This too shall pass

This article is one of key concepts of Buddhism, impermanence.

Vipassana meditation as taught by Mr. SN Goenka stresses the experience of impermanence in our body to reach Nirvana - the state beyond suffering. According Sayagyi U Ba Khin, Mr. Goenka The Guru's consciousness is the real Anicca meditative experience of impermanence within our bodies .. This is a purification process, which leads the meditator to experience the peace nirvanic inside.

The impermanence is central to Buddhism, and indeed can be made the focus of anyone's personal philosophy as he or she is a lifetime. If we take the time to think - we know the world is impermanent. Actually there are impermanent. We are not the same people who were 20 years ago. All cells of our body, our appearance, our personality, our feelings and emotions, all our problems have changed. Naht Thich Hanh - the Zen Buddhist master - encourages us to think of ourselves as the ocean waves. The main feature of a wave is its transient nature - but it takes a moment and us. We all die one day and then it will be as if it never existed.

The importance of transience - anicca - and how it can be integrated into our lives is illustrated by the following story: -

A rich old man, died, leaving two children. They decided to separate all the properties that divides between them - fifty fifty. After all property issues have been resolved, the two brothers came across a small package carefully hidden from her father. The package contained two rings - a was an expensive diamond ring and the other was a normal silver ring costing only a few rupees.

Seeing the diamond ring greed developed his older brother and wanted the ring for himself. He explained his younger brother - This package is obviously a family heirloom and is not part of the joint family assets. Our father obviously wanted the diamond ring to be transmitted from generation to generation and stay within the family. Being the big brother I'll take the diamond ring. You better take the silver one.

The younger brother smiled and agreed.

The younger brother was curious why his father had kept the silver ring, which had little value. He pulled out the ring and examined it. One ring was written the words - "This too shall pass." The younger brother said: - Oh, this was the motto of my father - This too shall pass. He replaced the ring on her finger.

Time passed. Both brothers went through the ups and downs of life. The elder brother used to get very happy when spring came and he was prosperous. He lost his balance and developed greed and attachment. When the stage went well and was approaching the winter became very anxious. He needed medication and sleeping pills to sleep. When this did not help he completely lost his balance. He needed psychiatric treatment visits and electric shock. This was the brother with the diamond ring.

The younger brother, when spring came, but liked to recall the motto of his father - this will change. He has been linked to his situation, but enjoyed them while they lasted. When spring passed, he said - it was inevitable that in the past but it did. So what? Similarly, when approaching the winter becomes bad and the circumstances that did not become agitated but remember - this too shall pass. So he managed to keep his sense of balance with all the ups and downs of life and lived his life happy.

The Buddha himself once said: -

Faced with all the ups and downs of life,
Yet the mind remains unshaken,
Do not complain, does not generate contamination, always feeling secure,
This is the greatest happiness.

We all would do well to remember this lesson and its application to lead a happy life.