Editing Impermanence

{{Short description|Philosophical concept}}
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{{Disputed|date=April 2022}}
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[[File:056 Teaching Impermanence (9014223736).jpg|alt=impermanence|thumb|A Buddhist painting displaying Impermanence]]

'''Impermanence''', also known as the [[philosophical problem]] of '''change''', is a philosophical concept addressed in a variety of [[religion]]s and [[philosophies]]. In [[Eastern philosophy]] it is notable for its role in the [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] [[three marks of existence]]. It is also an important element of [[Hinduism]]. In [[Western philosophy]] it is most famously known through its first appearance in [[Greek philosophy]] in the writings of [[Heraclitus]] and in his doctrine of [[Panta rhei (Heraclitus)|''panta rhei'']] (everything flows). In Western philosophy the concept is also referred to as ''[[Becoming (philosophy)|''becoming'']].

==Indian religions==
The [[Pali]] word for impermanence, ''anicca'', is a compound word consisting of ''"a"'' meaning non-, and ''"nicca"'' meaning "constant, continuous, permanent".<ref name="DavidsStede1921p355"/> While 'nicca' is the concept of continuity and permanence, 'anicca' refers to its exact opposite; the absence of permanence and continuity. The term is synonymous with the Sanskrit term ''anitya'' (a + nitya).<ref name="DavidsStede1921p355"/><ref name=buswelllopez47/> The concept of impermanence is prominent in Buddhism, and it is also found in various schools of Hinduism and Jainism. The term also appears in the [[Rigveda]].<ref>{{cite book|author=A. C. Paranjpe|title=Self and Identity in Modern Psychology and Indian Thought|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yJwSBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA172 |year=2006|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-0-306-47151-3|page=172}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Martin G. Wiltshire|title=Ascetic Figures Before and in Early Buddhism: The Emergence of Gautama as the Buddha |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WXmmkYQf4RwC&pg=PA136 |year=1990|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-009896-9|pages=136 note 14}}</ref>

===Buddhism===
{{Main|Impermanence (Buddhism)}}
[[File:Buddhist Wheel of Life.jpg|alt=impermanence of life|thumb|According to Buddhism, living beings go through many births. Buddhism does not teach the existence of a permanent, immutable soul. The birth of one form from another is part of a process of continuous change.{{fact|date=July 2022}}]]
'''Impermanence''', called '''anicca''' (Pāli) or '''anitya''' (Sanskrit), appears extensively in the Pali Canon<ref name="DavidsStede1921p355"/> as one of the essential doctrines of [[Buddhism]].<ref name="DavidsStede1921p355" /><ref name="gombrich47">{{cite book|author=Richard Gombrich|title=Theravada Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jZyJAgAAQBAJ|year=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-90352-8|page=47}}, '''Quote:''' "All phenomenal existence [in Buddhism] is said to have three interlocking characteristics: impermanence, suffering and lack of soul or essence."</ref><ref name="buswelllopez42">{{cite book|author1=Robert E. Buswell Jr.|author2=Donald S. Lopez Jr.|title=The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DXN2AAAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-4805-8|pages=42–43, 47, 581}}</ref> The doctrine asserts that all of conditioned existence, without exception, is "transient, evanescent, inconstant".<ref name="DavidsStede1921p355" /> All temporal things, whether material or mental, are compounded objects in a continuous change of condition, subject to decline and destruction.<ref name="DavidsStede1921p355">{{cite book|author1=Thomas William Rhys Davids |author2=William Stede |title=Pali-English Dictionary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Guw2CnxiucC |year=1921 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1144-7 |pages=355, Article on '''Nicca''' }}</ref><ref name="buswelllopez47">{{cite book|author1=Robert E. Buswell Jr.|author2=Donald S. Lopez Jr.|title=The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DXN2AAAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-4805-8|pages=47–48, Article on ''Anitya''}}</ref> All physical and mental events are not metaphysically real. They are not constant or permanent; they come into being and dissolve.<ref name="Billington2002p56">{{cite book|author=Ray Billington|title=Understanding Eastern Philosophy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dACFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA56|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-79348-8|pages=56–59}}</ref>

