Four characteristics of conditioned phenomena

Four characteristics of conditioned phenomena are identified in the Sanskrit tradition, where they are referred to as either saṃskṛtalakṣaṇa (T. ’dus byas kyi mtshan nyid; C. youwei xiang; E. characteristics of conditioned phenomena) or caturlakṣaṇa (T. mtshan nyid bzhi; C. sixiang; E. four characteristics).

The four characteristics are:

1. jāti (T. skye ba) - birth
2. sthiti (T. gnas pa) - abiding
3. jarā (T. rga ba) - aging
4. anityatā (T. mi rtag pa) - impermanence

These four are included in the fourteen non-concurrent formations of the Abhidharma-kosha.

In the Abhidharma tradition of the Vaibhāṣika school, the non-concurrent formations are understood as substantially existent entities. In the Sautrantika Abhidharma and in the Higher Abhidharma traditions, these formations are understood as imputations that arise from the mind.

For example, Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics states: "The Vaibashikas assert that these four arise simultaneously to the conditioned entity and that they are capable of being grasped as distinct in substance from the conditioned thing itself."

Pali tradition

The Pali tradition has a similar list, called:

• characteristics of material phenomena (lakkhaṇarūpa)

Sources

• Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University 
• Thupten Jinpa (editor), Ian James Coghlan (translator), Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics, Volume 1: The Physical World (Wisdom: 2017), 146