chapter 16 - Impermanence

Nowadays, the world has becoming ill, the living environment is getting unhealthy and the minds of many human beings are corrupted. Our body and mind are constantly being at a state of stress and imbalance.

The illness comes from the polluted environment is much less dangerous than the illness comes from the inner impurities and ignorance. The bodily system is being impacted and weakening by the impurities of the mind even if the body is living in a healthy environment. If the bodily system is strong, there is minimal risk of becoming sick in the physical body.

No doubt that the mental state is very much influencing the physical health condition, however, the body is inevitably decaying and weakening every moment after the growing period even under a healthy state of mind, is an ultimate truth.

We should not see the sickness of a human body or death is something bad, negative, sad or suffering. It is a very normal impermanent process of a physical body.

The nature of all beings and things in this existence of the world is forming, sustaining, decaying and disintegration, selflessly.

The physical body is going through born (forming), growth, decaying, illness, old age and death (disintegration). But there's no 'I' existing within all these impermanent changes.

It is like the water on earth (in the oceans, lakes and rivers either in the form of liquid or ice), and in the air (either in the form of clouds, rain, snow or mist). It is in a continuous changing process from liquid form to gas form or solid form and vice versa, through the process of evaporation and solidification due to heat and cold.

It is the same process that all kinds of names and forms of all sentient living beings and objects are going through from the very beginning of existence.

Everything (different types of names and forms) is under going changes every moment. This is the law of nature, impermanence.

Impermanent changes are the inevitable suffering regardless of the presence or absence of ignorance and egoism. Ignorant consequences deriving from ignorance and egoism is the unnecessary suffering that can be avoided.

However, the annihilation or the absence of ignorance and egoism will lead the mind towards transcending both inevitable and unnecessary suffering, when all desires of craving and aversion subsided.

There's neither craving towards pleasant/desirable changes nor aversion towards unpleasant/undesirable changes. All are impermanent.

The physical body can not remain in a same position for a long time, we need to change our position from time to time, if not we will start to feel pain and discomfort. Even when we are sleeping, we need to change the position unwittingly, or else we will get soreness here and there through out the body when we wake up.

Just by learning about our own self, through observing the body and mind and looking at the surrounding happenings, we are learning so much about the law of impermanence and selflessness. As we learn about ourselves, we can understand about other people as well. We will becoming more understanding, tolerant and forgiving. We will have less conflicts and tensions arising in ourselves.