Видение Непостоянства

     Question. – But there are people who still feel attached to impermanent things when they are present.

     [The king who was attached to his wife because old age would make her ugly]. – There was a king who had a wonderful wife who had been born from the womb of the earth. In the form of a ten-headed rākṣasa, she was about to cross the great ocean. The king was very sad. A wise minister consoled him: “The king is endowed with the power of knowledge (jñānabala) and he [knows well] that the queen will return very soon. Why does he feel sad?” The king replied: “What saddens me is not to think that my wife cannot return; I am only afraid [that on her return] her youth will already have passed.”
     In the same way, seeing beautiful flowers or lovely fruits about to fade, people are even more attached to them. Thus, when one knows that things are impermanent, one develops even more fetters (saṃyojana). How can you say that impermanence calls forth disgust (udvega) and breaks the fetters?

     Answer. – Seeing impermanence in that way is to understand only a small part of it (kaṃcid eva pradeśam) and not to realize it completely. You will be no different than the animals that see impermanence in this way. This is why, [here in the Prajñāpāramitasūtra], the Buddha tells Śāriputra that ‘the concept of impermanence must be completely perfected’ (anityasaṃjñā paripūrayitavyā).

     Question. – Then what is this ‘perfect’ concept of impermanence?

     Answer. – It is observing that conditioned dharmas (saṃskṛtadharma) arise and perish from moment to moment like dust blown by the wind, like water rushing down from the mountain, like the flame that is extinguished. Conditioned dharmas are without solidity or vigor; they cannot be grasped or retained; like magical fabrications (nirmāṇa), they deceive worldlings (pṛthagjana).

     Furthermore, before the Buddha appeared in the world, ordinary people used only conventional means to remove the disturbing emotions (kleśa). But today, when it is a question of uprooting the roots of the disturbing emotions (kleśamūla), the Buddha speaks of impermanence.
     Furthermore, heretical systems (tīrthikadharma) speak of deliverance (vimukti) when one is only apparently liberated from the five objects of enjoyment (pañca kāmaguṇa), but the Buddha has said: “It is on account of wrong concepts that one is bound up, and it is by considering the correct concept of impermanence that one is liberated (vimukta).“

  ... But the Buddha said: “These qualities (guṇa) all lead to fractions of nirvaṇa; however, the consideration of the impermanence of dharmas (anityānupaśyanā) is the true path to nirvāṇa.”484
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     484 Cf. Anguttara, IV, p. 46: Satt’ imā saññā bhāvitā bahulīkatā mahapphalā honti mahānisaṃsā amatogadhā amatapariyosānā.

     Finally, the concept of impermanence is synonymous with the noble Path (āryamārga). The Buddha designated the Path by all kinds of different names: sometimes he called it the four foundations of mindfulness (catvari smṛtyupasthānāni), sometimes he called it the four Truths (catvāri satyāni), sometimes the notion of impermanence.

     [Anityatāsūtra]. – This is what is said in a sūtra:

     “If the notion of impermanence is properly cultivated, it destroys all attachment to desire (kāmarāga), all attachment to subtle matter (rūparāga), all attachment to the formless (ārūpyarāga), all pride (asmimāna) and all ignorance (avidyā).”485
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     485 Literal citation from a sūtra in Saṃyukta (T 99, no. 270, k. 10, p. 70c6-7) entitled Chou king ‘Sūtra of the Tree’. Its correspondent is the Aniccatāsutta of Saṃyutta, III, p. 156, the wording of which is only slightly different: Aniccasañnnā bhikkhave bhāvita bahulīkatā sabbaṃ kāmarāgaṃ pariyādiyati sabbaṃ rūparāgaṃ pariyadiyati sabbaṃ bhavarāgaṃ pariyādiyati sabbaṃ avijjaṃ pariyādiyati sabbaṃ asmimānaṃ pariyādiyati samāhanti.

     It has as object (ālambate) the five aggregates of attachment (upādānaskandha) of the threefold world. It is associated with four dominant organs (indriya), except that of unpleasantness (duḥkendriya).487

     6) Concerning anitya, he said that it destroys desire (tṛṣṇā). – Concerning duḥkha, he said that it destroys pride of self (asmimāna). - Concerning anātman, he said that it destroys wrong views (mithyādṛṣṭi).514
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     514 Saṃyutta, IV, p. 147-148, expresses itself in an analogous manner: Understanding and seeing the six senses, the six objects, the six consciousnesses and the six contacts as aniccato suppresses wrong views (micchādiṭṭhi); seeing them as dukkhato suppresses the belief in the ‘I’ (sakkāyadiṭṭhi); seeing them as anattato suppresses all speculation on the self (attānudiṭṭhi).