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Impermanence (Pāli: अनिच्चा anicca; Sanskrit: अनित्य anitya; Tibetan: མི་​རྟག་​པ་ mi rtag pa; Chinese: 無常 wúcháng; Japanese: 無常 mujō; Korean: 무상 musang; Thai: อนิจจัง anitchang, from Pali "aniccaŋ") is one of the essential doctrines or three marks of existence in Buddhism. The term expresses the Buddhist notion that all of conditioned existence, without exception, is in a constant state of flux. The Pali word anicca literally means "inconstant", and arises from a synthesis of two separate words, 'Nicca' and the "privative particle" 'a'.^[1] Where the word 'Nicca' refers to the concept of continuity and permanence, 'Anicca' refers to its exact opposite; the absence of permanence and continuity.

Impermanence[link]

Anicca or impermanence is understood by Buddhists as one of the three marks of existence, the others being dukkha (unsatisfactoriness) and anatta (non-selfhood).^[2] All things in the universe are understood by Buddhists to be characterised by these three marks of existence. According to the impermanence doctrine, human life embodies this flux in the aging process, the cycle of birth and rebirth (samsara), and in any experience of loss. This is applicable to all beings and their environs including devas (mortal gods). The Buddha taught that because conditioned phenomena are impermanent, attachment to them becomes the cause for future suffering (dukkha).

Conditioned phenomena can also be referred to as compounded, constructed, or fabricated. This is in contrast to the unconditioned, uncompounded and unfabricated nirvana, the reality that knows no change, decay or death.

Impermanence is intimately associated with the doctrine of anatta, according to which things have no fixed nature, essence, or self. For example, in Mahayana Buddhism, because all phenomena are impermanent, and in a state of flux, they are understood to be empty of an intrinsic self (shunyata).^[3]

Practical implications - meditation[link]

One method Buddhists use to cultivate awareness of the true nature of reality is that of vipassana meditation. The practice of vipassana meditation involves the development of a heightened state of awareness whereby one is able to understand clearly the true nature of reality. Here, 'true nature' refers to an understanding of the three marks of existence (see above), the true nature of impermanence, the true nature of unsatisfactoriness and the true nature of insubstantiality or the non-self or soul. The contemplation of impermanence (anicca-nupassana) refers to seeing conditioned phenomena arising and passing away while observing their individual characteristics. According to the Visuddhimagga, one should understand three aspects of this contemplation: impermanence (anicca ), the characteristic of impermanence (anicca -lakkhana), and the contemplation of impermanence (anicca-nupassana). The commentaries say that we should know three things regarding the contemplation of impermanence (anicca-nupassana):^[4]

Quotes[link]

The five aggregates, monks, are anicca, impermanent.

All is impermanent. And what is the all that is impermanent? The eye is impermanent, visual objects [ruupaa]... eye-consciousness... eye contact [cakku-samphassa]... whatever is felt [vedayita] as pleasant or unpleasant or neither-unpleasant-nor-pleasant, born of eye-contact is impermanent. [Likewise with the ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind] (SN 35.43/vol. iv, 28)

All formations are impermanent

Whatever is subject to origination [samudaya] is subject to cessation [nirodha] (MN 56)

In arts and culture[link]

• Akio Jissoji's Buddhist auteur film Mujo (also known as This Transient Life) owes its title to the doctrine of Impermanence.

Further reading[link]

• Hodge, David and Hodge, Hi-Jin. Impermanence: Embracing Change Snow Lion Publications.

See also[link]

Buddhism[link]

• Three Marks of Existence
• Reality in Buddhism

Japan[link]

• Hōjōki
• Mono no aware
• The Tale of the Heike
• Wabi-sabi

European[link]

• Heraclitus
• Omnia mutantur
• Tempora mutantur

References[link]

External links[link]

• All About Change by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
• Three marks of existence by Nyanaponika Thera

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010)

Ajahn Brahm
Ajahn Brahm (front left)
School	Theravada
Personal
Nationality	British
Born	(1951-08-07) 7 August 1951 (age 60) United Kingdom
Senior posting
Based in	Bodhinyana Monastery
Title	Venerable Ajahn Brahmavamso Mahathera
Religious career
Website	http://www.ajahnbrahm.org/

