Quotes About Impermanence

Stupid, fragile mortals.

You make beauty and it disappears, I love that.

Mulier cupido quod dicit amanti, in vento et rapida scribere oportet aqua ((What woman says to fond lover should be written on air or the swift water)

The next best thing never last for too long

Why does everything that lives have to die? < So life would be precious, Asher. Something that is yours forever, is never precious.

We forget that every fervor will subside.

Don't wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow may be too late. If we know how to live according the insight of impermanence, we will not make many mistakes. We can be happy right now. We can love our beloved, care for her, and make her happy today. And we won't run toward the future, losing our life, which is available only in the present moment.

Concentration on impermanence and nonself leads to the insight of impermanence and nonself.

Con ng??i s? dÄ© l?n h?p trong kh? Ä'au là vì nh?n th?c sai l?m c?a mình: vô th??ng thì cho là th??ng, vô ngã thì cho là ngã, không sinh di?t thì cho là có sinh di?t, cùng chung má»™t tá»± tính mà l?i cho là riêng l? tách bi?t.

Touching the ultimate dimension is very important. The wave can live the life of a wave, but it can also do better. It can live every moment of its life deeply touching its nature of no-birth and no-death, that is, its nature as water. If the wave realizes that it is water, its fear disappears. It enjoys its rising and falling much more. Rising is joyful, and falling is, too.

You think that you will die in a few years, or twenty years, or thirty years. That's not true. You are dying now. You have been dying all the time. It's actually very pleasant to die, which is also to live.

When we are able to look deeply and let go of permanence, happiness, self, and purity, we arrive at insight. With this insight, instead of idealizing the object of our sensual desire, we can distinguish his or her true nature. We see that in essence he or she is impermanent, without a self, and impure—just like us.

The truth is, when we burn the paper, it will change into something else and will continue on in other forms—as ash, smoke, and heat, in our body and the universe. The heat is one of the next lives of the paper, as is the smoke rising to the sky. The ash will return to the earth and become part of the soil. So the sheet of paper, in its next life, might be a cloud and a rose at the same time.

But in the beginning, we can use the teaching, the notion of impermanence, as an instrument to help bring about the insight of impermanence. It's like a match and a flame. The match is not the flame, but the match can bring about the flame. And when we have the flame, the flame will consume the match. When we have the insight, the insight will burn away the notion. What we need for our liberation is the insight of impermanence.

If the human species has been able to make any progress, it is because of our heart of love and compassion. We need to learn from compassionate beings how to develop the practice of deep observation for the sake of others. Then others will be able to learn from us the way to live in the present and see the impermanent and selfless nature of all that is. This insight will lighten suffering.

It is not impermamence that makes us suffer. What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permament when they are not.

According to our narrow view of a truly existing self, life is just my body, my house, my spouse, my children, and my riches. But if we can extend beyond every limit we have created for ourselves, we will see that our life exists in everything, and that the deterioration of phenomena cannot touch that life, just as the arising and disappearing of the waves cannot influence the being of the water.

The five remembrances are: 1.  I am of the nature to grow old. I cannot escape growing old. 2.  I am of the nature to have ill health. I cannot escape having ill health. 3.  I am of the nature to die. I cannot escape death. 4.  All that is dear to me, and everyone I love, are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them. 5.  I inherit the results of my acts of body, speech, and mind. My actions are my continuation

The fourth notion to be removed is life span. We think that we exist only from this point in time until this point in time, and we suffer because of that notion. If we look deeply, we will know that we have never been born and we will never die. A wave is born and dies, is higher or lower, more or less beautiful. But you cannot apply these notions to water. When we see this, our fear will suddenly vanish.

By practicing nonattachment and sharing this wisdom with others, we give the gift of non-fear. Everything is impermanent. This moment passes. That person walks away. Happiness is still possible.

Life is suffering, but it is also wonderful. Sickness, old age, death, accidents, starvation, unemployment, and natural disasters cannot be avoided in life. But, if our understanding is deep and our mind free, we can accept these things with tranquility, and the suffering will already be greatly lessened.

The Buddha taught that when we call up and get in touch with the truth that we cannot escape old age and death, our fear—and the foolish things we do to try not to feel it—will cease.

We don't use our energy for the practice of transforming our afflictions and helping to relieve suffering in others and ourselves. One day, we'll be lying down on the bed, and even if we want nothing more than just to stand up and take one step, we won't be able to do it. That's why we must see right in the present moment that, having a body, surely we will get sick one day. Seeing this, naturally we will drop our arrogance about our good health.

Repeating a phrase like "Life is suffering" might help you notice when you are about to become attached to something, but it cannot help you understand the true nature of suffering or reveal the path shown to us by the Buddha.