Impermanence Causes Suffering!
samahita
Veteran
Friends:
Distorted perception imagines: Worldly Happiness is possible!
The Blessed Buddha once said:
Dukkhanupassanam bhavento sukhasaññam pajahati...
When gradually developing the contemplation of Suffering (dukkha),
one gradually overcomes the false perception of pleasure, of happiness...
He once convinced a pedantic disputant by this cut-2-the-bone explanation:
Friend Aggivessana, what do you think, is any material form, is any feeling,
is any perception, is any mental construction, and is any consciousness,
always permanent or always impermanent?
Venerable Gotama, they are all always impermanent...
If all these things always are impermanent, are they then pleasurable or
are they then disappointing and painful? Are they then happiness or suffering?
Venerable Gotama, then they are all painful, then they are all suffering...
Aggivessana, what do you think, when one searches for what is suffering,
clings to what is suffering, resorts to what is suffering, holds on to what
is suffering and regards what is suffering as: "This is mine, this I am,
this is my self..." can one then ever come to understand suffering or
ever be freed from all suffering?
How could one ever Master Gotama, no never Master Gotama...
Source: MN I [232]
At Savatthi the Venerable Radha asked the Blessed One:
Venerable Sir, one says: Suffering!! What, Venerable Sir, is suffering?
Form, Radha, is suffering, feeling is suffering, perception is suffering,
mental constructions are suffering, consciousness is suffering...!
Understanding this, Bhikkhu, a well instructed Noble Disciple experiences
disgust towards form, disgust towards feeling, disgust towards perception,
disgust towards mental construction, and disgust towards consciousness itself!
Experiencing disgust, he becomes disillusioned! Through disillusion his mind is
released. When it is released, he instantly knows: This mind is liberated, and
he understands: Extinguished is this rebirth, this Noble Life is all completed,
done is what should be done, there is no state of being beyond this...
Source: SN 23:15 III [196.1]
More on this universal, inevitable and absolute Suffering (Dukkha):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_1st_Noble_Truth_on_Suffering.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/The_Fact_of_Suffering_Dukkha.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/The_3_Universal_Characteristics.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_3_kinds_of_Suffering.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Craving_is_Catastrophic.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Stopping_Physical_Pain.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Ceasing_of_Suffering.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Origin_of_Suffering.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Ending_Physical_Pain.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Ending_Pain_Itself.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/The_3_Ultimate_Facts.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/What_is_Suffering.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_Charcoal_Pit.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Source_of_What.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Craving_is_Pain.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Samsaric_Dread.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Endless_Round.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/300_Spears.htm
Impermanence Causes Suffering!
The World can thus not ever bring Lasting Happiness ...
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Contemplating_Suffering.htm
Comments
All sankharas/constructions are impermanent. They belong to no one and their nature is to arise and pass away.
Craving for what is impermanent causes dukkha.
Craving for what; craving dependent on what ?:
A lack of understanding of the truth causes suffering, & if people knew the truth they wouldn't ever suffer....If they really knew the truth they wouldn't do drugs, & wouldn't be aiding & abetting in the destruction of the planet....If they really knew the truth they would be building themselves, & not destroying themselves with technology....
Clinging to impermanence is suffering.
There's a good side to impermanence though, it means dukkha is temporary too. :0
On the flip side, it is because of impermanence that we have endless possibilities including the possibility of awakening and getting out of samsara. Impermanence can be a good thing! It is clinging to impermanence that is dukkha. You don't have to demolish those sandcastles so long as you know their true nature. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn23/sn23.002.than.html
Emptiness is the realization that nothing has a permanent, substantial, independent existence ie. everything is dependently originated. Since nothing is fixed or static, there is infinite potentiality. This alone makes it possible for life in all its multiplicity to arise.
I'm not sure if impermanence is suffering as much as the aversion to impermanence.
It is clinging to impermanence that is dukkha.
Don't you mean clinging to ( assumed ) permanence?
Yes that or wishing them(without the assumption) to be permanent ie. unable to accept the fact of impermanence.
Yeah I had a similar comment, not seeing @pegembara's, and I also mean the illusion of permanence... or seeking to make that which is impermanent permanent. "Unable to accept" is also good.
It feels to me like not coping with inconstancy.
@SpinyNorman That it is, in a nutshell. Not only failing to cope, but failing to see in many ways.
Yes too much suffering and restless.
The thought of impermanence will cause suffering, but how was impermanence ever proved by anyone who was alive at the time?....I'm only using logic here & logically no one can know what comes after death & no one ever will, not while they themselves are still alive.....So impermanence is not a fact, & neither is permanence....It's 50/50 & worth a gamble, & if it's impermanence so what it will be just like when I'm sleeping, & i do love sleeping!lol.
_/\ _ contemplation on suffering to overcome attachment to pleasure. eh ma ho
We can also focus on, contemplate and enable real sources of happiness, without the insistence on 'life is miserable' often underpinning Therevada practice and dogma.
For example we may have a dog called dogma. The dog will die, the dog will be trouble etc. We also gain much admittedly transitory pleasure. Some people learn from their dog, their partner, their hedonistic surroundings. It is not the circumstantial environment, it is our approach.
It is a bit like creating a garden. It is transitory, so why not sit in a rubble yard? Up to you, the contemplation potential is the same . . .
Pleasure and suffering are both dukkha, however flowers are planted, children are grown. Attachment to impermanence as mentioned is dukkha. :wave: .
What do you mean by "proved"? What we can say is that all observations seem to confirm impermanence.
And even then, the thought of impermanence doesn't always bring suffering. We can learn to let go of what we cherish and cherish all the more for impermanence.
Impermanence, in Buddhism, is one of the three marks of reality.
It's not impermanence per se that is at the root of our suffering, rather our distorted view of reality (that is, wanting to see permanence where there is none), or our lack of acceptance of impermanence as a fact of life.
How do you know that on the other side of our seemingly impermanent life, there isn't permanent life?....It can't be proved either way, & that's where faith comes in....
We don't know, but it doesn't sound like Buddhist teaching to me.
Theistic religions are dictated by faith.
Buddhism is not dictated by faith but by application of our reasoning faculties.
We don't believe in Buddhism. We see.
Yes, it's a path of discovery rather than belief.
That's why I prefer to say "I think so-and-so" instead of "I believe so-and-so".
Too much hope caught up in belief.
Ain't this the truth....