Much suffering is caused by attachments to “permanence”. We don’t want things to change. We like things the way they are. The new car is wonderful. We don’t want to grow old. When we attach to permanence we ignore the true nature of all things.
Looking at the flower deeply we can see they are made of non flower elements. Sun, minerals, water and all the elements that make up the soil are there. If you try and take one thing out of the flower there can be no flower. If we look deeply into the flower we see the universe.
We are like the flowers and plants and all living things when it comes to impermanence. We are all made of non self elements. When all the conditions for life are present, we live. When conditions are no longer present for life, we stop living.
These images can help us see the impermanence of plants and animals and help us see how we are connected to all beings and things on the earth and in the universe.
– RH 2019
The “Five Remembrances”
I am subject to aging. There is no way to avoid aging.
I am subject to ill health. There is no way to avoid illness.
I am going to die. There is no way to avoid death.
Everyone and everything that I love will change, and I will be separated from them.
My only true possessions are my actions, and I cannot escape their consequences.
– Buddha