The three basic ideas of Buddhism are the Three
Universal Truths. The first truth
says that nothing lasts. This is
called annica. People, plants, even
things like mountains are changing all the time.
The Buddha said that because nothing remains the same for long, there is
no rest except Nibbana.
The second truth is Dukkha.
This mean suffering, but is more than pain.
It means things like being bored and being uncomfortable, as well Dukkha
is everything that is unsatisfactory. For
Buddhists, life is Dukkha because there is nothing that is absolutely perfect.
The Buddha said that no-one can escape Dukkha.
His teaching was a way of overcoming it.
The third universal truth is anatta, which means no
soul. The Buddha taught that there
is nothing that can be called a soul. Instead,
he said that people are made up of five parts: feelings, thoughts, awareness,
ideas and body. However, there is
nothing in people that carries on into another life, except the force that they
make in this life.
These ideas are important because the rest of the
Buddha’s teaching is based on them.