II. Impermanence
What is described in this part of the text is not so much impermanence in the sense of the inevitability of death and the urgency of not wasting our lifetime, as in other teachings, but rather what we can call the 'subtle impermanence'.
This teaching on impermanence tells us that everything changes; nothing remains. Everything composite - that is, the five aggregates that compose the whole of reality - is impermanent. The fact that things are composite, dependent and conditioned naturally implies that they are impermanent, because they are not self-supporting or autonomous. Impermanence is the first characteristic of composite existence. It is inherent in the process of composition and decomposition of phenomena. The only thing that is not impermanent is space. Everything else has the nature of change; everything passes by; everything ends up disintegrated and destroyed.
This change takes place continuously, instant to instant. From the moment of arising until the moment of destruction every phenomenon goes through a continuous process of origination and cessation. Everything is in a constant process of trans-formation, which means that reality is like an ocean of appearances in constant change, in the same way that the shapes of the waves transform at every instant.
A. Outer impermanence
We will start meditating on the impermanence of the outer universe. Try to be aware of the fact that the universe, with all the galaxies and the worlds it embraces, is constantly changing and transforming. According to modern cosmology, the universe seems to have started with a 'big bang' and has been expanding ever since. Therefore, there is nothing in the whole universe that is not moving. At the same time, each galaxy is spinning round, and in clouds of gas, new stars are being born. The whole mass of the universe is in constant flow. Try to visualise this, rather than thinking about it.
Next, focus on our own planet and imagine how it evolved, from a cloud of gas to a solid mass, how it changed through the ages, with different atmospheres, various vegetable and animal species. For hundreds of millions of years different types of beings inhabited the earth, but they all disappeared; everything changed completely and continuously until the present day. We now live in a particular moment of the evolution of the planet, but this evolution hasn't stopped. It is changing at this very moment: the continents are moving, the atmosphere is changing and species are disappearing. Change will continue until a time when the planet will be destroyed. And the universe will go on evolving.
Within this general cycle we can identify smaller cycles, like the alternating seasons. Meditate on how the landscape around us changes through the year according to the different seasons. Within that, there are other cycles, like the lunar cycle, which gives rise to the months, and the rotation of the earth with the alternation of days and nights. Not one moment has the same quality as the preceding one. Within half an hour, everything has changed completely. We live in a moving world.
For us these cycles may not have much significance because we live somewhat disconnected from nature and because through technology we have diminished our dependence on the natural cycles. But I think people of the past had a very vivid understanding of this kind of impermanence. For thousands of years whole civilisations were based on this truth. People used to live according to the realization of the impermanence of the yearly and monthly cycles of vegetation. Their culture, their religion, their mythology and the whole of their society was structured according to the daily, monthly and yearly changes of nature. For them these cycles were the most sacred mystery, the maximum expression of transcendent truth. They understood very deeply the significance of impermanence. They believed that these were visible signs of the laws that govern the universe, including human beings, because everything goes through the same process of change as the phases of the moon, the cycles of vegetation and the times of day and night.
Thus, a deep contemplation of the impermanence of the outer world can lead to an understanding of how everything that arises or is born grows to reach plenitude, then gradually decays and fades away, just to leave space for a new appearance. And this happens in a continuous flux similar to the movement of the waves.
After that, concentrate on the changes in human history: countries and civilisations developed for hundreds of years, changed and disappeared. Knowledge, traditions, customs and lifestyles evolved through the centuries. No civilisation remains forever. Meditate also on the changes that take place nowadays, in our own world, and see how politics, economy, culture, and the social situation of the different countries are continuously changing, how the values of new generations replace the former ones. Think how along history so many times people tried to impose new ideas or lifestyles, hoping and believing that they were the best ones, the definitive ones. Revolution after revolution, war after war, men have gone through so many changes. But none of these systems lasted forever; sooner or later they all died out and new ones were substituted. Everything that flourishes ends up decaying and fading away; and whatever seems to be a terrible age of oppression or suffering also reaches an end and leads to an age of prosperity. Every civilisation has a spring, reaches a summer-like culmination and has a period of decay like autumn that ends up in the darkness of winter. It is not possible to maintain anything forever. No matter how much we like summertime we will never be able to stop the sun at that point in the sky.
Then try to apply the same method of examination to individuals and see how the same fundamental cycles of change take place in us. Focus your attention on your body and the bodies of other people. They change slightly from one day to the next. From one year to another people can look very different. From birth to death time goes by unceasingly, we age and decay continuously, like a flowing river or a candle flame. Life is the path towards death; death is the ultimate destination of the journey of life. This being the case, shouldn't we start planning what we are going to do when we arrive? What is the point of making so many plans about the landscapes that we find along our journey if, inevitably, we have to leave them behind? We came to life alone and naked and we will go alone and naked. What do we really own in this life? Everything we have is borrowed, even our body. Nothing really belongs to us. Knowing this, we should cultivate an attitude of detachment.
Even if we live a hundred years, it is very little compared to the infinity of time. On the other hand, death is forever; we will never be the same persons again, doing the same things. If we try the weight of life and death, death is overwhelmingly heavier and more powerful. We should consider death more carefully and not ignore it. Death is the boss, because life is always in the hands of death and it can never win. Death is all the time around, side by side to life, and it can show up at any time. If we are aware of this, we will have respect for death. Knowing that we are vulnerable, we will live humbly, preparing for death. In relation to this, our modern civilisation is very proud: we think we can dominate nature and we try to forget about death. Yet, most people still don't live more than seventy or eighty years. If we have respect for death, every day is like a miracle; we can drop all unnecessary activities and be fully alive.
