What Is Buddhism ? 1. The true state of the nature of the world.               The Lord Buddha said "Sabbha dhamma anatta."    This means, literally, all dhamma (things) are without self. Thus, we can see that the four elements of ultimate reality in the universe - mind (citta-cetasika) , matter (rupa) , and enlightenment (nibbana ) - all have the same single characteristic: they are without self.               These four elements are the true state of the nature of the world (sabhava dhamma) - i.e., no self, no man, no woman, no dog, etc. Sabhava, in this essay, refers mainly to not-self, not man not woman, etc. Not-self is the only one of the Three Characteristics (impermanence, suffering,not-self ) that fits all four of the elements of ultimate reality. This is because nibbana  is supra mundane: permanent, and happy, but not-self. Citta-cetasika-rupa  is mundane: impermanent, suffering and not-self.               a) Every body has three of the above four things citta-cetasika  and rupa. Or these four can be summarized as body and mind (rupa and nama).  Or in more detail, they can be broken down into five parts called aggregates: body, feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness. These three (citta-cetasika and rupa)  keep us on the wheel of rebirth that is a continual round of birth, old age, sickness and death. These three occur because of cause and aiding condition; they always depend on each other (body can't act without mind, mind is helpless without body, for example); and they arise and immediately fall away, continuously through life. This happens every moment (split-second), and because it happens whether we are aware of it or not, it is called mundane dhamma.  This true state of the nature (sabhava)  does not occur because of God or Brahma or any other miraculous intervention.             The Five Aggregates, or body-mind (rupa-nama) , are suffering (dukkha-sacca) ("sacca" means "truth" , thus dukkha-sacca is the truth of suffering - the First Noble Truth). The Five aggregates are the real dukkha-sacca and they are the result of cause. That cause is craving, as stated in the Second Noble Truth, the truth of the cause of suffering. The real creator of rupa and nama is defilement. Defilement is craving or, in practice, the defilements are desire, aversion, and delusion. It is only from defilement that body and mind are created. This body and mind (Five Aggregates) is what we conventionally think is a man or woman, or this person or that, or this nation or that. That which creates (defilement) and that which is created  (Five Aggregates) has the three characteristics - impermanence, suffering, and not self and they are natural law. There is no exception to this for any being.               b) Nibbana  however is ultimate reality (sabhava-dhamma)  and is outside the Five Aggregates - that is to say, outside the "world" (The Buddha said that, for each being the "world" is really the Five Aggregates, since everything we experience comes through them. This "world" can be called the "aggregates-world" or the "rupa-nama-world ".  )   Nibbana is an object of the path moment that erases defilement, and hence suffering - this occurs at the 14th of the 16 Vipassana knowledges (yanas) - and the fruition, or savoring, which follows it (15th yana). Nibbana is called supra-mundane because it is the dhamma that extinguishes defilement and hence suffering. Nibbana  is permanent and happy. But it is not a man or woman - no self.               This is real Buddhism. Prince Siddhatha discovered the wisdom that is the Four Noble Truths by himself. Nobody taught him. Hence, he is called "Phra Arahant - Sammasambuddha" ("Enlightened by his own efforts").