Impermanence and Permanence: The Path to Eternal Truth

The Fleeting Shadows of the World

The term impermanence is often used to lament the sudden passing of life or to describe unexpected events that catch us completely unprepared. When impermanence arrives, all worldly affairs come to a halt. At such moments, the heart is often filled with a complex mix of emotions, making it difficult to remain clear and calm. Impermanence is the very essence of karmic destiny and the fundamental basis of the six realms of existence. Everything in this world is in a state of constant flux. You should clearly understand that life is lived entirely within the laws of karma and cause and effect, which are themselves subject to this relentless change.

Because of impermanence, there is no permanent state in the world. Everything is changing every second, every fraction of a second, and every microsecond. The world is always in a dynamic state. Those with sufficient sensitivity can perceive these subtle changes. As your practice deepens and your Six Roots become purer, the functions of your Six Sense Organs will sharpen, allowing you to perceive even more minute changes in the world around you.

The Unceasing Dance of Karmic Flux

If you have achieved deep meditative concentration or have realised your true nature, you will always dwell in a state of permanence and stability. Not only can you perceive these extremely subtle changes, but you will also remain undisturbed by them. You will not be influenced by the changes in the external environment. Instead, you will be able to utilise your own energy to transform the various situations that arise within this shifting world and the cycle of rebirth. You will be able to transform the environment rather than being transformed by it. This means that your primary karmic retribution can transform your secondary environment, rather than being controlled by it.

Planning is an attempt to predetermine and map out the future. However, the world is inherently dynamic. No matter how carefully you plan, your plans can never keep pace with the changes of impermanence. Once you recognise this truth, look at how people in the world behave. They habitually create plans, especially regarding work progress, to provide a sense of direction for everyone. Yet, to cope with sudden changes, one must have the ability to adapt and adjust. Therefore, the world is in constant motion: the mind moves, people move, the internal organs move, and the entire circulatory system of cells and blood is in motion. The external people, matters, and things are all in a state of flux. This is the truth of the six realms of rebirth, where life and death never cease, and we continue to be reborn into new bodies.

Awakening to the Eternal Self

Any plans made for the sake of your physical body—whether for the present or the future—are illusory and not real. Because the physical body itself is subject to impermanence, how can it possibly follow a fixed plan? Even if you manage to follow a plan, it is merely something you were destined to experience in your life. The present and the future are even more subject to impermanence. Even if you make plans, when you look back after time has passed, you will realise how little actually followed your original intentions. Since this is the case, how should you live your life? How should you strive?

You should strive to rediscover your true self-nature. This is the only path that is real and the only thing worth doing. You should practise to return to a state of permanence and meditative concentration. You should work hard to save all beings, helping them leave suffering behind and find liberation, so that they may be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. These are the only actions that are truly meaningful. Do not waste your efforts on worldly matters that you cannot take with you when the time comes. In the end, everything will be empty, and all you will have gained is another cycle in the six realms of rebirth. It is simply not worth it.

Returning to the Stillness of the Pure Land

The purpose of practice is to break free from the shackles of the six realms of rebirth and the power of karmic retribution. Therefore, you must possess meditative concentration and not be swayed by the external environment or by your own Body, Speech, and Mind. In the structure of Chinese characters, the words for motion and chaos are often combined to form the term for turmoil. Where there is motion, there is chaos. Small motions lead to small chaos, and large motions lead to large chaos. You can practise in a state of stillness and order until you realise your true nature and see the truth of reality. When your heart is constantly in a state of meditative concentration, you can then step forward to perform the work of teaching and saving beings. Even when facing the various changes, difficulties, and turmoil of the external world, you will remain unmoved.

However, given the current situation in the world, before you have realised your true nature, you will often be practising amidst motion. At such times, you must have the guidance of a true spiritual friend and walk alongside fellow practitioners. Only then will you not lose your direction or, worse, allow spiritual obstacles to manifest without your knowledge, leading you to create negative causes and fall back into the cycle of rebirth.

The difference between the cycle of rebirth and true practice lies in the distinction between the unfixed and the fixed, between impermanence and permanence. The unfixed is suffering because impermanence is difficult to escape. Without constant meditative concentration, how can one be pure? The world is often murky and difficult to understand, which is why it is called the Five Turbidities and Evil World: the Kalpa Turbidity, the View Turbidity, the Beings Turbidity, the Life Turbidity, and the Affliction Turbidity. There is nothing in this world that is constant and unchanging. Family affection, friendship, romantic love, the relationships between rulers and subjects, husbands and wives, parents and children, friends, siblings, titles, academic degrees, power, status, worldly relatives, physical appearance, national territories, the mountains and rivers of the physical world, and all sentient and insentient things—none of these are unchanging. They are all impermanent. As we follow the cycle of life and death, we each create karma within the six realms of rebirth, turning endlessly. It is truly tragic.

By cultivating meditative concentration, one attains permanence. Those who have realised their true nature attain the state of Permanence, Joy, True Self, and Purity. The Permanence mentioned here is the eternal, unchanging, and constant state. For long kalpas, this Permanence has been layered with pollution by karmic causes and confusion, causing us to lose our original true nature. In its place, we have accepted impermanence and instability, which causes our original true joy to be obscured and transformed into various forms of suffering.

Now that the Buddha has come, students of Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre should listen to the Buddha’s words and follow the Buddha’s path. Seek to rediscover your true self-nature, join the Buddha in saving all beings from suffering, and follow your vows to return to the West. Namo Amituofo.

This message was recorded by the Buddha's disciple, Shi HaiZe.