Ajahn Brahmavamso Mahathera (known to most as Ajahn Brahm), born Peter Betts in London, United Kingdom on 7 August 1951, is a Theravada Buddhist monk. Currently Brahm is the Abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery, in Serpentine, Western Australia, the Spiritual Director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia, Spiritual Adviser to the Buddhist Society of Victoria, Spiritual Adviser to the Buddhist Society of South Australia, Spiritual Patron of the Buddhist Fellowship in Singapore, and Spiritual Patron of the Bodhikusuma Centre in Sydney.

Early life[link]

Peter Betts came from a working-class background and went to Latymer Upper School. He won a scholarship to study Theoretical physics at Cambridge University in the late 1960s. After graduating from Cambridge he taught in high school for one year before traveling to Thailand to become a monk and train with the Ajahn Chah Bodhinyana Mahathera. Brahm was ordained in Bangkok at the age of twenty-three by the Abbot of Wat Saket. He subsequently spent nine years studying and training in the forest meditation tradition under Ajahn Chah.

Bodhinyana Monastery[link]

Brahm was invited to Perth, Australia by the Buddhist Society of Western Australia to assist Ajahn Jagaro in teaching duties. Initially they both lived in an old house in the suburb of North Perth, but in late 1983 purchased 97 acres (393,000 m²) of rural and forested land in the hills of Serpentine south of Perth. The land was to become Bodhinyana Monastery (named after their teacher, Ajahn Chah Bodhinyana). Bodhinyana was to become the first dedicated Buddhist monastery in the Southern Hemisphere and is today the largest community of Buddhist monks in Australia.^{[citation needed]} Initially there were no buildings on the land, and as there were only a few Buddhists in Perth at this time, and little funding, the monks themselves began building to save money. Brahm learnt plumbing and bricklaying and built many of the current buildings himself.

In 1994, Jagaro took a sabbatical leave from Western Australia and disrobed a year later. Left in charge, Brahm took on the role and was soon being invited to provide his teachings in other parts of Australia and South-East Asia. He has been a speaker at the International Buddhist Summit in Phnom Penh in 2002, and at three Global Conferences on Buddhism. He also dedicates time and attention to the sick and dying, those in prison or ill with cancer, people wanting to learn to meditate, and also to his Sangha of monks at Bodhinyana. Brahm has also been influential in establishing Dhammasara Nuns' Monastery at Gidgegannup in the hills north-east of Perth to be a wholly independent monastery, where the Sri Lankan trained, Australian nun Ajahn Sr. Vayama is currently abbess.

Bhikkhuni ordination[link]

On 22 October 2009 Brahm facilitated an ordination ceremony for bhikkhunis where four female Buddhists, Venerable Ajahn Vayama, and Venerables Nirodha, Seri and Hasapanna, were ordained into the Western Theravada bhikkhuni sangha. The ordination ceremony took place at Ajahn Brahm's Bodhinyana Monastery at Serpentine (near Perth, WA), Australia. For his actions of 22 October 2009, on 1 November 2009, at a meeting of senior members of the Thai monastic sangha, held at Wat Pah Pong, Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand, Brahm was removed from the Ajahn Chah Forest Sangha lineage and is no longer associated with the main monastery in Thailand, Wat Pah Pong, nor with any of the other Western Forest Sangha branch monasteries of the Ajahn Chah tradition.^[1]

Achievements[link]

Whilst still a junior monk, Brahm was asked to undertake the compilation of an English-language guide to the Buddhist monastic code - the vinaya - which later became the basis for monastic discipline in many Theravadan monasteries in Western countries. Currently Brahm is the Abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery, in Serpentine, Western Australia,^[2] the Spiritual Director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia, Spiritual Adviser to the Buddhist Society of Victoria, Spiritual Adviser to the Buddhist Society of South Australia, Spiritual Patron of the Buddhist Fellowship in Singapore, Spiritual Patron of the Bodhikusuma Centre in Sydney.

