Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Three marks of existence
open-in-new
<p>In <a href="/facts/Buddhism/G0wsjrSl">Buddhism</a>, the three marks of existence are three characteristics (<a href="/facts/Pali/HLQW2fvS">Pali</a>: <i>tilakkhaṇa</i>; <a href="/facts/Sanskrit/ychfjhlx">Sanskrit</a>: त्रिलक्षण <i>trilakṣaṇa</i>) of all existence and beings, namely <i><a href="/facts/Impermanence/6nvXEckW">anicca</a></i> (impermanence), <i><a href="/facts/Du%25E1%25B8%25A5kha/d6eRFcXo">dukkha</a></i> (commonly translated as "suffering" or "cause of suffering", "unsatisfactory", "unease"), and <i><a href="/facts/Anatt%25C4%2581/HBtQy9lp">anattā</a></i> (without a lasting essence). The concept of humans being subject to delusion about the three marks, this delusion resulting in suffering, and removal of that delusion resulting in the end of dukkha, is a central theme in the Buddhist <a href="/facts/Four_Noble_Truths/TaFqBJ8T">Four Noble Truths</a>, the last of which leads to the <a href="/facts/Noble_Eightfold_Path/jfJVDCm4">Noble Eightfold Path</a>. </p>