Notes:

1. Impermanence (anicca), sorrow (dukkha) and no-soul (anatta) are the three characteristics of all things conditioned by causes. It is by contemplating them that one realizes Nibbana. The aspirant may choose any characteristic that appeals to him most. Anatta or no-soul is the crux of Buddhism. The term sankhara which is applied to any conditioned thing is used in the two previous verses, while in the third verse the term dhamma is used. The commentator interprets dhamma as the 'aggregates' (khandha). The same interpretation he gives to sankhara too. If by dhamma is meant sankhara, there is no reason for the Buddha to make a differentiation in the third verse. Sankhara is applied only to those things conditioned by causes. Dhamma can be applied to both conditioned and unconditioned things and states. It embraces both conditioned and unconditioned things including Nibbana. In order to show that even Nibbana is free from a permanent soul the Buddha used the term dhamma in the third verse. Nibbana is a positive supramundane state and is without a soul. 'All the elements of being are non-self. When one by wisdom realizes (this), he heeds not (is superior to) (this world of) sorrow, this is the path to purity'. Radhakrishnan.