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By Jayaram V
"The three kinds of feelings, O monks, are
impermanent, compounded, dependently arisen, liable to destruction,
to evanescence, to fading away, to cessation — namely, pleasant
feeling, painful feeling, and neutral feeling." (Anicca Sutta -
Translated from the Pali by Nyanaponika Thera)
Early Buddhism dealt with the problem of impermanence in a
very rationale manner. This concept is known in Buddhism as anicca,
which is the corrupt form of the Sanskrit word anitya, meaning impermanence.
According to this concept, anicca or impermanence is
an undeniable and inescapable fact of human existence from which
nothing that belongs to this earth is ever free.
Buddhism declares that there are five processes on which no human
being has control and which none can ever change. These five processes
are namely, the process of growing old, of not falling sick, of
dying, of decay of things that are perishable and of the passing
away of that which is liable to pass. Buddhism however suggests
that escape from these evils is possible and its through Nirvana.
Hinduism also believes in the impermanent nature of life . But
it deals with this problem differently. According to Hinduism, impermanence
can be overcome by locating and uniting with the center of permanence
that exists within oneself. This center is the Soul or the self
that is immortal, permanent and ever stable.
According to Hinduism, Atman is the fundamental truth that exists
in every being, while at the microcosmic level it is Brahman who
is the fundamental and supreme truth of all existence. He who realizes
Atman verily becomes Brahman and attains immortality.
The Buddha differed radically with this most fundamental concept
of Hinduism and in line with his preaching the early Buddhists did
not believe in the existence of a permanent and fixed reality which
could be referred as either God or soul. According to them what
was apparent and verifiable about our existence was the continuous
change it undergoes.
Thus early Buddhism declares that in this world there is nothing
that is fixed and permanent. Every thing is subject to change and
alteration. "Decay is inherent in all component things," declared
the Buddha and his followers accepted that existence was a flux,
and a continuous becoming.
According to the teachings of the Buddha, life is comparable to
a river. It is a progressive moment, a successive series of different
moments, joining together to give the impression of one continuous
flow. It moves from cause to cause, effect to effect, one point
to another, one state of existence to another, giving an outward
impression that it is one continuous and unified movement, where
as in reality it is not. The river of yesterday is not the same
as the river of today. The river of this moment is not going to
be the same as the river of the next moment. So does life. It changes
continuously, becomes something or the other from moment to moment.
Take for example the life of an individual. It is a fallacy to
believe that a person would remain the same person during his entire
life time. He changes every moment. He actually lives and dies but
for a moment, or lives and dies moment by moment, as each moment
leads to the next. A person is what he is in the context of the
time in which he exists. It is an illusion to believe that the person
you have seen just now is the same as the person you are just now
seeing or the person whom you are seeing now will be the same as
the person you will see after a few moments.
Even from a scientific point of view this is true. We know cell
divisions take place in each living being continuously. Old cells
in our bodies die and yield place continuously to the new ones that
are forming. Like the waves in a sea, every moment, many thoughts
arise and die in each individual . Psychologically and physically
he is never the same all the time. Technically speaking, no individual
is ever composed of the same amount of energy. mental stuff and
cellular material all the time.He is subject to change and the change
is a continuous movement.
Impermanence and change are thus the undeniable truths of our
existence. What is real is the existing moment, the present that
is a product of the past, or a result of the previous causes and
actions. Because of ignorance, an ordinary mind conceives them all
to be part of one continuous reality. But in truth they are not.
The various stages in the life of a man, the childhood, the adulthood,
the old age are not the same at any given time. The child is not
the same when he grows up and becomes a young man, nor when the
latter turns into an old man. The seed is not the tree, though it
produces the tree, and the fruit is also not the tree, though it
is produced by the tree.
The concept of impermanence and continuous becoming is central
to early Buddhist teachings. It is by becoming aware of it, by observing
it and by understanding it, one can find suitable remedy for the
sorrow of human life and achieve liberation from the process of
anicca or impermanence.
List of related articles
The following articles throw further light on the concept of
anicca.
All About Change:
This insight forms the basis for the Three Characteristics that
the Buddha taught for inducing a sense of dispassion for normal
time- and space-bound experience. Anicca, the first of the three,
is pivotal. Anicca applies to everything that changes. Often
translated as "impermanent," it's actually the negative of nicca,
which means constant or dependable. Everything that changes
is inconstant. Now, the difference between "impermanent" and
"inconstant" may seem semantic, but it's crucial to the way
anicca functions in the Buddha's teachings. As the early texts
state repeatedly, if something is anicca then the other two
characteristics automatically follow: it's dukkha (stressful)
and anatta (not-self), i.e., not worthy to be claimed as me
or mine. More ...
Anicca, dukha, anatta:
Investigation of Dhamma for full liberation also must include,
in addition to the Four Noble Truths, a study of the Three Universal
Characteristics or Signata of existence, (ti-lakkhana): anicca
— impermanence, dukkha — suffering, and anatta — essencelessness.
Everything in the universe, mental or physical, inside or outside
of us, real or imaginary, that comes into being due to causes
and conditions, has these three traits as its nature. And since
there is nothing that exists without depending on other things,
there is absolutely nothing which we can determine to be permanent,
full of happiness only, or having any real substance. We must
examine these three truths very carefully to know how thoroughly
and totally they apply in all cases.
More
Anicca Vata Sankhara:
Anicca vata sankhara — "Impermanent, alas, are all formations!"
— is the phrase used in Theravada Buddhist lands to announce
the death of a loved one, but I have not quoted this line here
in order to begin an obituary. I do so simply to introduce the
subject of this essay, which is the word sankhara itself. Sometimes
a single Pali word has such rich implications that merely to
sit down and draw them out can shed as much light on the Buddha's
teaching as a long expository article. This is indeed the case
with the word sankhara. The word stands squarely at the heart
of the Dhamma, and to trace its various strands of meaning is
to get a glimpse into the Buddha's own vision of reality.
More
Suggested Further Reading
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