In October 2004, Brahm was awarded the John Curtin Medal for his vision, leadership and service to the Australian community by Curtin University. He is currently working with monks and nuns of all Buddhist traditions in the Australian Sangha Association.

Publications[link]

• Opening the Door of Your Heart: And Other Buddhist Tales of Happiness. Also published as Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?: Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life's Difficulties. (2005). Wisdom Publications. Also published in Indonesia as Si Cacing dan Kotoran Kesayangannya in 3 volumes, vol.1 (2010), vol.2 (2011), vol.3 (2012) ISBN 0-86171-278-1
• Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond: A Meditator's Handbook. (2006). Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-275-7
• The Art of Disappearing: Buddha's Path to Lasting Joy. (2011). Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-668-X

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ajahn Brahm

• Brahm, Ajahn (27 March 2007). "Buddhism, the only real science". Daily News (Sri Lanka). http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/03/28/fea04.asp. 
• Egan, Colleen (18 June 2001). "Monk caught up in fire and brimstone". The Australian. 
• Franklin, Dave (11 May 2003). "Religion with a humorous twist". The Sunday Times (Perth, Australia). 
• Horayangura, Nissara (28 April 2009). "The bhikkhuni question". Bangkok Post. http://www.bangkokpost.com/leisure/leisurescoop/15800/the-bhikkhuni-question.  The full transcript from the 28 February 2009 interview is available on Buddhanet [1]
• Pitsis, Simone (27 July 2002). "Brahm's symphony is the sound of silence". The Australian. 
• Ranatunga, D. C. (4 February 2007). "Be good, be happy". Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) 41 (36). ISSN 1391-0531. http://www.sundaytimes.lk/070204/Plus/009_pls.html. 
• "Few minutes of meditation, good way to start". Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) 41 (40). 4 March 2007. ISSN 1391-0531. http://www.sundaytimes.lk/070304/KandyTimes/517_kt1.html. 
• Ranatunga, D. C. (9 December 2007). "Meeting Ajahn Brahm in a relaxed mood". Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) 42 (28). ISSN 1391-0531. http://www.sundaytimes.lk/071209/Plus/plus0008.html. 
• Smedley, Tim (3 May 2007). "What HR could learn from Buddhism". People Management 13 (9): 14. ISSN 1358-6297. 
• Wettimuny, Samantha (21 January 2007). "Sharing the Dhamma in his own unique style". Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) 41 (34). ISSN 1391-0531. http://www.sundaytimes.lk/070121/Plus/012_pls.html. 

External links[link]

• Ajahn Brahm's official website

Jeffrey Hopkins (born 1940) is a distinguished^[1] American Tibetologist. He is Emeritus of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia, where he taught for more than three decades since 1973.^[2] He has authored more than twenty-five books about Tibetan Buddhism, among them the highly influential Meditation on Emptiness,^[3] which appeared in 1983, offering a pioneering exposition of Prasangika-Madyamika thought in the Geluk tradition. From 1979 to 1989 he was the Dalai Lama's chief interpreter into English^[4] and he played a significant role in the development of the Free Tibet Movement.^[5] In 2006 he published his English translation of a major work by the Jonangpa lama, Dolpopa, on the Buddha Nature and Emptiness called Mountain Doctrine.^[6]

Notes and references[link]

Works[link]

• Lati Rinpochay & Hopkins, Jeffrey (1985) Death, Intermediate State and Rebirth, Ithaca: Snow Lion

External links[link]

• Audio Interview Series on BuddhistGeeks.com

Assemblage 23
Tom Shear is Assemblage 23
Background information
Origin	Seattle, Washington, United States
Genres	Futurepop Industrial music Electro-industrial Synthpop Electronic Body Music
Years active	1988–present
Labels	Gashed! Metropolis Accession Records
Website	www.assemblage23.com
Members
Tom Shear

Assemblage 23 is an electronic act from the United States, currently based in Seattle. It was founded in 1988 by Tom Shear who writes the music and lyrics and does the recording himself.

