In chapter 5 of “The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching,” TNH uses the three dharma seals (instead of the four that are traditionally used in Mahayana hermeneutics), but which have been used before by Nagarjuna (I think?) as this post notes. The chapter is titled “Is everything suffering?“ and dissects the common misconceptions that Buddhism is pessimistic or nihilistic, using the three dharma seals as a way to address that, but I’m not sure if it makes sense to.
My question is, as a tool for dharma verification, does this omission of dukkha from the seals affect anything structurally about the importance of dukkha, or in context, since he already established the foundation of the four noble truths beforehand (and how the three characteristics emphasize dukkha in all conditioned phenomena), does that “make up“ for that omission? Doesn’t the inclusion of nirvana as a dharma seal presuppose the existence of something to be liberated from as well, as fundamental to this list (even if it’s not explicitly stated)?
I’m just not sure if the Pali tradition’s hermeneutics necessarily “transfer over” or dictate Mahayana hermeneutics here, or if the three dharma seals are in any way illogical by leaving out dukkha. I was in a long back and forth with someone about this topic that came to no resolution (I left the conversation as it was going in circles), so I would appreciate some clarification, thanks!
The Three Characteristics are something we directly observe in vipassanā (vipaśyanā) practice.
The Dharma Seals are creeds which differentiate authentic Buddhism from other religions (including Buddhistic cults).
Seen in that light, it makes sense that Dukkha need not be included in the latter, as many religions understand that there is the Problem of Suffering. And even today you’ll find many teachers who claim that Buddhist Nirvana is some kind of heaven realm or permanent existence. The last creed doesn’t say Nirvana is “silence” as translated there. 寂滅 is “extinguishing” i.e. “Nirvana is the cessation of existence.” That really does help separate out authentic Buddhism from other faiths!
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Thanks for your answer! That’s similar to what I had thought too, but I just wanted to be sure.
Could it be said that this only arose as a tool later on after a certain point when Buddhism grew to a number of diverse schools and had a diverse literature, or why don’t we see an original version of this as a hermeneutic device in the Early Buddhist Texts (unless I’m unaware)? There are a number of suttas where the Buddha remarks about what to look for in a teaching like with the Kalamas, but the function of the seals here seems a bit different I imagine.
As Buddhism developed, it also became more philosophical. We do get teachings with a similar hermeneutic purpose in the EBTs but, as in the Kalama Sutta, the focus is usually on the results of holding the view, not the view itself. The Gotami Sutta is my favorite example of such a “Dharma Seal” teaching in Early Buddhism:
As for the qualities of which you may know, ‘These qualities lead to dispassion, not to passion; to being unfettered, not to being fettered; to shedding, not to accumulating; to modesty, not to self-aggrandizement; to contentment, not to discontent; to seclusion, not to entanglement; to aroused persistence, not to laziness; to being unburdensome, not to being burdensome’: You may categorically hold, ‘This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the Teacher’s instruction.’
And, as for the unique teachings of Buddhism, again the focus is on (the whole of) the practice:
these eight things don’t arise to be developed and cultivated except when a Realized One, a perfected one, a fully awakened Buddha has appeared. What eight? They are: right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right immersion.
