The Three Marks Of Existence - List

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The three marks of existence in Buddhism are a set of understandings that allow one to see the true nature of reality.

The three marks.

Every sensation, thought, and experience we have is subject to these three marks. When one does not see things as they really are, this causes us to suffer so understanding them is a one of the keys to happiness, when we directly experience and appropriately conceptualize these three marks, we may be truly liberated from suffering and attain a happiness not disturbed by unpleasant conditions.
Insight into the changes teach us to embrace our experiences without clinging to them, to get the most out of them in the present moment by fully appreciating their intensity, in full knowledge that we will soon have to let them go to embrace whatever comes next.
The list represents part of the Buddhist Dhamma (Dharma) or the the teachings of the Buddha and represent a right view that can be grown through the four foundations of mindfulness (see the list below).
The three marks are the foundational principles of the Buddhist path.
Sometimes Nirvana (a shedding of all that was getting in the way of us experiencing the rawness of how things are) is added to this list and/or these marks are named seals so we hear of the three seals or the four seals.

The Three Marks Of Existence

01. Impermanence. (Anicca).

All compounded things that exist are constantly changing, they are in consistent flow, we should therefore accept death and suffering as a part of life, accept that everything changes, that things are not permanent and that everything is temporary.
Nobody can step in exactly the same river twice. (the water has changed).
All conditioned things are ultimately contingent, the result of an endless series of other causes. Whatever arises, arises in tandem with a multitude of other causes and will pass from existence sooner or later.
Knowing things are impermanent we begin to know that things are not entirely under our control and never will be, so there is no expectation for things to go according to our hopes and fears. There is a lot of freedom in this.

02. Dissatisfaction, un-satisfactoriness or suffering. (Duḥkha or Dukkha).

Suffering is part of the human condition due to impermanence and the non-self. There are many type of suffering such as emotional, physical and mental suffering and pain (ordinary suffering), suffering linked to the impermanence of things (viparinama-dukkha), and the suffering because of being attached to objects, people and the things you do in life (samkhara-dukkha).
We have a habit of taking what is impermanent as permanent, and therefore we come to believe the causes of dissatisfaction and suffering to be the causes of happiness, this stems from a confusion of perceiving an independent self where one cannot be found.

03. Non self or no soul. (Anattā).

All knowable things are not self, there is no permanent self, we are constantly changing.
Objects and people only exist as collections of parts, aggregates of other, more basic elements.
The Buddha argues that people are processes that exist only momentarily and only in a dependent sense i.e. the self is dynamic so that a new self arises and departs each moment.