The Four Seals - All Composite Things are Impermanent

Note: I am referencing a teaching on DVD that I have borrowed called “The Six Paramitas” by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Do you know what the four seals are? According to His Holiness, the Four Seals are four axioms that define Buddhists. He said,

‘The acceptence of these four marks the difference between a Buddhist and a non-Buddhist.”

There are many teachings in Buddhism, thousands of axioms. Some are interperatable, some are direct, but with so many it is nice to have these four pointed out as the essence. So, luckily, the Buddha’s teachings can be summarized with these:

1. All composite things are impermanent
2. Everything defiled is suffering
3. All phenomena are empty and without inherent entity
4. Nirvana is peace

These Four Seals also establish the Four Noble Truths, the first thing the Buddha taught after his enlightenment through his own efforts. By knowing what is real and rejecting what is not real, we can also become enlightened, we can become the Buddha. By knowing what is real we can establish ‘valid cognition’ and by observing our reality correctly we can stop creating bad karma which is actions based on not understanding our reality. If we act without knowing, we are making a mistake. So by understanding the Four Seals, we can free ourselves, little by little, from the troubles we are having and become happy. All beings want to be happy and to avoid suffering.

So let’s start with “All Composite things are impermanent”. If we pay attention, if we look at our reality, we will see that everything that comes to be, gradually changes and then disintegrates. Everything is like that. Even this planet will eventually disintegrate. What need is there to mention then all the beings on the planet. Composite can mean, ‘everything that comes to be’. Anything that is made up of parts is called composite. If parts are drawn together, then that thing is impermanent. It will not last. There are categories of phenomena that are not impermanent, like space, but for the most part, everything we are dealing with has the seed of it’s destruction growing inside of it. It’s also important to note that impermanence does not happen at the end, only at the final destruction of the object. It is happening right now - we are in the process of decay as is everything around us. Our nature is impermanent and moment to moment we are experiencing change. As his holiness says,

“It is not the case that things remain without change for months and years, and finally they suddenly change and cease to exist.”

This is a true statement - “all Composite things are impermanent.” In meditation we see this is true through analysis. As soon as something arises, it’s cessation is established. Nothing can exist without arising and then ceasing. The establishment of something ensures its destruction. Therefore, “All composite things are impermanent” or more traditionally, “All composite phenomena are impermanent”.

Am I being too repetitive? I think that the Buddhist teachings seem very repetitive to people who aren’t used to them. The teachings come from an old oral tradition. All of these things were memorized and passed from disciple to disciple and I think the repetition helped with that. Anyway, these teachings can bring true happiness so the repetition helps to firmly establish these things into the mind stream so that we can use them and see for ourselves if they are true or not. It’s good to go over them many times because our understanding can grow over time that way.

So that is the something about the four seals. I’ll follow up on the other three this week, but for now I have to get going to work.

I hope that everyone will be able to benefit from knowing these Four Seals and put them into practice so that they will have more happiness and bring more happiness to others.

Tashidelek!

Related:
The First Seal - All Composite Things are Impermanent
The Second Seal - Everything Defiled Is Suffering
The Third Seal - All phenomena are empty and without inherent entity
The Fourth Seal - Nirvana is peace