2011, www.accesstoinsight.org. Retrieved on 10 May 2013.
In this brief sūtra, the Buddha reminds his followers of one of the principal characteristics of saṃsāric existence: the reality of impermanence. The four things cherished most in this world, the Buddha says—namely, good health, youth, prosperity, and life—are all impermanent. He closes his teaching with a verse, asking how beings, afflicted as they are by impermanence, can take delight in anything desirable, and indirectly urging his disciples to practice the path of liberation.
Translation by the Sakya Pandita Translation Group (International Buddhist Academy Division, Kathmandu). This sūtra was translated from the Tibetan into English by Christian Bernert and edited by Vivian Paganuzzi.
This translation has been completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
This sūtra highlights one of the most fundamental teachings of the Buddha—recognizing the impermanence (anityatā) of conditioned phenomena. The fact that such phenomena are impermanent (anitya) is listed as the first of the three principal characteristics of existence, the other two being the suffering, or unsatisfactoriness, of phenomena (duḥkha), and their no-self, or lack of an inherent substance (anātman). It is the clear understanding of the reality of these facts of life that can bring about a profound and essential change in a person’s worldview, marking the point of entry to the path to liberation. Impermanence is also one of the four seals of the Buddha’s teaching (comprising these three characteristics of existence and a fourth principle, that nirvāṇa is peace), often described as summarizing or epitomizing the Buddhadharma, and more particularly as the criteria that together enable the variety of Buddhist philosophical views to be distinguished from non-Buddhist ones.
The Tibetan canon contains two sūtras with the title Sūtra on Impermanence (mi rtag pa nyid kyi mdo), both found in the same section of the Kangyur (mdo sde, Toh 309 and 310). The sūtra translated here is the first, the shorter of the two. Sūtras with equivalent titles are also found in other Buddhist canons, but their contents differ substantially from the one translated here. The Chinese Tripiṭaka, for instance, contains two sūtras so entitled (Taishō nos. 801 and 759), and in the Samyutta Nikāya of the Pāli canon, the collection of discourses grouped by themes, there are a number of different texts with the title Sutta on Impermanence (P. Aniccasutta).
The content of this sūtra is rather straightforward and its interpretation does not pose any major difficulties. One particular term, however, did present a problem of translation: the Tibetan dben pa, which commonly translates the Sanskrit viveka/vivikta and is usually related to concepts of isolation and seclusion. Here it seems to refer more specifically to the act of picking something out, separating it from other things and thus singling it out from them as special.
Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!
Thus did I hear at one time. The Bhagavān was dwelling in Śrāvastī, in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park, along with a large monastic assembly. The Bhagavān addressed the monks as follows:
“Monks, four things are appealing, singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, and highly appreciated by everyone. What are those four?
“Monks, good health is appealing, singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, and highly appreciated by everyone. Good health, however, ends with sickness. Monks, sickness is neither appealing, nor is it singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, or highly appreciated by anyone.
“Monks, youth is appealing, singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, and highly appreciated by everyone. Youth, however, ends with the aging of the body. Monks, the aging of the body is neither appealing, nor is it singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, or highly appreciated by anyone.
“Monks, prosperity is appealing, singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, and highly appreciated by everyone. Prosperity, however, ends with its decline. Monks, the decline of prosperity is neither appealing, nor is it singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, or highly appreciated by anyone.
“Monks, life is appealing, singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, and highly appreciated by everyone. Life, however, ends in death. Monks, death is neither appealing, nor is it singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, or highly appreciated by anyone.”
Thus spoke the Bhagavān, the Sugata, and having spoken the Teacher added these words:
When the Bhagavān had thus spoken, the monks rejoiced and praised his words.
This completes “The Sūtra on Impermanence.”
Translated and edited by the Indian preceptor Surendrabodhi and the principal editor-translator, Bandé Zhang Yeshé Dé. It was then also reviewed and finalized in accordance with current language reforms.
