Impermanence by Thich Nhat Hanh

Nothing remains the same for two consecutive moments.
Heraclitus said we can never bathe twice in the same
river. Confucius, while looking at a stream, said:
"It is always flowing, day and night"

The Buddha himself implored us not just to talk about
impermanence but to use it as an instrument to help
us penetrate deeply into reality and obtain
liberating insight. We may be tempted to say that
because things are impermanent, there is suffering.
But the Buddha encouraged us to look again...
Without impermanence, life is not possible. How can
we transform our suffering if things are not
impermanent? How can our daughter grow up into a
beautiful young lady? How can the situation in the
world improve at all?

We need impermanence for social justice and for
hope. If you suffer, it is not because things are
impermanent. It is because you believe things are
permanent. When a flower dies, you don't suffer much
because you understand that flowers are impermanent.
But on the other hand, you cannot accept the
impermanence of your beloved ones and you suffer
deeply as a result.

Aware of impermanence, you become positive, loving
and wise. Impermanence is good news. Without
impermanence, NOTHING would be possible. With
impermanence, every single door is open for change.
We can look at impermanence as an instrument for
our liberation.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh is a vietnamese buddhist monk and the
author of dozens of books.In 1967, Martin Luther King
nominated Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize,
saying: "I do not personally know of anyone more
worthy of this prize than this gentle monk from Vietnam.
His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument
to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity!"