Quotes About Impermanence

Naming of things as they are, without embellishment, make approachable those afflictive emotions and heavy states that obscure the heart. We know that we can't let go of anything we don't accept, the noting brings us into the presence of that which often distracts us from the present. It allows the healing in. And as we observe the appearance of things, we more easily acknowledge their subsequent disappearance, and some come to an appreciation of impermanence.

The mind is in a constant state of flux. No thought, no feeling, no sensation lasts for more than an instant before it is transformed into the next state, next thought, the next sensation. Note those moments... As they pass through, note such states as confidence, bewilderment, effort, trust, distrust, pleasure, discomfort, boredom, devotion, inquiry, pride, anger, desire, etc.

The Mahaparinirvana Sutra says, "All things are impermanent. This is the law of appearing and disappearing. When appearing and disappearing disappear, then this stillness is bliss.

The less we cling to one side of reality—betting on either or or, arguing for for or against—the more we can be aware of the exquisite counterpoint of things. Everything matters: how we vote, how we tie our shoelaces, how we respond to the faintest whisper of a thought. And nothing matters, because (look!) it's already gone. When we understand this, we're home free.

Mortal lives are not stones. They are not seas. For impermanence to judge itself by the standards of permanence is folly. Or it is arrogance. Life merely is what it is, neither more nor less. To deem it less because it is not more is to heed the counsels of the Despiser.

We may also notice … each feeling … is transitory and impermanent. Eventually, through simple observation, our feelings, while no less vivid, will become less urgent, and will cease to have such a firm hold on our emotions and actions. We will be able to see each feeling as it arises without feeling compelled to act on it.

There are two kinds of ignorance: blindness and self-deception. Blindness is ignorance of the basic realities of existence: impermanence, dukha, and selflessness. … Self-deception is our belief that we can know intellectually what things are. 'Oh! That's water,' we say. 'Hydrogen and oxygen.' And then we dismiss the actual experience of the moment. ([I]f you really want to know what water is, just take a drink, or go for a walk in the rain, or take a swim.)

W]e long for something permanent … Yet … experience provides nothing but change.

We imagine that things come into existence, endure for a while, and then pass out of existence

Whatever you can point to – a physical thing, a person, a thought, an emotion – … [a]ll of them change. Even memory shows constant flux and change.

There is only … eternal arising and ceasing – but … no thing that comes or goes.

We are like music. … Music exists … in constant flux and flow. Once the movement stops, the music is no more.

this desire to hold on, to somehow stop change in its tracks, is the greatest source of woe and horror and trouble in our lives.

All we ever find is the arising and ceasing of the world as it has come to be now. When you snap your fingers, it's already gone. All that persists is thus. Thus is not an object of mind but Mind Itself.

The issues of what a self is, how long it will last, what will happen when our bodies decay and consciousness flickers off, are all based not on what we actually see but on what we imagine.

To assume the existence of a self, an 'I', is to assume the existence of something that has not changed … . … [I]f the thing in question – the 'I' – has changed, in what manner can it still be itself?

Good times come and go. And bad times do the same.

B]ecause of change, what we love continues to appear, and what we hate never lasts forever.

If we're human, we habitually conceptualise our experience, thus conceiving a self. … [T]his self 1) is unlocatable, 2) contradicts direct experience, 3) is … impossible[.]

Every atom, every minuscule part of the universe is nothing other than movement and change.

Most of us see ourselves as corks floating in a stream … [T]his is yet another frozen view. According to this … , everything … changes except the cork. While we generally admit to changes in our body, our mind, our thoughts, our feelings, our understandings, and our beliefs, we still believe 'I' myself doesn't change. I'm still me … an unchanging cork in an ever-changing stream. This is precisely what we believe the self to be – something that doesn't change.

I]f we see the fleeting nature of all things without overlaying what we see with concepts, … the notion of a permanent self doesn't occur. … [T]here's still thought and sensations, there's no notion of a permanent self – only a peace of mind and fearlessness.

In fixing] on the idea of a universe full of separate, unchanging, persistent things … [w]e also necessarily conceive that each thing must die, must one day come to an end. … [W]hen that thing is the imagined 'I', this prospect naturally terrifies us.

Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse, nothing lasts forever.