In this brief sūtra, the Buddha reminds his followers of one of the principal characteristics of saṃsāric existence: the reality of impermanence. The four things cherished most in this world, the Buddha says—namely, good health, youth, prosperity, and life—are all impermanent. He closes his teaching with a verse, asking how beings, afflicted as they are by impermanence, can take delight in anything desirable, and indirectly urging his disciples to practice the path of liberation.
Translation by the Sakya Pandita Translation Group (International Buddhist Academy Division, Kathmandu). This sūtra was translated from the Tibetan into English by Christian Bernert and edited by Vivian Paganuzzi.
This translation has been completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
This sūtra highlights one of the most fundamental teachings of the Buddha—recognizing the impermanence (anityatā) of conditioned phenomena. The fact that such phenomena are impermanent (anitya) is listed as the first of the three principal characteristics of existence, the other two being the suffering, or unsatisfactoriness, of phenomena (duḥkha), and their no-self, or lack of an inherent substance (anātman). It is the clear understanding of the reality of these facts of life that can bring about a profound and essential change in a person’s worldview, marking the point of entry to the path to liberation. Impermanence is also one of the four seals of the Buddha’s teaching (comprising these three characteristics of existence and a fourth principle, that nirvāṇa is peace), often described as summarizing or epitomizing the Buddhadharma, and more particularly as the criteria that together enable the variety of Buddhist philosophical views to be distinguished from non-Buddhist ones.
The Tibetan canon contains two sūtras with the title Sūtra on Impermanence (mi rtag pa nyid kyi mdo), both found in the same section of the Kangyur (mdo sde, Toh 309 and 310). The sūtra translated here is the first, the shorter of the two. Sūtras with equivalent titles are also found in other Buddhist canons, but their contents differ substantially from the one translated here. The Chinese Tripiṭaka, for instance, contains two sūtras so entitled (Taishō nos. 801 and 759), and in the Samyutta Nikāya of the Pāli canon, the collection of discourses grouped by themes, there are a number of different texts with the title Sutta on Impermanence (P. Aniccasutta).
The content of this sūtra is rather straightforward and its interpretation does not pose any major difficulties. One particular term, however, did present a problem of translation: the Tibetan dben pa, which commonly translates the Sanskrit viveka/vivikta and is usually related to concepts of isolation and seclusion. Here it seems to refer more specifically to the act of picking something out, separating it from other things and thus singling it out from them as special.
Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!
Thus did I hear at one time. The Bhagavān was dwelling in Śrāvastī, in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park, along with a large monastic assembly. The Bhagavān addressed the monks as follows:
“Monks, four things are appealing, singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, and highly appreciated by everyone. What are those four?
“Monks, good health is appealing, singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, and highly appreciated by everyone. Good health, however, ends with sickness. Monks, sickness is neither appealing, nor is it singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, or highly appreciated by anyone.
“Monks, youth is appealing, singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, and highly appreciated by everyone. Youth, however, ends with the aging of the body. Monks, the aging of the body is neither appealing, nor is it singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, or highly appreciated by anyone.
“Monks, prosperity is appealing, singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, and highly appreciated by everyone. Prosperity, however, ends with its decline. Monks, the decline of prosperity is neither appealing, nor is it singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, or highly appreciated by anyone.
“Monks, life is appealing, singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, and highly appreciated by everyone. Life, however, ends in death. Monks, death is neither appealing, nor is it singled out, considered valuable, pleasant, or highly appreciated by anyone.”
Thus spoke the Bhagavān, the Sugata, and having spoken the Teacher added these words:
When the Bhagavān had thus spoken, the monks rejoiced and praised his words.
This completes “The Sūtra on Impermanence.”
Translated and edited by the Indian preceptor Surendrabodhi and the principal editor-translator, Bandé Zhang Yeshé Dé. It was then also reviewed and finalized in accordance with current language reforms.