Marcia Rose & Ajahn Chah on Impermanence is the Buddha

A reflection on practice by Marcia Rose

Today’s Dhamma reflection regarding Anicca/Impermanence comes from a condensed conversation the great Thai Meditation Master Ajahn Chah had with one of his aging disciples who was approaching death…

“Let go of all externals. Don’t go grasping at thought of your children & relatives, don’t grasp at anything whatsoever. Let go. Let the mind unite in a single point & let the composed mind dwell with the breath. Let the breath be its sole object of knowledge. Concentrate until the mind becomes increasingly subtle, until feelings are insignificant & there is great inner clarity & wakefulness. Then when painful sensations arise they will gradually cease of their own accord. Finally, you’ll look on the breath as if it was relative come to visit you.

“So let go of everything except the knowing. Don’t be fooled if visions or sounds arise in your mind during meditation. Don’t take hold of anything at all. Don’t worry about the past or the future, just be still & you will reach the place where there’s no advancing, no retreating & no stopping, where there’s nothing to grasp at or cling to. Why? Because there’s no self, no “me” or “mine”. It’s all gone. The Buddha taught us to be emptied of everything in this way, not carry anything with us. To know & having known… to let go.

Impermanence is the Buddha. If we see an impermanent phenomenon really clearly, we’ll see that it’s permanent, permanent in the sense that its subjection to change is unchanging. This is the permanence that all living beings possess… continual transformation from childhood through youth to old age. If you look at it like this, your heart will be at ease. It’s not just you that has to go through this, it’s everyone & everything.” Ajahn Chah

Through our practice & study of Anicca/Impermanence, we learn that things come together & fall apart endlessly. We are learning that whatever is occurring is neither the beginning nor the end. This is how it is & has always been from beginningless time. We can learn to be with this uncertainty with no clinging… to be with it all with a boundless open heart/mind. And we learn that the degree to which we hold onto… the degree with which we try to cling to any of our experiences, this is the degree with which we will suffer.

Through our practice we learn to accept how vulnerable we & all things are… & we learn to walk through our life fearlessly with GRATITUDE, LOVING-KINDNESS, COMPASSION, APPRECIATION, CREATIVITY, JOY & WONDER.

Thank you for your interest in & practice of the Dhamma.

With love, Marcia Rose

You can access DAILY-LIFE PRACTICES to go with all of Marcia’s articles in this series on the TMH website.