The Buddha, the Dhamma and the Three Marks of Existence
The Life of the Buddha
Buddhism began with the life of the Buddha, Siddhattha Gotama, believed to have lived in what is now Nepal and northern India. The Buddhavamsa XXVI tells how Siddhattha was born into a noble family. A prophecy said he would either become a great king or a great spiritual teacher. His father, hoping to keep him on the kingly path, sheltered him from all suffering — surrounding him with luxury, beauty and youth.
Despite his father’s efforts, Siddhattha ventured outside the palace walls and encountered the Four Sights: an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a wandering ascetic (a holy man living without possessions). The first three showed him the reality of suffering; the fourth showed him that a different path was possible. These encounters changed everything. Siddhattha left his palace, his wife and his infant son to pursue spiritual liberation.
According to the Buddhavamsa XXVI, the Four Sights were: an old man (ageing), a sick man (illness), a corpse (death) and a wandering ascetic (the possibility of transcending suffering). They prompted Siddhattha’s ‘great renunciation’ — leaving his privileged life to seek enlightenment.
Enlightenment and the Founding of the Sangha
After years of studying with teachers and practising extreme asceticism, Siddhattha concluded that neither luxury nor extreme self-denial led to liberation. He chose a Middle Way between the two. Sitting in meditation beneath a Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, he attained enlightenment. He became the Buddha — the Awakened One.
After his enlightenment the Buddha travelled to the Deer Park at Isipatana (near modern Varanasi) and gave his first teaching to five former companions. This event is called the ‘Setting in Motion of the Wheel of the Dhamma’. From this gathering, the Sangha (the community) began to form. Together with the Buddha and the Dhamma (the teachings), the Sangha forms the Three Refuges — the foundation of Buddhist life.
Dependent Origination (Paticca-samuppada)
At the heart of the Buddha’s insight was paticca-samuppada, often translated as ‘dependent origination’ or conditionality. This teaching says that nothing exists on its own — everything arises because of other conditions, and when those conditions change, the thing itself changes or ceases. Ignorance leads to mental formations, which lead to consciousness, which leads to birth, ageing, sickness and death — a chain of twelve interconnected links that keeps beings caught in suffering.
Understanding dependent origination is liberating: if suffering arises from conditions, then changing those conditions can end suffering. This is the practical logic behind all Buddhist practice.
The Three Marks of Existence
The Buddha taught that all conditioned existence has three characteristics, known as the Three Marks of Existence:
Dukkha (suffering or unsatisfactoriness). Dukkha covers obvious physical pain, but also the subtler dissatisfaction of getting what we want but finding it does not truly satisfy, and the suffering caused by change — even pleasant things end.
Anicca (impermanence). Anicca means that nothing conditioned is permanent. Feelings, thoughts, relationships, physical health, the seasons — everything arises, changes and passes away. Clinging to things as if they were permanent is a fundamental cause of suffering.
Anatta (no fixed self). Anatta is perhaps the most challenging Mark. The Buddha taught that what we call ‘the self’ is not a fixed, permanent entity but a constantly changing collection of five aggregates (the khandas). There is no unchanging soul or essence at the core of a person.
The Milinda Panha (Questions of King Milinda) is an Edexcel-named anchor text. In it, the monk Nagasena explains anatta using the analogy of a chariot. He asks King Milinda: is the chariot the wheels? The axle? The frame? The pole? When you take away each component, no ‘chariot’ remains — the chariot only exists as a label given to the collection of parts. In the same way, what we call ‘a person’ is a collection of changing physical and mental processes. There is no fixed ‘self’ hidden inside. This is the teaching of anatta.
The story is not a denial that persons exist at all — Nagasena is clearly speaking to a real king. Rather, it shows that persons exist conventionally (as useful labels for collections of processes) but not ultimately (as fixed, eternal entities). This distinction is important for understanding Buddhist ethics and rebirth.
The Three Marks of Existence apply to all conditioned phenomena: dukkha (suffering/unsatisfactoriness), anicca (impermanence) and anatta (no fixed self). Understanding them deeply is essential for Buddhist practice because it removes the delusion that drives suffering.
Theravada Buddhism emphasises anatta strictly: there is no self at any level, and liberation involves the complete cessation of personal existence in nibbana. Mahayana Buddhism introduces the concept of sunyata (emptiness) — not just persons but all phenomena are empty of inherent existence. Some Mahayana traditions also speak of Buddha-nature (tathagatagarbha) as an innate capacity for awakening. These are not contradictions but different emphases on the same core insight.
This divergence matters for your 12-mark Evaluate answers: a question about anatta or the self in Buddhism may expect you to contrast Theravada and Mahayana approaches.