32 Impermanence And Dependent Arising 24-Apr-2004

Lama Zopa Rinpoche says that the penultimate stanza in Praise to Shakyamuni Buddha contains two important meditations: causative phenomena are transitory, and they do not exist as they appear.
‘A star, a mirage, the flame of a lamp,
An illusion, a drop of dew, or a bubble,
A dream, a flash of lightning, a cloud-
See conditioned things as such!’
Rinpoche explains that the transitory nature of phenomena encompasses gross, subtle, and extremely subtle impermanence. Gross impermanence can be seen in how a flower wilts throughout the day or the ageing of our bodies over time. The changes that occur minute-by-minute and second-by-second are more subtle. Then, the changes within a second are extremely subtle.
In reality, these changes are occurring minute-by-minute, second-by-second and even within the second, but we have a hallucination of permanence. We believe the concept of permanence. According to our projection, this beautiful body or this beautiful flower will always be like this.
Rinpoche highlights that there’s a huge difference between following the thought of impermanence as opposed to permanence. If you practice mindfulness of this stanza, immediately you find peace in your heart. The minute you reflect on impermanence, desire is stopped. All your problems cease because you have no reason to cling to objects or get angry. In this way, you’re giving yourself freedom to achieve liberation. Conversely, when you follow the concept of permanence, you’re putting yourself in the prison of samsara. Thus, meditating on this stanza is unbelievably important.
Rinpoche details how phenomena don’t exist as they appear. It’s like an illusion. They exist in mere name, merely imputed by the mind. They do not exist from their own side.
Rinpoche talks about the extremely subtle borderline between whether the I exists or doesn’t exist. It’s not completely nonexistent, but it’s like nonexistent. He says it’s easy to think it doesn’t exist and fall into nihilism. Many famous meditators in the past either fell into nihilism or eternalism because they were unable to see the middle way. Rinpoche praises Lama Tsongkhapa for making the clearest explanation of the right view and clarifying the extremely subtle point of dependent arising. He says that this is one of the special qualities of Lama Tsongkhapa’s teaching.
Rinpoche urges us to practice recognizing the hallucination as hallucination. He says that if you hold onto things as true, then that becomes the basis for all the other delusions and the cause of samsara.
Find out more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, his teachings and projects at fpmt.org/