===Hinduism===
The term '''''anitya''''' (अनित्य), in the sense of impermanence of objects and life, appears in verse 1.2.10 of the ''[[Katha Upanishad]]'', one of the [[Principal Upanishads]] of Hinduism.<ref>[https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/कठोपनिषदत्/प्रथमोध्यायः/द्वितीयवल्ली Katha Upanishad 1.2.10], Wikisource; Quote: जानाम्यहं शेवधिरित्यनित्यं न ह्यध्रुवैः प्राप्यते हि ध्रुवं तत् । ततो मया नाचिकेतश्चितोऽग्निः '''अनित्यै'''र्द्रव्यैः प्राप्तवानस्मि नित्यम् ॥ १०॥</ref><ref name=Deussen283>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120814684}}, page 283 with footnote 1</ref> It asserts that material world is impermanent, but impermanent nature of things is an opportunity to obtain what is permanent (''nitya'') as the Hindu scripture presents its doctrine about [[Atman (Hinduism)|Atman]] (Self).<ref name="GombrichScherrer2008p209"/><ref name=Deussen283/><ref>{{cite book|author=Max Muller|title=The Upanishads|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kPmtToN8D7EC|year=1884|publisher=Oxford University Press (Reprinted Dover Press, 2012)|isbn=978-0-486-15711-5|page=9, verse 1.2.10}}</ref> The term Anitya also appears in the [[Bhagavad Gita]] in a similar context.<ref name="GombrichScherrer2008p209">{{cite book|author1=Richard Francis Gombrich|author2=Cristina Anna Scherrer-Schaub|title=Buddhist Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U7_Rea05eAMC|year=2008|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-3248-0|pages=209–210}}</ref>

In Chapter 2 of the [[Bhagavad Gita]], [[Krishna]] elucidates a profound spiritual truth to [[Arjuna]], emphasizing the distinction between the eternal nature of the [[Ātman (Hinduism)|atman]] (soul) and the transient, perishable nature of the material world. [[Krishna]] conveys that while the body is subject to decay and death, the soul remains undying and unchanging. This teaching serves as a foundational philosophy in [[Hinduism]], encouraging detachment from material concerns and an understanding of the true, eternal self. This insight is pivotal for Arjuna, as it reorients his perspective from the battlefield's immediate concerns to the broader, spiritual dimensions of existence, urging him to perform his duty without attachment to the outcomes.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Bhagavad Gita |date=2007 |publisher=Nilgiri Press |isbn=978-1-58638-019-9 |editor-last=Easwaran |editor-first=Eknath |edition=2nd |series=The classics of Indian spirituality |location=Tomales, CA |pages=83,84, and 86}}</ref>

Buddhism and Hinduism share the doctrine of ''Anicca'' or ''Anitya'', that is "nothing lasts, everything is in constant state of change"; however, they disagree on the ''Anatta'' doctrine, that is whether Self exists or not.<ref name="Billington2002p56"/> Even in the details of their respective impermanence theories, state Frank Hoffman and Deegalle Mahinda, Buddhist and Hindu traditions differ.<ref name="HoffmanMahinda2013p162"/> Change associated with ''Anicca'' and associated attachments produces sorrow or ''Dukkha'' asserts Buddhism and therefore need to be discarded for liberation (''nibbana''), while Hinduism asserts that not all change and attachments lead to ''Dukkha'' and some change – mental or physical or self-knowledge – leads to happiness and therefore need to be sought for liberation (''[[moksha]]'').<ref name="HoffmanMahinda2013p162">{{cite book|author1=Frank Hoffman |author2=Deegalle Mahinda |title=Pali Buddhism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pSNeAgAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-78553-5 |pages=162–165 }}</ref> The ''Nicca'' (permanent) in Buddhism is [[Anattā|anatta]] (non-soul), the ''Nitya'' in Hinduism is [[Ātman (Hinduism)|atman]] (Self).<ref name="GombrichScherrer2008p209"/>

==Western philosophy==
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Impermanence first appears in [[Greek philosophy]] in the writings of [[Heraclitus]] and his doctrine of ''[[Panta rhei (Heraclitus)|panta rhei]]'' (everything flows). Heraclitus was famous for his insistence on ever-present change as being the fundamental essence of the universe, as stated in the famous saying, "No man ever steps in the same river twice".<ref>This is how Plato puts Heraclitus' doctrine. See ''Cratylus'', 402a.</ref> This is commonly considered to be a key contribution in the development of the philosophical concept of [[Becoming (philosophy)|becoming]], as contrasted with "being", and has sometimes been seen in a dialectical relationship with [[Parmenides]]' statement that "whatever is, is, and what is not cannot be", the latter being understood as a key contribution in the development of the philosophical concept of [[being]]. For this reason, Parmenides and Heraclitus are commonly considered to be two of the founders of [[ontology]]. Scholars have generally believed that either Parmenides was responding to Heraclitus, or Heraclitus to Parmenides, though opinion on who was responding to whom has varied over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries.<ref name="Palmer">{{cite book|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/parmenides|title=Parmenides|others=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]|author=John Palmer|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|year=2016}}</ref> Heraclitus' position was complemented by his stark commitment to a [[unity of opposites]] in the world, stating that "the path up and down are one and the same". Through these doctrines Heraclitus characterized all existing entities by pairs of contrary properties, whereby no entity may ever occupy a single state at a single time. This, along with his cryptic utterance that "all entities come to be in accordance with this ''[[Logos]]''" (literally, "word", "reason", or "account") has been the subject of numerous interpretations.

