Good Stuff Happens in 1:1 Meetings: Why you need them and how to do them well
Three Universal Truths
1. Tuesday 14th June LO: To learn about the Three Universal Truths and inter-dependency.
2. ? It is difficult to explain actually what enlightenment is because you have to be a ‘Buddha’ (someone who knows the truth) in order to understand it fully! But we might be able to understand a little bit about the truth that Sid came the know by thinking about it ourselves. Lets start with the ‘Three Universal Truths.’ ‘Universal Truths’ are, according to Buddhists, facts which never change about the universe.
3. Life on Earth depends on air, water, and the heat from the sun. If one of these things change then the life on earth will cease to exist.
4. Inter-dependence People, or items that rely on each other to exist. Things that are connected.
5. Anicca Everything changes Everything in the universe is dependant on other things for it to exist. If it does not have those things it cannot exist; if those things change, that thing will cease to exist. But those things which it is dependant on will change!
6. Anatta No permanent self. Nobody stays the same from birth to death. As you grow older your body changes, your mind develops, your personality alters. Some people like how they use to be and feel sad when they change.
7. Let me tell you a story No matter how successful someone is they will always desire more. They will never be satisfied!
8. Dukkha.’ Life can never completely satisfy us. The Buddha believed that even if we had everything we ever wanted, there would still be apart of us that wasn’t happy. This is what leads people to look for something more in life.
9. Buddhists do not see these ‘Three Universal Truths’ as in any way sad or depressing. But understanding them they believe they can achieve a new way of life. That is why after his ‘enlightenment’ Siddhartha Gautama travelled around teaching what he had discovered. He believed that all people could reach ‘enlightenment’ if they committed to it and if they do they could avoid suffering.