perspectives on Impermanence | There Is No Suffering

Not clinging to either the negative or the positive is correct Buddhadharma. The reason we lose hope when faced with failure, and get overexcited when meeting success, is that we cannot let go of our self importance. Whatever we cannot let go of becomes an obstruction. Buddhadharma espouses being aware of the reality of the moment, then letting it go. A young person is not yet old; an old person is not yet dead. Work with what you have, and do not resist change. Understanding that every moment, your life— indeed, the entire universe–is a dynamic process of birth, growth, decline, and death, will help to loosen your attachment to self. In turn, you will be hopeful in facing difficulties, composed when meeting success, and dedicated when fulfilling our obligations.
“Neither born nor destroyed” refers not only to physical life and death, but also to all phenomena. All things start to decay after coming into being–nothing remains unchanged. However, this truth need not make us despondent; we need not let the inevitable paralyze us. Once we are born, our body begins the process of dying, but in the meantime, we can use our body while life is present.

We can apply this attitude to all our interactions—whatever we encounter is also experiencing birth and death. From the point of view of sentient beings, the interim between birth and death that we call life, is our meaning of ‘no birth and no death. ‘ Birth and death permeate everything we are and do; therefore, for us they exist. When we are enlightened, there is no birth and no death. Enlightenment takes the expansive view, both temporally and spatially. Temporally, all phenomena arise and perish ceaselessly.

If everything is forever rising and falling, can we ever say something is here or gone? Spatially up close, things may appear to come and go, but from a great distance–another galaxy, for instance–do they really go anywhere? A basic principle of physics states that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed.

I told the woman whose son had died that the reality is that she had a son, and now he is gone. Her memories of him persist, but he is somewhere else. He may now even be someone else’s child. It would make things easier for her if she considered him her ex-son and move on. She said that it would be very difficult to think along that line. I told her she should nevertheless cultivate it as a method of practice.

As sentient beings, anything we encounter can generate feeling and emotion, repulsion or attachment. It is also difficult not to be swayed by relationships. A man told me his wife did not want children for fear of being overly attached to them. When her pet dog died, she grieved for a long time. When her visiting niece returned home after three months, she continued to miss the little girl. She said if she could grow so attached to a pet and a niece, how much more attached would she be to her own children! Indeed, it is difficult for ordinary sentient beings to maintain a mentality of no birth and no death, of accepting what life gives and takes away, without regret or remorse. Studying the Heart Sutra and putting its ideas to practice can help.

One can use this understanding of no birth and no death in different ways. If someone close dies, you can say “There is no ultimate death or destruction, therefore, I accept this person’s
death. This person’s memory lives in the hearts and minds of others still living. Famous or not, the person’s interactions with people leave an impact that lives on.” This is one perspective that is realistic and without attachment.

We can also think about birth and death as transformation-one phenomenon changing into another. ln the process nothing has been destroyed, nothing has increased or decreased. When water turns to ice, we should not regret that the water has disappeared; maybe the ice will serve us better Looking at the world and relationships in is this way is also a method of practice.

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