Impermanence was widely but not universally accepted among subsequent Greek philosophers. [[Democritus]]' theory of atoms entailed that assemblages of atoms were impermanent.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/democritus/#2|title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|chapter=Democritus|year=2016|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University}}</ref> [[Pyrrho]] declared that everything was ''astathmēta'' (unstable), and ''anepikrita'' (unfixed).<ref name="auto">{{cite book |last=Beckwith |first=Christopher I. |title=Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2015 |pages=22–23 |url=http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s10500.pdf |isbn=9781400866328}}</ref> [[Plutarch]] commented on impermanence saying "And if the nature which is measured is subject to the same conditions as the time which measures it, this nature itself has no permanence, nor "being," but is becoming and perishing according to its relation to time.<ref>Plutarch, ''On the “E” at Delphi''</ref> The [[Stoicism|Stoic]] philosopher, [[Marcus Aurelius]]' ''[[Meditations]]'' contains many comments about impermanence, such as “Bear in mind that everything that exists is already fraying at the edges, and in transition, subject to fragmentation and to rot.” (10.18)<ref>[https://www.phillipwells.com/2015/04/marcus-aurelius-on-impermanence.html Marcus Aurelius on impermanence]phillipwells.com April 2015 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531120317/https://www.phillipwells.com/2015/04/marcus-aurelius-on-impermanence.html |date=31 May 2019 }}</ref>

[[Plato]] rejected impermanence, arguing against Heraclitus:<ref>[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]] Paragraph 440 sections c-d.</ref><blockquote>How can that be a real thing which is never in the same state? ... for at the moment that the observer approaches, then they become other ... so that you cannot get any further in knowing their nature or state .... but if that which knows and that which is known exist ever ... then I do not think they can resemble a process or flux ....</blockquote>

Several famous Roman Latin sayings are about impermanence, including ''[[Omnia mutantur, nihil interit|Omnia mutantur]]'', ''[[Sic transit gloria mundi]]'', and ''[[Tempora mutantur]]''.

==In arts and culture==
* [[Akio Jissoji]]'s [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] [[Auteur theory|auteur]] [[film]] ''[[Mujo (film)|Mujo]]'' (also known as ''This Transient Life'') owes its title to the doctrine of Impermanence.
* ''Impermanence'' is the title of a novella written by Daniel Frisano.
* "Impermanence" is the title of the 7th track on ''[[For Those That Wish to Exist]]'' by [[Architects (British band)|Architects]].

==See also==
{{cols|colwidth=26em}}
* [[Reality in Buddhism]]
* ''[[Hōjōki]]''
* ''[[Mono no aware]]''
* ''[[The Tale of the Heike]]''
* ''[[Wabi-sabi]]''
* [[Philosophy of space and time]]
* [[Process philosophy]]
* [[Temporality]]
* ''[[Vanitas]]''
{{colend}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
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{{wiktionary|impermanence}}
*[https://www.wisdomlib.org/buddhism/book/the-buddhist-philosophy-of-universal-flux/ The Buddhist Philosophy of Universal Flux (1935)] by Satkari Mookerjee
*[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/change.html All About Change] by [[Thanissaro Bhikkhu]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190709094922/https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/various/wheel186.html Three marks of existence] by [[Nyanaponika Thera]]
*[https://www.jstor.org/stable/1398020 Time and Temporality: A Buddhist Approach], Kenneth K. Inada (1974), Philosophy East and West

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[[Category:Buddhist philosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Change|*]]
[[Category:Concepts in ancient Greek philosophy of mind]]
[[Category:Metaphysical properties]]
[[Category:Concepts in the philosophy of mind]]
[[Category:Concepts in the philosophy of science]]
[[Category:Hindu philosophical concepts]]