We are starting a new topic this month and we will be with this topic through June. The 3 Characteristics, impermanence, dissatisfaction and non-self, are as foundational to practice as the 3 Refuges. It doesn't take much thought to realize that we live in a conditioned world. Our reality comes together and falls apart depending upon the arising and falling of conditions. This impermanence is the essential characteristic of our reality. Nothing is permanent or reliable. This constant shifting, changing, and wobbling causes the human condition to be very irritating and dissatisfactory, like walking around with a rock in one’s shoes. To take this basic essence of human conditioning personally is destabilizing and leads to disappointment, frustration, and despair. 

The problem is not the truth of the everything I've said above, in fact, the common response to what I just said would be "duh." The problem is that even though we know this intellectually, we don't live within the truth of it. We live within the delusion that life is full of permanency; that a relatively easy, good life can be had by all, and that we are the center of the universe. If, however, we comprehend the truth that all existence is contained within the 3 characteristics, we come to understand experiences and situations we find ourselves in as they really are. Practicing with the 3 characteristics through meditation is the foundation for liberation from the torment of clinging to permanency in all its formations. This means that all practitioners need a personal relationship with these 3 characteristics. In other words, everyone needs to come to their own understanding of what these 3 characteristics mean to them.

One of the most easily comprehendible way to remember these characteristics comes from Ruth King. Her framing them as, "it ain't perfect, personal, or permanent," is a powerful mantra to remember and reflect upon as you move through your daily activities. Each month we will look at each characteristic to see their importance individually. At the end of the three months, we will look at how the inter-weaving of the 3 Characteristics is truly captured by Ruth King's framing.

Let's turn towards impermanence. Often we talk about impermanence like it's a given concept. Conceptually breathing is impermanent and we know this because of inhaling and exhaling. The wisdom of impermanence, however, is not tied to the fact that the breath comes and goes. It's tied to the fact that the formation of a human body is born and dies. We know this by feeling the rise and fall of the breath. Impermanence is itself tied to the nature of formations. It's not just a random philosophy.

Another way to think of this is that impermanence is tied to the Pali word sankhara. In its simplest form, sankhara means "joining together." It is the fundamental undercurrent of the co-arising nature of dependent origination. Buddha saw that everything that has form is conditioned upon the coming together of other conditions. So, any experience we have represents the coming together of conditions. It also means that the experience only exists as long as the conditions exist. The freeing aspect of this is that if we do nothing, conditions will change and the experience will pass away naturally.

Last piece to consider. Our ordinary mind tends to hold onto things that have an impact upon it. The mind will hold on (cling to) experiences it likes and dislikes. The body responds to the mind causing us to believe that we are reliving the experience. Long after the experience has naturally passed, the mind will relive it over and over and over forever. We mis-perceive this phenomena as reliving the experience, when in actuality we are reliving a thought.

Practicing with the truth of impermanence means learning to be still with experience and watch its natural arising and passing away. The more we learn to be present to this passing away of conditions, the more still (less reactive) we become to the arising of conditions. As we become stiller, we can more readily discern the arising and passing away of direct experience from our thoughts.

With a deep bow...

Tuere