Nothing remains the same for two consecutive moments. Heraclitus said we can never
bathe twice in the same river. Confucius, while looking at a stream, said, "It
is always flowing, day and night." The Buddha implored us not just to talk
about impermanence, but to use it as an instrument to help us penetrate deeply
into reality and obtain liberating insight. We may be tempted to say that because
things are impermanent, there is suffering. But the Buddha encouraged us to look
again. Without impermanence, life is not possible. How can we transform our suffering
if things are not impermanent? How can our daughter grow up into a beautiful young
lady? How can the situation in the world improve? We need impermanence for social
justice and for hope.
If you suffer, it is not because things are impermanent.
It is because you believe things are permanent. When a flower dies, you don't
suffer much, because you understand that flowers are impermanent. But you cannot
accept the impermanence of your beloved one, and you suffer deeply when she passes
away.
If you look deeply into impermanence, you will do your best to make
her happy right now. Aware of impermanence, you become positive, loving and wise.
Impermanence is good news. Without impermanence, nothing would be possible. With
impermanence, every door is open for change. Impermanence is an instrument for
our liberation.