Seeing Impermanence

[sundara]

How do you see impermanence without getting all stressed out and starting to give out unwanted thoughts.

[appicchato]

Easy...put a freshly cut flower on the table for a week...the same scenario, in one shape or another, applies to everything...that's just the way it is...having no control over this MO there's really no need for stress nor unwanted thoughts...not easily done for everyone, but doable...

[rowyourboat]

..by developing the 4 divine abidings, by developing concentration/samadhi at the same time, by being mindful of our thoughts and mindstates as we contemplate anicca
..by knowing the way forward in the dhamma is being facing the truth and not by avoiding it
..by knowing that the disenchantment/revulsion eases into dispassion which further lets go into cessation -then there is release.
..by knowing other before you and many after you will go through the same path
..by remembering that we are shocked by anicca because our minds still cling- and that gives rise to suffering- if there was no clinging we will be able to accept it without a problem
..by remembering we are bringing our minds in line with the truth of reality and that this will lead to lessening of our suffering in the future
..by remembering anicca is the key to progress in the path and the unique thing the buddha spent countless aeons developing the perfections to rediscover and teach us

with metta

[sundara]

What about seeing impermanence in the five aggregates. How do you do that?

[rowyourboat]

there is no quick answer to that - you would have to work our way through the insight knowledges one by one.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... gress.html

[Dmytro]

Hi Sundara,

What about seeing impermanence in the five aggregates. How do you do that?

The short answer is given in Chachakka sutta:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html

The long answer is given in the thread:

http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/index. ... t&p=312610

Best wishes,
Dmytro

[Jechbi]

Easy...put a freshly cut flower on the table for a week...the same scenario, in one shape or another, applies to everything...that's just the way it is...having no control over this MO there's really no need for stress nor unwanted thoughts...not easily done for everyone, but doable...

Perfectamundo.

[Hoja]

Easy...put a freshly cut flower on the table for a week...the same scenario, in one shape or another, applies to everything...that's just the way it is...having no control over this MO there's really no need for stress nor unwanted thoughts

Excelent and simple! Thank you Bhante!

[adosa]

Hi sundara,


Another way to look at, and I hope it helps, but if it weren't for change you wouldn't even be here. Nor would anything that you enjoy. So to wish for a static slice of time is in my view a bit selfish. To me this whole thing of impermanence provides me with occasional glimpses of peace although I qualify that by saying I still cling with the best of them. It's this principle of change that gives us hope for ultimate release.

Keep practicing, friend.

adosa

[sundara]

It's all very well but how is that going to resolve my predicament as a human being.

[acinteyyo]

What about seeing impermanence in the five aggregates. How do you do that?

suddenly there is this sentence you wrote and I saw it. there is perception, there is a feeling, there is consciousness of the sentence and of this perception and of the feeling, there is a thought... oh... what happened these things have changed... another feeling, I see this written words, I see myself writing, what a lot of perception and consciousness, more and more feelings... where is that feeling from the beginning? it allready ceased, but there is consciousness of rememberance of that ceased feeling... oh what a pity there were things and at the end of this post, when nobody reads it, they're all gone...
it's really hard to see impermanence...

best wishes, acinteyyo

[rowyourboat]

seeing impermanence deeply will allow you to let go deeply. Hence lowering your attachment to things. This means that you will not get hurt when those things you are attached to pass away (as they eventually will). However this does not mean you will not have compassion or kindness- far from it- when your troubles have faded and when you see those same troubles in others there will be more space for compassion. All your sufferings are impermanent- hence it becomes easier not to get caught up in this, if this bit of wisdom is working deeply in the mind. Noting impermanence of everything in your body and mind you come to the understanding that there is no self, but a collection of process- hence death looses its meaning, it grip over you- there is no one to die, just processes continuing in a different direction. You can also break down 'big' concept such as 'old age', 'sickness', seeing how when we label something, the label brings with it certain values, over and above the experience of phenomena. We can see that the phenomena itself is not as bad as the label implies. We being to see that these labels aren't fact, but just thoughts trying to make sense of reality but not quite getting there, often coming to wrong conclusions and projecting 'facts'on to experience which simply aren't true. So the existential questions of old age, sickness, death and suffering gets answered.

[rowyourboat]

A Buddha is not required to say that everything is impermanent. Ask any man on the street. However a buddha is required to find a path through and beyond impermanence. This is where the meditative practices of vipassana/insight comes in.

[sundara]

Apart from seeing the flowers decay, what other things in the 5 aggregates are beneficial to contemplate impermanence that can lead to calm?

[rowyourboat]

Dear Sundara
There is no end to seeing impermanence -atleast until we are fully enlightened. If you just observe the changing sights, sounds, sensations, smells, thoughts, and tastes- try to remain aware of the fact that they keep changing second by second- this pace of seeing anicca is important. It is not knowing or seeing for a little while that things are anicca- but it needs to be developed and seen repeatedly, in an continuous manner for minutes, hours, days weeks and months. Tranquility of the mind needs to be developed as well along side- one pointedness arising from mindfulness of the breath for example. This will nicely balance the insight practice. Anicca can be understood at increasingly greater depth. It is the depth of the penetration of this truth which will be transformative.

[pink_trike]

Observe the passing of the seasons throughout the course of the year...in Spring everything moves, in Summer there is blossoming, in Fall there is decline, in Winter there is dormancy. Observe that day always naturally and with ease becomes night. Observe that every breathe you take is naturally given back.

[sundara]

´Don't we need to use conditionality before seeing impermanence. In the books they say that we need to use conditionality before seeing impermanence. I don't know.

[kidd]

Start by looking on the bright side; the pains, the sorrows, the angers and the fears that interfere with your happiness in the present are all temporary.

[rowyourboat]

Hello Sundara
If you are prepared to put some effort into this rather than have the odd impermanence experience, you should go all the way, develop a unified calm mind, start vipassana by seeing mentality-materiality (nama, rupa) and then see causality. Then see the three characteristics (anicca, dukkha, anatta). This is not easy but it is often difficult to communicate the importance of this process. You need to have faith in the Buddha, dhamma and sangha- that this is the path to cessation of suffering, and that there is unsatisfactoriness. Your ethics/sila needs to be quite good. You need to have motivation to put in regular daily practice. You will need to have faith in someone who can guide you and ideally a group of meditators to belong to. Only then will the results described in the suttas come about. Are you prepared to go the whole hog? You can do the rest of the suggestions in this thread over the next few days. But what is mentioned above will take weeks,months if not years. As you can imagine there will be a difference in the outcome as well. Are you up for it?

[appicchato]