Reality of impermanence in Buddhism

Impermanence refers to the temporary and uncertain nature of much of what people perceive as reality. People often cling to the illusion of stability and permanence in their lives. Still. a deeper examination reveals that everything is constantly changing—even those things they perceive as solid and unchanging. This assumption of certainty sharply contrasts with one of the fundamental insights of Buddhism. Despite the reality of continuous change, people often mistakenly invest in multiple aspects of life as if they are fixed and certain, as modern life has insulated them from this basic truth. They build stupendous structures that seem eternal and enduring institutions meant to outlast generations, and technological systems that promise to solve all problems.

- By Dr. Justice Chandradasa Nanayakkara

Transience is the universal law of all phenomenal things, and it teaches us that nothing remains the same for two consecutive moments. Buddha observed, “Impermanent are all things. They arise and cease, that is nature; They come into being and pass away. Release from them is bliss supreme” (D 157). “Everything that the nature of arising has the nature of ceasing,”

Impermanence is a fundamental concept in Buddhism and many other spiritual traditions. This idea is not solely religious or exclusive to Buddhism; it can also be found in Christianity. For example, James, the brother of Jesus, writes in the New Testament, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are but a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14). Additionally, in the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Jesus states, “All that is born, all that is created, all that is composed, shall be decomposed.”

The concept of impermanence is, therefore, something that is empirically verifiable and observable throughout the entire universe. No other religious teacher or philosopher has articulated the reality of impermanence as profoundly as the Buddha. It is a sublime truth and the crux of Buddhist philosophy. Everything in this world transforms and ultimately perishes. Nothing remains constant, even for a single moment.

What is built eventually crumbles and falls, whoever is born will eventually die, and what comes together will ultimately separate and fall apart. All things change, nothing ever stays the same. Change is the essence of life and the essence of existence. It is the inescapable reality. In other words, nothing—divine or human, animate or inanimate, organic or inorganic is permanent, stable, unchanging, or everlasting.