Hi there;
I have questions about the three characteristics. I seem to have a very good experiencial relationship with no self and with impermenance, but I am not really able to get a handle on the third one. I'd like to ask a few general questions about the 3 C's, and a few specific questions about suffering. In keeping with the spirit of Dharma Overground, the questions are meant to be groundwork for exploration rather than philosophical.
;Good questions
Thanks in advance + from a practice perspective assume in your answers that I am willing and able to examine each instance with basic access concentration.
Questions:
1) Are the three characteristics present in each and every sensation equally, or do the charactistics occurr to different degrees in different sensations?
They are present in every sensation, and it is not really a question of degree, as all sensations are completely transient, all are empty, all are causal, all arise and vanish completely, all involve dualistic painful mild-holding until the last thing is done.
2) Are some sensations prone to be more inclined to have "heavy no self content" and others prone to have "heavy suffering content"? If so, why?
No, as above.
3) Are some sense perceptions more prone to one characteristic than another? i.e does the dhatu of thinking reveal the characteristic of suffering more clearly than it reveals the characteristic of no self?
No, same as above.
4) If you are in access concentration and a totally non-volotional sensation occurs (for example, the wind blows and the sensation is noted) is suffering still present even in that very neutral sensation?
Yes, as above. While the habitual way the mind holds itself to create a sense of subject-object in a field of experience that is not this way, there is suffering of the fundamental kind referred to in insight practices.
5) Can suffering take place if there is no obvious conceptual thought associated with the situation? i.e. can suffering still occur even if a thought like "I don't like it when the wind blows in my face" does not arise?
Suffering is not the product of conceptual thought, but the product of dualistic misperception, which applies to all phenomena until the last thing is done. While the content of thought is inherently dual by its nature, the experience of thought, seen as it is, is not, but is simply happening as part of the transient, self-aware/luminous/empty/etc. experience/manifestation field.
6) If such an accompanying thought did arrise would the suffering associated with the thought be independant of the suffering of the original sensation, or can the three charactistics act as a bridge between sensations and reactions? i.e. if I get up and move to a new spot because the wind was blowing too hard, was that reaction resultant of the three characteristics?
It is hard to pick out exactly what caused what in a field of causality that is this complex and imponderable (causality/karma being one of the 4 imponderables), and it doesn't help, and the point, again, is not that thought is causing the trouble, but misperceiving the basic sensation of reality that is.
7) If awareness is occupied elsewhere and it was not even noticed that the wind blew, does the unnoticed sensation still carry suffering, etc, or does the fact that it was not noticed in the field of awareness mean that the sensation does not have the three charaistics? In other words: can the three characteristics arrise only if there is a perception of the sensation or do they exist regardless?
Either sensations arise or they don't, and if they arise, they carry some suffering in them, as duality remains the normal and default mode until there is another mode that is understood, and while some sensations arise with more or less mindfulness dependent on conditions, all sensations manifest the Three Characteristics, until the end, at which they simply manifest two, as the suffering is conditioned on misperception of the other two.
8) If the sensation has fully ceased (i.e. the wind stops blowing and it can no longer be felt) does that mean that the three characteristics associated with the sensation have ceased also? Or do the three characteristics have the capacity to exist even after the sensation has ceased because a mental impression of the event still exists?
9) As they relate to any given sensation, are the three characteristics like "perfume" that manifests from something more undefineable, or are the three characteristics as straight forward as they appear to be?
They manifest by default as above. A universe without impermanence couldn't function. A universe without causality is incomprehensible. And duality is painful by its nature, as those who have seen through it all attest.
10) Ultimately do the three characteristics actually "exist" as a byproduct that results from a perception of subject and object, or would it be more accurate to say that the three characteristics are a non-existant minunderstanding that results from a fundementally flawed perception of a subject and object?
This answered above, I believe. Basically, suffering arises dependent on misperception of the fact of the other two. The other two are always true of all sensations, which is to say, the sum total of reality from an insight point of view. They are direct, literal, obvious to those who perceive things well, revealed by good practice, and non-negotiable.
..
Mike.