Four seals

Four Seals (Wyl. sdom bzhi) or the 'four hallmarks of the Buddha's teachings' (Wyl. lta ba bka' rtags kyi phyag rgya bzhi). They are:

All that is conditioned is impermanent,

All that is tainted is suffering,

Nirvana is peace,

All phenomena are empty and devoid of self.

Significance of the Four Seals

These are said to be the hallmark of the Buddha’s teaching, and it is often said that the mark of a real Buddhist is that he or she accepts these four. Of course, taking refuge is the real entrance to the Buddhist path, and that which serves to distinguish Buddhists from non-buddhists, but in terms of the View, these four statements encapsulate the uniqueness of the Buddha’s teachings and really set the Buddhadharma apart from all other religions and philosophies.

Further Reading

• Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, What Makes You Not a Buddhist, Shambhala 2007.
• Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, Indisputable Truth, Rangjung Yeshe, 1996.
• His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Dzogchen (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2000), pages 101-106.
• Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, The World of Tibetan Buddhism (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995), pages 37-39.
• Mipham Rinpoche, Gateway to Knowledge Vol. 4, Rangjung Yeshe (forthcoming)