Episode 93: Contemplating Impermanence

Of all the contemplative practices of Buddhism, it is said that the contemplation of impermanence is the most useful  •  dealing with change isn’t easy: we’d like to put things together and have them stay together  •  we tend to see change as disruption rather than as the way things are  •  but in reality, change is not a disruption, it is fundamental  •  change just is; it is the nature of everything  •  trying to hold onto the non-reality that one can prevent change creates a burden that depletes our strength and energy  •  traditionally, four different ways are presented to contemplate the truth of impermanence: every birth leads to a death  |  every meeting leads to a parting  |  everything created eventually is destroyed  |  every gathering eventually disperses  •  each of these contemplations brings us back to immediate experience, to a deeper understanding of what impermanence is really all about  •  we begin to not only accept change at a deeper level, but to actually appreciate and even celebrate the the vivid, life-filled reality of constant change that marks our existence.