9781422279694

Buddhists believe that there is no fixed self—life depends on other people, and on circumstances over which we have no control. If you were born of the opposite sex, in a differ- ent country, to different parents, or if you were very rich or very poor, your life would be different. None of us has a fixed or permanent self, and as our circumstances change, so will we. Buddhists believe Dharma helps people see life as it really is by teaching Three Universal Truths about life: 1. There is only one thing you can say for sure: everything changes. People are born, they grow old, they die. Places change; rocks wear away even stars grow old. Nothing lasts forever. 2. Nothing and nobody has a fixed or permanent “self,” because everything, including our sense of who we are, depends on everything else. There is no real “you” that is separate from the things that you do, say, or think. Everyone is part of a world in which everything and everyone else is intercon- nected. 3. Anything may cause you disappointment. Everything changes, you cannot be in total control of your life, and things will not always work out the way you would wish. We all have our limita- tions. Eventually everyone has to face illness, old age, and death. Even pleasures can disappoint, because they do not last. Human life therefore is inescapably bound up with suffering and disap- pointment—which Buddhists call dukkha .

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Buddhism