chapter 16 - Impermanence

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

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

Mental state is the chief influence for the physical health. But the body is decaying and weakening every moment after growing period until the death of the body, is an ultimate truth.

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

Within this physical body is an ever existing consciousness which has no birth, no decay, no sickness and no death.

The essence of all beings and things in this existence of the world is forming, sustaining, decaying and destruction.

Living beings are going through born, growth, decay (illness), and death. It is a continuous cycles of birth and death.

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) is always the same in the past or in the future. 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 as our consciousness is 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.

By the practice of detachment in the mind towards the six senses, the eyesight, the hearing, the smell, the taste, the touch and the thoughts, can lead us to transcend suffering.

We do not crave for the sensations that we like and not rejecting the sensations that we don’t like.

We learn to observe all kinds of sensations and not giving valuations to them.

We learn to treat both comfort and discomfort sensations equally.

Because all sensations come and go, they are impermanent in nature.

So is our 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 unconsciously if not we will get soreness here and there through out the body when we wake up.

Just by learning about our own self, through the body and mind and looking at the surrounding happenings, we are learning so much about the law of impermanence. 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 then.