Impermanence

304. RIVER OF LIFE

“All is flux; nothing stays still.”

HERACLITUS (C.535– 475BCE), GREECE

305. CHANGING SEASONS

“We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence: like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.”

CHUANG TZU (3RD CENTURY BCE), CHINA

306. PEACE OF KNOWING

“Many do not realize that all must one day die. In those who know this fact all strife is stilled.”

THE DHAMMAPADA

307. WHAT IS LIFE?

“It is a flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter time. It is the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.”

CROWFOOT (C.1830–1890), USA

308. THE MUSTARD SEED

Kisa Gotami, the wife of a rich man, had a beautiful little boy, whom she utterly adored. One day he fell ill and suddenly died. Kisa Gotami could not accept the reality of his death. She carried his body around in her arms, desperately seeking a cure for his “illness”. Eventually she was advised to seek help from the Buddha, whom she begged for medicine to cure her child. The Buddha understood the situation and said, “Ask one of your friends for a single mustard seed.” The woman was overjoyed. “But,” said the Buddha, “you can accept the seed only from a house where no one has died.” Kisa Gotami searched, but no one could help her – in every house, someone had died. Finally she returned to the Buddha, comforted by the understanding that she was not alone, and able to let go and cremate her child. She thanked the Buddha with tears in her eyes, and he accepted her thanks with tears of compassion in his own.

309. MOUNTAINS ARE MOLEHILLS

“In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds.”

ROBERT GREEN INGERSOLL (1833–1899), USA

310. UNIVERSAL TRUTH

“All things change; nothing perishes.”

OVID (43BCE–17CE), ROME