In the 1932 Pali Text Society translation E.M. Hare's translation is "the way of growth and decay".the Buddha transl. Thanissaro wrote:"And what is the treasure of discernment? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones is discerning, endowed with discernment of arising & passing away — noble, penetrating, leading to the right ending of stress. This is called the treasure of discernment."
From: Dhana Sutta translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Ajahn Chah in The Mindful Way BBC film talked about "living in harmony with nature, contemplating the nature of things to understand that all forms of life degenerate and eventually die, that all life has the characteristic of the breath it rises and it falls, that everything that is born expires. So his suffering diminishes as he knows nothing belongs to him."
I'm thinking that arising and passing away isn't like a flash of lightning. When something passes away it doesn't mean that it is annihilated. There is a meditative attainment called the base of nothingness but it is also impermanent.
What do people think arising and passing away means?
Thanks / dhammapal.