Or is it just in Thai? there is a Thai teaching saying that don’t think about future too much because it’s “Anicca”
Anicca also means impermanence in Thai, but in this sentence, it means “anything can happen”
so is it just Thai, or is it also a Buddha teaching?
In the Buddhist sense I believe Anicca refers to the truth of the impermanence of the Saha World. As in, in every moment there is an Event Horizon (point of no return), then comes the flowing into the next moment.
This variance in explanation of Anicca also explains Anatta (No Self).
It may be rendered as inconstant. Imagine using a walking stick and having it disappear while leaning on it. You fall and hurt yourself. The essence of anicca is this. The things that you rely are unstable, and trying to create a lasting happiness based on them leads to metaphorically landing flat on your face.
Anicca dukka and anatta are characteristics of Sankata.
Sankata is dependent.
Anything dependent is Anicca.
So, yes, nothing is fixed.
1 Like
This is from Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo a Thai monk:
Anicca: It’s inconstant, unstable, always shifting precariously about."
There is an illusion in the way things are seen, they appear to have continuity in their present form and that is clung to. But in reality they are changing according to a cycle of birth, maturity, decline & death.
"But usually people say, ‘‘I love this glass so much, may it never break.’’ Later on the dog breaks it… ‘‘I’ll kill that damn dog!’’ You hate the dog for breaking your glass. If one of your children breaks it you’ll hate them too. Why is this? Because you’ve dammed yourself up, the water can’t flow. You’ve made a dam without a spillway. The only thing the dam can do is burst, right? When you make a dam you must make a spillway also. When the water rises up too high, the water can flow off safely. When it’s full to the brim you open your spillway. You have to have a safety valve like this. Impermanence is the safety valve of the Noble Ones. If you have this ‘‘safety valve’’ you will be at peace.
Standing, walking, sitting, lying down, practice constantly, using sati to watch over and protect the mind. This is samādhi and wisdom. They are both the same thing, but they have different aspects.
If we really see uncertainty clearly, we will see that which is certain. The certainty is that things must inevitably be this way, they cannot be otherwise. Do you understand? Knowing just this much you can know the Buddha, you can rightly do reverence to him."—Ajahn Chah
@Lee270107
Here is an essay by late Ven. Bodhesako regarding anicca as flux vs uncertainty. His argument that the traditional interpretation of anicca as flux, has nothing to do with the 3 poisons, 4 noble truths and suffering.
He says the doctrine of flux (everything is changing) is certain, and therefore expected and not producing dukkha.
But the doctrine of flux is a doctrine of certainty: everything is always changing. It is therefore a falsification of our manifest awareness of the world’s unreliability: things change when we expect (and wish) them not to. The need to hold to and proclaim this doctrine is thus revealed for what it is: not a coming to truth but a fleeing from it. In the face of the world’s insecurity the doctrine of flux is an attempt to retreat into a position of certainty.
I recommend reading the entire essay.
The suttas also imply the interpretation of uncertainty, hence death meditation meaning you could die with each and every breath, all it takes is for one part in your body to fail, and you’re no longer breathing, which happens to people daily such as aneurysm, heart valve failing, etc…
There’s also the future dangers sutta series starting at AN 5.77 where the Buddha gives examples of how you could die any moment.
Uncertainty means that no matter how much we try to predict and control things, we ultimately can never fully control the aggregates, so anicca as uncertainty fits well into no-self as no control.
1 Like
Paticcasamuppada is the principle derived from dependents.
Dependents and dependence are not seperate. They are so named to understand the principle of dependence and the result of dependence- the dependent.
Anicca also means impermanence in Thai, but in this sentence, it means “anything can happen” so is it just Thai, or is it also a Buddha teaching?
Not in Pali, no, I wouldn’t say so. The word anicca is very often listed with synonyms which mean impermanent, not “uncertain” or anything like that. For example, in AN4.33 when the devas realize they too must die, they conclude: “It seems that we are impermanent (anicca), transient, temporary.”
I’m aware of any context where your suggestions, @Lee270107, are fitting translations.
Of course, impermanence pragmatically implies uncertainty, but that’s not what the word anicca itself means.
3 Likes