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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 as
anicca in Buddhism, according to which, 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.
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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.
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