History[link]

1980s–1990s (Pre-Assemblage 23)[link]

Prior to starting Assemblage 23, Shear experimented with music under the name Man on a Stage, beginning in the early 1980s. Most of Shear's music at this point was instrumental, as he lacked the confidence to sing; the quality of the music itself was highly questionable by his own admission. Shear eventually began to add vocals to his music; at the same time, Shear was also playing bass in a live band called the Advocates.

Assemblage 23 was officially born in 1988, after Shear experienced the industrial dance music played by an opening DJ for Depeche Mode. The style of this genre deeply impressed Shear; he believed he had finally found the sort of sound he wanted for his music.^[1] Even so, the project was more of a hobby for Shear at this point; it took until 1998 for Assemblage 23 to gather enough positive acclaim to attract the attention of record labels.

Late 1990s – early 2000[link]

Shear signed a deal in 1999 with the Canadian label Gashed! to for a full-length album (Contempt, released in November 1999). A second album, Failure, followed in March 2001 and was released by Gashed in North America and Accession Records in Europe. A single from Failure, "Disappoint", was released on Accession in October 2001. The song dealt with Shear's sense of loss after his father's suicide on October 28, 1999 and features a sample from the film In the Line of Fire.

After falling out with Gashed Records following Failure, Shear signed with US label Metropolis Records (US) later in 2001; Metropolis re-released Contempt and Failure in November. A remix release, Addendum, was also released in November only on Accession. By this point, Assemblage 23 had become fairly popular within the EBM genre; the third album, Defiance, was released in October 2002 on Metropolis and Accession, preceded by the single "Document", in September of that year.

Assemblage 23 released a fourth album, Storm, in October 2004 with singles "Let the Wind Erase Me" in August and "Ground" in November.

Mid 2000 – present[link]

In March 2007, Assemblage 23 released a new single, "Binary", which debuted at #21 on the Billboard US singles chart, preceding the album Meta, released in April 2007.

Also in 2007 saw the release of "Early Rare & Unreleased"^[2] which is a collection of 14 Assemblage 23 tracks taken from the years 1988–1998. In 2009, "Early Rare & Unreleased Volume Two" was released.

Assemblage 23 performed at Montreal's Kinetik Festival in May 2009. In September 2009, Assemblage 23 released the single "Spark," followed by its sixth studio album Compass.

The upcoming album "Bruise", is scheduled for release on June 12, 2012.^[3]

Discography[link]

Demo cassette[link]

• Demo, Fall 1998 – (CS demo) 1998 – no label

Studio albums[link]

• Contempt – (CD album) 1999 – Gashed! • (CD album) 2000 – Accession Records • (CD album) 2001 – Metropolis
• Failure – (CD album) 2001 – Gashed!, Metropolis, Accession Records
• Defiance – (CD album) 2002 – Metropolis, Accession Records • (CD album) 2005 – Irond
• Storm – (CD album) 2004 – Metropolis, Accession Records • (CD) 2005 – Irond
• Meta – (CD album) 2007 – Metropolis, Accession Records, Irond
• Compass – (CD album) Oct. 2009 – Metropolis, Accession Records, Irond
• Bruise – (CD album) June 2012– Metropolis, Accession Records, Irond

Remix albums, EPs[link]

• Addendum – (CD) 2001 – Accession Records

Early, Rare, & Unreleased collections[link]

• Early, Rare & Unreleased 1988–1998 – (CD, Ltd. Edition) 2007 – 23db
• Early, Rare & Unreleased: Volume Two – (CD, Ltd. Edition) 2009 – 23db

Singles[link]

• "Disappoint" – (CD, Maxi) 2001 – Accession Records
• "Document" – (CD Maxi) 2002 – Accession Records
• "Let the Wind Erase Me" – (CD Maxi) 2004 – Metropolis, Accession Records
• "Ground"– (CD Maxi) 2004 – Metropolis, Accession Records
• "Binary" – (CD Maxi) 2007 – Metropolis, Accession Records
• "Spark" – (CD Maxi) Sept. 2009 – Metropolis, Accession Records

See also[link]

• Nerve Filter, a side project by Shear.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Official MySpace
• Human.Not.Machine Official Forum
• Metropolis Records
• Accession Records
• Unofficial Releases, Remixes and Compilations