Impermanence Teaching
The Buddhist teaching that all conditioned phenomena are transient and subject to change.
Also known as: Anicca, Impermanence, Transience
Category: Concepts
Tags: philosophies, buddhism, wisdom, changes, acceptance
Explanation
Impermanence (anicca in Pali) is the Buddhist teaching that all conditioned phenomena are transient - arising, persisting briefly, and passing away. Nothing in experience or the world is permanent: bodies change, thoughts pass, relationships evolve, and all things eventually end. The teaching is: empirically observable (everything we examine changes), logically necessary (what arises must cease), and practically important (attachment to impermanent things causes suffering). Understanding impermanence leads to: reduced attachment (why cling to what must pass?), increased appreciation (knowing things end makes them precious), and acceptance of change (it's the nature of reality, not an aberration). The teaching doesn't make life meaningless but actually enriches it - awareness of impermanence encourages full engagement with present experience. Impermanence is listed as one of the three marks of existence along with suffering and non-self. For knowledge workers, understanding impermanence helps: accept career changes, appreciate current opportunities, and maintain equanimity as circumstances shift.
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