Impermanence vs Everlasting Continuity

[Sanzon]

Hi all, I am not versed in Buddhist philosophy and would like to ask for some insight into the concept of impermanence.

 

In my experiences with people, they have used the concept of impermanence to not grasp onto things, and to remain an observer. In my mind however, I would imagine the concept of impermanence as being a state of constant change, flux & flow, where impermanence is the change, but the theme behind it is everlasting continuity.

 

For example, a mountain might seem permanent to a human who has grown from a child to an elder in its presence, yet, to the mountain, it has spent eons changing slowly. A rivulet of water slowly wearing a groove in the surface, a tiny bit of the mountain carried downstream becomes soil in which a tree extracts the mineral contents of the mountain, and that part of the mountain then becomes part of the tree, the tree fruits, a bird ingests & assimilates the fruit & therefore that part of the mountain, the bird reproduces, dies & turns into soil & so on. The mountain has now become larger than it was.

 

The same can be observed perhaps in thought. One thought can be gone in a moment, yet another may take seed and flourish, changing the world and how we think about things, for example philosophical constructs & traditions.

 

I would love to hear more about the relationship between impermanence & continuity if you have any thoughts to share.

 

Thanks.

Edited March 10, 2013 by Sanzon

[skydog]

.I think this was unrelated

Edited March 9, 2013 by sinansencer

[adept]

All you need to know is here:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/various/wheel186.html

 

of course this needs to be backed up with daily meditation.

Edited March 10, 2013 by adept

[Astral Monk]

Impermanence and continuity has to do with the nature of 'things'.

 

All 'things' exist as aggregates, composed of parts. It seems logical to say that if there are aggregates of parts, then there must be simples, or things that have no parts. But searching in the phenomenal world we do not and cannot find such simples. Every 'thing' we observe is yet another layer of aggregation, another composition of parts.

 

And, since aggregates must come together (from their parts), they must also fly apart (into parts). Thus no 'thing' is permanent, that is, all 'things' arise from other combinations of parts and ultimately resolve into combinations of parts.

 

No 'thing' is permanent, no 'thing' has continuity. You might say that the source of the projection of all phenomena, the observer that is aware of 'things', is the only true continuity. But, as soon as you attribute parts to this source, and understand it as a 'thing' in its own right, and suggest that this new 'inside' thing has continuity, you fall into error. Thus neither self nor object has permanence. Even though many things are long-lived, ie, they stay together without breaking apart for a long time, all of them must eventually decay and resolve into new combinations of parts.

 

Just like the mountain. It is not that the mountain is now part of the bird or the tree, but that the parts that were once assembled as a mountain are now assembled as another form. The mountain is just one form. It does not grow through the resolution of its parts. In essence, its form, like all forms, is empty, because it has no permanence--it came into being and will cease to be. And by coming to be and ceasing to be it only means that a bunch of stuff formed an aggregate in a certain pattern and later it will break apart into it components, and those components into their components and so on ad infinitum.

 

None of these parts or parts of parts or parts of parts of parts have a form or aggregation that is continuous throughout timespace. They are merely temporary combinations.

 

Hence there is never any 'thing' that has continuity and permanence, and we say that all 'things' are impermanent.

 

If we say the Tao is unchanging, we should know that the Tao is not a thing, does not arise, does not cease, has no form and is not formless--as all these states refer to combinations of parts, which the Tao hath none.

 

8)

Edited March 10, 2013 by Astral Monk

[XieJia]

impermanence is the nature

continuity is the perception of this nature

perceiving is impermanent

 

moutains, rivers and birds are but mental ruler we temproary use to communicate and percieve.