Experiencing Impermanence Exposes the
Futility of Clinging!
The
Blessed Buddha once said:
What,
Ananda, is the experience of impermanence, inconstancy and transience?
When a
Bhikkhu, having gone to a forest, to the foot of a tree, or to
an empty
place, reflects thus: All form is inconstant, all feeling is
fleeting, any experience
is impermanent, all mental construction is transient, and all
consciousness is
momentary, and in this way remains
understanding impermanence, the
inconstancy
and transience of
these
5 Clusters of Clinging...
Then this, Ananda, is
indeed the very experience of impermanence...,
The perception of inconstancy...
and the sensation of transience...
Source (edited
extract):
Numerical Discourses of the Buddha.
Anguttara Nikāya AN
10:60, AN V 108ff.
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an10/an10.060.than.html
Buddha furthermore explained:
Bhikkhus, there
is no lasting matter, or materiality, no lasting form whatsoever...
There
is no lasting feeling whatsoever... no lasting perception
whatsoever...
There is no lasting mental construction,
thought, idea or intention whatsoever...
There is no lasting consciousness, or awareness of anything
whatsoever...
There is no permanent, everlasting, eternal thing that is not
subject to change,
not transient, not decaying, not vanishing, that will
last as long as eternity...
SN 22.96/vol. iii, 144
All formations, all constructions are
impermanent, transient, vanishing...
MN 35/vol. i, 230
Whatever can arise and emerge, that also will
surely cease...
MN 56/vol. i, 380
Comments from the
classical commentaries:
Impermanence is not Evident unless
specifically looked for:
False
apparent continuity covers up and camouflages impermanence:
The
characteristic of impermanence does not become apparent because,
when rise and fall are not given attention, it is concealed by continuity...
However, when continuity is disrupted by observing rise
and fall here and now,
the characteristic of impermanence becomes apparent in its true nature.
Visuddhimagga Ch. xxi/p. 640
Moments of discrete mental states always change as
iron darts hit:
Observing the abrupt
change of all states discloses their discrete nature:
When continuity is disrupted means, when it is exposed by observation of
the perpetual alteration of states, as they come on occurring in succession.
For it is not through the connectedness of states, that the characteristic of
impermanence becomes apparent to one who rightly observes rise and fall,
but rather the characteristic becomes properly evident through their discrete
disconnectedness, regarded as if each moment were iron darts, hitting in on
reality one by one separately, instead of as a continuous flow of slow
change.
VismA. 824
All states rise and fall.
This characteristic of change, ageing,
and evanescence
is the universal impermanence of all worldly. Nothing here escapes change!
It is a distortion of view, perception, and thinking to
regard anything as lasting..
Impermanence inherently
implies suffering as all what is liked inevitably will
be lost.
Impermanence implies no-self as nothing remains identical as
an entity, or
an identity!
Whether internal or external: All this is only passing states - material
and mental -
...
Experiencing impermanence thus entails seeing the aspects of suffering and no-self!
When realizing that all states passes on and evaporates instantly, one
then realizes
the impossible futility inherent in all forms of
clinging to whatever kind of object..
It is like sand running out between the fingers. It can never
ever be kept for long!
Nothing can ever be kept, owned, possessed, maintained,
remaining, or ever retained!
So better let it go. ..Release it! Relinquish it all. Do not fear. Nothing lasting is
lost..
It was never really yours anyway. It will go away by itself anyway. It is pain
anyway!
It was never really the same anyway, and it will never ever be returning again
anyway...
All things arise, go through a series of changes and die. All
phenomena are
impermanent, every living being eventually dies. Life has a
limit and is always
in a state of uncertainty. This is an undeniable reality! Life
is very uncertain,
only death is certain. Knowing that death is certain and is the
natural destiny
that everyone has to face, we should not be afraid of death. To
be considered
really free in life, we must be free from the fear of death. We
must humbly
contemplate the words “All things are impermanent.” We must
indeed be aware
that birth and death comes at any moment. Every moment is thus
impermanent.
Enlightenment can be achieved by this acute awareness of
impermanence!
More on impermanence, inconstancy,
and transience (Anicca)
Anicca (Impermanence) According to Theravada
(Bhikkhu ñanamoli ao.)
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/various/wheel186.html
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/a/anicca.htm
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Transient_formations.htm
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Perceiving_Transience.htm
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Impermanence_Anicca.htm
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_Internal_Transience.htm
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_External_Transience.htm
Memento Mori: Remember your mortality, that you must and surely
will die!
