Impermanence

**Impermanence**, also known as the philosophical problem of **change**, is a philosophical concept addressed in a variety of religions and philosophies. In Eastern philosophy it is notable for its role in the Buddhist three marks of existence. It is also an element of Hinduism.

## Indian religion

The Pali word for impermanence, *anicca*, is a compound word consisting of *"a"* meaning non-, and *"nicca"* meaning "constant, continuous, permanent". While 'nicca' is the concept of continuity and permanence, 'anicca' refers to its exact opposite; the absence of permanence and continuity. The term is synonymous with the Sanskrit term *anitya* (a + nitya). The concept of impermanence is prominent in Buddhism, and it is also found in various schools of Hinduism and Jainism. The term also appears in the Rigveda.

### Buddhism

**Impermanence**, called **anicca** (Pāli) or **anitya** (Sanskrit), appears extensively in the Pali Canon as one of the essential doctrines of Buddhism. The doctrine asserts that all of conditioned existence, without exception, is "transient, evanescent, inconstant". All temporal things, whether material or mental, are compounded objects in a continuous change of condition, subject to decline and destruction. All physical and mental events are not metaphysically real. They are not constant or permanent; they come into being and dissolve.

Anicca is understood in Buddhism as the first of the three marks of existence (*trilakshana*), the other two being dukkha (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness) and anatta (non-self, non-soul, no essence). It appears in Pali texts as, *"sabbe sankhara anicca, sabbe sankhara dukkha, sabbe dhamma anatta"*, which Szczurek translates as, "all conditioned things are impermanent, all conditioned things are painful, all dhammas are without Self".

All physical and mental events, states Buddhism, come into being and dissolve. Human life embodies this flux in the aging process, the cycle of repeated birth and death (Samsara), nothing lasts, and everything decays. This is applicable to all beings and their environs, including beings who have reincarnated in deva (god) and naraka (hell) realms.

Anicca is intimately associated with the doctrine of anatta, according to which things have no essence, permanent self, or unchanging soul. The Buddha taught that because no physical or mental object is permanent, desires for or attachments to either causes suffering (dukkha). Understanding *Anicca* and *Anatta* are steps in the Buddhist's spiritual progress toward enlightenment.

Everything, whether physical or mental, is a formation (Saṅkhāra), has a dependent origination and is impermanent. It arises, changes and disappears. According to Buddhism, everything in human life, all objects, as well as all beings whether in heavenly or hellish or earthly realms in Buddhist cosmology, is always changing, inconstant, undergoes rebirth and redeath (Samsara). This impermanence is a source of *dukkha*. This is in contrast to nirvana, the reality that is *nicca*, or knows no change, decay or death.

Rupert Gethin on Four Noble Truths says:

>
> As long as there is attachment to things that are
>
> unstable, unreliable, changing and impermanent,
>
> there will be suffering –
>
> when they change, when they cease to be
>
> what we want them to be.
>
> (...)
>
> If craving is the cause of suffering, then the cessation
>
> of suffering will surely follow from 'the complete
>
> fading away and ceasing of that very craving':
>
> its abandoning, relinquishing, releasing, letting go.
>
>
>
>

### Hinduism

The term ***Anitya*** (अनित्य), in the sense of impermanence of objects and life, appears in verse 1.2.10 of the Katha Upanishad, one of the Principal Upanishads of Hinduism. It asserts that everything in the world is impermanent, but impermanent nature of things is an opportunity to obtain what is permanent (*nitya*) as the Hindu scripture presents its doctrine about Atman (Self). The term Anitya also appears in the Bhagavad Gita in a similar context.

Buddhism and Hinduism share the doctrine of *Anicca* or *Anitya*, that is "nothing lasts, everything is in constant state of change"; however, they disagree on the *Anatta* doctrine, that is whether Self exists or not. Even in the details of their respective impermanence theories, state Frank Hoffman and Deegalle Mahinda, Buddhist and Hindu traditions differ. Change associated with *Anicca* and associated attachments produces sorrow or *Dukkha* asserts Buddhism and therefore need to be discarded for liberation (*nibbana*), while Hinduism asserts that not all change and attachments lead to *Dukkha* and some change – mental or physical or self-knowledge – leads to happiness and therefore need to be sought for liberation (*moksha*). The *Nicca* (permanent) in Buddhism is anatta (non-soul), the *Nitya* in Hinduism is atman (Self).

## External links

* The Buddhist Philosophy of Universal Flux (1935) by Satkari Mookerjee
* All About Change by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
* Quantitative and qualitative change in text Philosophical Research
* Three marks of existence by Nyanaponika Thera
* Time and Temporality: A Buddhist Approach, Kenneth K. Inada (1974), Philosophy East and West
* What is impermanence? Buddhism for Beginners

5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 , **Quote:** "All phenomenal existence [in Buddhism] is said to have three interlocking characteristics: impermanence, suffering and lack of soul or essence."
8. ↑ Anicca Buddhism, Encyclopædia Britannica (2013);

Anatta Buddhism, Encyclopædia Britannica (2013);
10. ↑ Anicca Buddhism, Encyclopædia Britannica (2013)
13. ↑ Anatta Buddhism, Encyclopædia Britannica (2013)
14. ↑ [a]

[b] , **Quote:** "(...) anatta is the doctrine of non-self, and is an extreme empiricist doctrine that holds that the notion of an unchanging permanent self is a fiction and has no reality. According to Buddhist doctrine, the individual person consists of five skandhas or heaps - the body, feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness. The belief in a self or soul, over these five skandhas, is illusory and the cause of suffering."

[c] , **Quote:** "(...) Buddha's teaching that beings have no soul, no abiding essence. This 'no-soul doctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon."
20. ↑ Katha Upanishad 1.2.10, Wikisource; Quote: जानाम्यहं शेवधिरित्यनित्यं न ह्यध्रुवैः प्राप्यते हि ध्रुवं तत् । ततो मया नाचिकेतश्चितोऽग्निः **अनित्यै**र्द्रव्यैः प्राप्तवानस्मि नित्यम् ॥ १०॥
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, , page 283 with footnote 1