False perception of
permanence arises from conceiving apparent continuity:
Buddha once said:
Aniccānupassanam bhāvento
niccasaññam pajahati...
When developing the contemplation of
Impermanence (Anicca),
one gradually overcomes the false perception of permanence...
One cannot easily observe the characteristic of Impermanence, since it is
obscured and
concealed by apparent continuity: Mind falsely conceives:
This is the same
as it was before...
One then wrongly perceives all psycho-physical phenomena as existing permanently and
not
correctly as a
sequence of discrete states ever arising and ceasing...
The stage of Viewing:
By training one can observe the solidity, fluidity, heat and
motion within ones own body
or
externally as changing states by noting their beginning, middle and end.
Example: Noting the beginning, middle and end
of the breath coming in or
going out!
The stage of Comprehending:
One then comprehends this breath, this materiality is not the
same from moment to moment.
Nor is any other
solidity, fluidity, heat or motion, the same from moment to moment...
Nor is any observing mind, thought or any mental state, the same from moment to
moment...
Whether internally or externally: All this is only discrete states arising and
ceasing...
Such cannot be lasting happiness... Such cannot be regarded as an
essentially same self...
Such change is therefore suffering... Such transience is therefore no-self...
The stage of Gaining Insight:
By observing wisely and repeatedly one thus understands, that all
formations, all phenomena,
all conditioned constructions inherently are permeated with the 3
characteristics of:
1:
Impermanence (Anicca),
2:
Suffering (dukkha),
and
3:
Selflessness (anatta)...
Insight dawns when noting & knowing the
Dissolution of all phenomena (bhanga-ñāna),
which gives rise to noting & knowing the
Danger within all existence (ādinava-ñāna)...
By noting the impermanence of all internal form, feeling, perception,
mental construction
and consciousness, one can generalize and extend this observed
impermanence to also be
dominant in all external form, feeling, perception, mental construction
and consciousness.
One can furthermore infer, that all phenomena in the past was impermanent,
and so also
will all phenomena in the future be impermanent. This expands & matures
the comprehension.
The result of
contemplating Impermanence is absence of distortion (vipallāsa):
The false perception of permanence actually comes from an -a
priori- conceptual notion:
"All phenomena are permanent and endures as the same from moment to
moment..."
This distortion of perception (sañña-vipallāsa)
- arised from ignorance - then by repetition
then distorts
thinking (citta-vipallāsa),
which then later solidifies into a distortion of
view (ditthi-vipallāsa): One
then perceives, thinks and views: Formations are all lasting!
This false conviction have been reified and reinforced through numberless
accounts
of existence, since a indiscernible beginning, and is thus deeply ingrown
and imbedded
in mind. However this triple distortion of perception, thinking and
viewing can be broken
by repeated reasoned observation of & reflection on the universal aspect
of impermanence.
This requires
rationally directed
attention
(yoniso
manasikāra) and
clear
comprehension
(sati-sampajañña)
and leads to knowing and regarding all
formations with a pleasant
imperturbable
equanimity...
(sankhara-upekkhā-ñāna)...
More on this universal impermanence, inconstancy, and inevitable Transience
(Anicca):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Impermanence_Anicca.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Contemplating_Impermanence.htm
Anicca (Impermanence) According to Theravada
Buddhism (Bhikkhu Ñanamoli)
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/various/wheel186.html
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/a/anicca.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Transient_formations.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_Internal_Transience.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_External_Transience.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Perceiving_Transience.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Experiencing_Impermanence.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Experiencing_Universal_Transience.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Transient_formations.htm
