If you want to know if you are getting good yogurt, look at the expiration date on the container. If you want to know if you are getting good Buddhism, look for the three Dharma Seals. If you want to know why you are suffering, look out for the three poisons.
The three Dharma Seals are impermanence, no-self, and Nirvana. The three poisons are anger, ignorance, and desire. The ignorance of the three poisons is not general stupidity, it is specifically the belief in a solid, separate self. That common misunderstanding of self causes lots of problems and is an impediment to experiencing Nirvana. Just as ignorance is not what we tend to think it is, Nirvana, also, is not what we think it is. As soon as we think we know what Nirvana is, we have lost it.
In English, Nirvana can mean a blissful state or an ideal place of pure happiness. That’s not quite what it is in Buddhism. Experiencing Nirvana is like having your mind blown. It is even more like, mind blown. It is beyond concept and beyond a conceiving self. There’s not much point in thinking about it, because it is beyond thought. However, the idea of not suffering is very compelling. Although we may not know how we experience Nirvana, we know well how we experience suffering. Because we don’t like to suffer, we continually strive for Nirvana, liberation, enlightenment, or simply a break from carrying the weight of being us.
Juggling the three poisons is how we habitually suffer. Naming the three poisons provides a framework that helps us observe the hooks and snares of our suffering. We get angry, we want things, and we regularly entertain ideas of a solid, separate self. The three Dharma Seals represent a path to liberation, a way to understand things differently. Within and beyond Buddhism, we can find teachings about impermanence, no-self, and Nirvana. When we look for them, we see them everywhere, and they become trail markers leading us through the woods. Because we are in the woods does not mean that there is not a wide open sky above us. Because there are clouds does not mean the moon is not there. Because we are suffering does not mean we are not also liberated. Looking into anger can lead to resolution. Looking into desire can lead to non-attachment, looking into self can expose no-self. Looking into suffering, with a sense of compassion and seeking another way, can lead to liberation. Look and seek.
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