Impermanence and mortality
idea · 2 works · 2 mentions · 5 anchored passages
how swiftly all things vanish · impermanence · mortality · the fleeting instant · transience of life
in the texts
Meditations
A recurring meditation on the brevity and transience of bodies, fame, and life itself.
Remember besides that each man lives only this present, the fleeting instant;
How swiftly all things vanish — in the universe the bodies themselves, and in time the memory of them.
Of human life, the time is a point, the substance flowing, the perception dim, the composition of the whole body quick to rot, the soul a whirligig, fortune hard to foretell, and fame a thing past all judging.
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa
The doctrine that all beings, unions, and possessions are transient and death is universally certain.
yet with the revolution of the seasons, the life-breath of living beings is eroded.
"As two pieces of driftwood come together on the great ocean, and then, at the appointed time, drift apart again—
"As for ripe fruits there is no fear other than falling, so for a man who is born there is no fear other than death.