B. Inner impermanence
Then, watch the impermanence of feelings. There is an unceasing flow of feelings arising and dissolving, one after another. 'Feeling' is just a stream of momentary mental events. Feelings are ephemeral and insubstantial. There is no real happiness or suffering in them. All the rest of mental factors too arise and subside continuously. The mental states we go through during a day are constantly changing. Our mind is all the time bubbling with new ideas and thoughts. Our personality, as well as the personality of other people, is in a permanent process of transformation.
Therefore, everything outside or inside - in other words, each one of the five aggregates - is just a succession of instantaneous origination and cessation, like the beads of a rosary, like flashes of lightning. Everything is a flow of changing elements. We cannot pinpoint the essence of a planet, of a civilisation, of a country or a person. They are all concepts we apply to changing factors, but there is nothing in itself that can stand as a fixed entity. All these changes have taken place in the past, they are going on right now and they will continue in the future: we are in the middle of constant transformations. The totality of existence is a flow of changes without essence, similar to clouds in the sky. The clouds can take different shapes, like animals and castles, but these shapes are changing all the time.
When you realize there is nothing you can grasp, rest your mind peacefully with this understanding. The mind is like the sky: the clouds are there, changing continuously, but the sky does not change. This is the purpose of the meditation: to be like space. The final understanding is that we are not affected, not involved; therefore, we should not be attached. In order to gain that understanding and reach that state, it is necessary to train gradually, following the different steps we have just depicted. The main point is to be all the time mindful of the stream of momentary outer and inner change, and let everything flow without attachment. Meditate step by step until you gain a clear certainty that all phenomena are just changing appearances, like passing clouds or like a succession of lightning. When that awareness is lost, again start analysing until you recover it and rest your mind 'in space'. Meditation is an alternation of analysis and resting.
C. Momentary impermanence
Meditation on impermanence leads to another understanding: there is nothing other than the present moment. All the changes that affected the past are finished. Whatever is going to be in the future is necessarily different from what is now. The past is over, the future is not here yet; the only reality we have is this present moment. When we see reality in this way, every instant is unique. There is no single particle in the entire universe that remains as it was the instant before; which means that every moment everything is new. The whole of our experience of reality is like an instantaneous flash of light. The next instant is a new flash. Every moment is created anew, like the succession of images composing a film.
We can have a more vivid experience of this when we are travelling: what we see through the window of the vehicle is always new; the view does not remain. Our life is like a journey: we constantly leave things behind in the past; they are gone, finished. Think of your life one year ago, how the experiences you had at that time were different from those you have now, and how they are over and gone. In the same way, think of the experiences of one month ago and of yesterday: see how the perception of reality you had has vanished; even what you were experiencing an hour ago is no longer there. None of these experiences can be repeated again. Five minutes ago, you were not the same person, and your experience was completely different (even though it could be similar) from what you are now. Every breath is a new breath, arising and ceasing.
Every instant everything we perceive is new, nothing stays the same. We live continuously on the tip of a needle. There is no line, no path leading from the past to the future. We have no more space than this tip of a needle that is the present instant, and each of these instants is unique.
At the same time, it contains an infinite potential: the potential of Enlightenment. Every moment we can either maintain an ignorant view of things or we can see their ultimate nature. If we are aware of this, we know that each instant has great potential. Normally we let it escape because we are not aware that we are sitting on the tip of a needle. We think in terms of continuity; imagining that we are coming from the past and going to the future, we are too concerned with things that do not really exist (because they no longer or do not yet exist) and that is why we cannot really be present. We are not fully there, completely aware of what is now; and we miss the potential of the present moment.
A candle flame seems to be all the time the same, but is totally different every moment. Everything flows unceasingly, like a river. We can't hold on to anything. Perceiving the rough and the subtle aspects of impermanence leads to a state of continuous attention with recognition of the true nature of the present moment. Rest your mind completely loose and detached on the only possible reality, the essence of the present moment that is like space, without being involved with the appearance of continuity and remembering that it is unique.
Life is an unceasing flow, like a river. We can't stop it. But somehow we think we can stop it. We are all the time building dikes in our minds. Then the water starts accumulating: we try to immobilise memories, thoughts, ideas or emotions generated in a particular moment; we think they are very important and try to keep them. In the end they become too big and powerful and they may overflow, splashing everybody outside. Or they may find the way out exploding like a volcano. Other times they do it slowly, like damp saturating the structure of a building until it becomes so soaked that it collapses or melts down. In the meantime the stagnant water starts to get rotten and smells bad. Our minds have a foul smell with all the resentments, unforgiven conflicts, bad feelings, bad memories and repressed or blocked negative emotions that we have accumulated. Each one of us has a personal perfume and a particular variety of smells. We all have a personal system of blockages and a way of releasing our tensions. All the accumulated stuff perfumes our mental continuum, even from one life to another.
If we are aware that no matter how solidly we try to build our dikes the water will burst out sooner or later, we realize that the healthiest way to live is to let things flow freely from the beginning, not trying to fix anything. We should try to cultivate an attitude of letting things pass and go. There is nothing we can really hold on to, because everything is impermanent. Be aware that what is past no longer exists and that the future has not yet come, and rest fully in the present moment, without any attachment to what goes on, in the same way that you are detached from the landscape you see passing by through the window while you are travelling. In other words, rest your mind in space, the only thing that is not impermanent.
Space is an excellent example because it is not attached to anything at all, it is completely free and at the same time it embraces everything. The main purpose of this meditation on impermanence, so far, is to develop non-attachment. In Buddhism we often talk about renunciation. Renunciation doesn't mean rejection. To renounce the world does not mean to reject the world or to live 'outside' the world. True renunciation consists in non-attachment and non-aversion, and this is being like space.
