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This too shall pass
By Nikhil Gangoli
This article is about one of the key concepts of Buddhism,
Impermanence.
Vipassana meditation as taught by Mr. S N Goenka stresses
on the experience of impermanence within our own bodies to
attain Nirvana ¨C the state beyond suffering. According to
Sayagyi U Ba Khin, Mr. Goenka's Guru The awareness of
Anicca
is the actual meditational experience of impermanence within
our own bodies. . This is a purification process, which leads
the meditator to experience the nirvanic peace within himself.
Impermanence is central to Buddhism, and in fact can be
made the
central point of anyone's personal philosophy as he or she
goes
through life. If we take the time to think - the world that we
know is impermanent. In fact we ourselves are impermanent.
We are
not the same persons that we were 20 years back. All the
cells in our
body, our appearance, our personality, our feelings and
emotions, our
problems all have changed. Thich Naht Hanh - the Zen
Buddhist master -
encourages us to think of ourselves as waves in the ocean.
The
chief characteristic of a waves is its transitory nature - it lasts
but a moment and so do we. We will all die one day and then
it will
be as if we had never existed.
The importance of impermanence - anicca - and how it can be
integrated within our lives is illustrated by the following story:
-
A rich old man died leaving two sons. They decided to
separate
dividing all the properties between themselves ¨C fifty fifty.
After all the matters related to property were settled the two
brothers came across a small packet carefully hidden by the
father. The packet contained two rings ¨C one was an
expensive
diamond ring and the other was an ordinary silver ring costing
only a few rupees.
Seeing the diamond ring the elder brother developed greed
and
desired the ring for himself. He explained to the younger
brother ¨C This packet is obviously a family heirloom and not
part of the joint family property. Our father evidently desired
the diamond ring to be passed on from generation to
generation
and stay within the family. Being the elder brother I will take
the diamond ring. You had better take the silver one.
The younger brother smiled and agreed.
The younger brother was curious as to why the father had
preserved
the silver ring, which had very little value. He took out the ring
and examined it. One the ring was written the words ¨C "This
too will
pass". The younger brother said ¨C "Oh this was the motto of
my father
¨C This too will pass. He replaced the ring on his finger.
Time passed. Both brothers went through the ups and downs
of life.
The elder brother used to get highly delighted when spring
came and
he was prosperous. He lost his balance and developed greed
and
attachment. When the good phase went away and winter
approached he
became highly anxious. He needed to medication and sleeping
pills
to be able to sleep. When that did not help he completely lost
his
balance. He needed visits to the psychiatrist and electric
shock
treatments. This was the brother with the diamond ring.
The younger brother when spring came, enjoyed it but
remembered his
father's motto ¨C This too will change. He did not get attached
to
his circumstances but enjoyed them while they lasted. When
spring
passed he said to himself ¨C It was inevitably going to pass
and now
it has done so. So what? Similarly when winter approached
and
circumstances became bad he did not become agitated but
remembered
- This too will pass. Thus he was able to preserve his sense of
balance through all the ups and downs of life and lived his life
happily.
The Buddha himself said once: -
When faced with all the ups and downs of life,
Still the mind remains unshaken,
Not lamenting, not generating defilements, always feeling
secure,
This is the greatest happiness.
All of us would do well to remember this lesson and apply it so
as to
lead a happy life.
About the Author
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