The Three Characteristics And The Uncreate

When the Buddha was staying at the Veluvana, the bamboo grove at

Rajagaha, he addressed the brethren thus:



"Whether Buddhas arise, O priests, or whether Buddhas do not

arise, it remains a fact and the fixed and necessary constitution

of being that all conformations are transitory. This fact a

Buddha discovers and masters, and when he has discovered and

mastered it, he announces, t aches, publishes, proclaims,

discloses, minutely explains and makes it clear that all

conformations are transitory.



"Whether Buddhas arise, O priests, or whether Buddhas do not

arise, it remains a fact and a fixed and necessary constitution

of being, that all conformations are suffering. This fact a

Buddha discovers and masters, and when he has discovered and

mastered it, he announces, publishes, proclaims, discloses,

minutely explains and makes it clear that all conformations are

suffering.



"Whether Buddhas arise, O priests, or whether Buddhas do not

arise, it remains a fact and a fixed and necessary constitution

of being, that all conformations are lacking a self. This fact a

Buddha discovers and masters, and when he has discovered and

mastered it, he announces, teaches, publishes, proclaims,

discloses, minutely explains and makes it clear that all

conformations are lacking a self."



And on another occasion the Blessed One dwelt at Savatthi in the

Jetavana, the garden of Anathapindika.



At that time the Blessed One edified, aroused, quickened and

gladdened the monks with a religious discourse on the subject of

Nirvana. And these monks grasping the meaning, thinking it out,

and accepting with their hearts the whole doctrine, listened

attentively. But there was one brother who had some doubt left in

his heart. He arose and clasping his hands made the request: "May

I be permitted to ask a question?" When permission was granted he

spoke as follows:



"The Buddha teaches that all conformations are transient, that

all conformations are subject to sorrow, that all conformations

are lacking a self. How then can there be Nirvana, a state of

eternal bliss?"



And the Blessed One, in this connection, on that occasion,

breathed forth this solemn utterance:



"There is, O monks, a state where there is neither earth, nor

water, nor heat, nor air; neither infinity of space nor infinity

of consciousness, nor nothingness, nor perception nor

non-perception; neither this world nor that world, neither sun

nor moon. It is the uncreate.



"That, O monks, I term neither coming nor going nor standing;

neither death nor birth. It is without stability, without change;

it is the eternal which never originates and never passes away.

There is the end of sorrow.



"It is hard to realize the essential, the truth is not easily

perceived; desire is mastered by him who knows, and to him who

sees aright all things are naught.



"There is, O monks, an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed.

Were there not, O monks, this unborn, unoriginated, uncreated,

unformed, there would be no escape from the world of the born,

originated, created, formed.



"Since, O monks, there is an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, and

unformed, therefore is there an escape from the born, originated,

created, formed."