Anicca - Perturbation

“Anicca” is a common Buddhist term. It is familiar to almost every Buddhist. It entails the ultimate teaching of the Buddha and carries a deep meaning; thus it cannot be easily understood. But we must try to understand it because it is fundamental to Buddhism. It is important to try to understand it. Depending on the depth of our understanding we can achieve happiness in both our spiritual and social lives. Great benefit is guaranteed even if it is only understood superficially or temporarily.

The word anicca means that every living and non-living thing is continuously moving forwards, as part of a process of arising and ceasing-to-be. Anicca is the nature of perturbation (vikaara). It is the nature of non-existence (abhaava), temporary existence (taaakaalika, anaddhaniya, acirat.t.hitika) and decay (khaya). Everything has such a nature. That is why the Buddha said that everything is anicca.

We ordinary people can notice the nature of anicca when we see or hear of the death of a living thing and when we encounter a change from a good situation to bad situation. That is, we notice prominently bad aniccas. Actually the birth of a living thing and a change from bad situation to good situation are also anicca because they are movements or changes in life.

And the Buddha said that all the sa.nkharas are anicca. In this regard sa.nkhaara is everything created and controlled -- every life created and controlled by kamma, everything made by man, everything made by weather, nature and so on. In a word everything created and controlled by anything is sa.nkhaara a which is anicca, movement or change.

Life created and controlled by kamma is continuously moving. Life moves from youth to old age, from convenience to inconvenience, and from inconvenience to convenience. We greet and we depart. We feel happy and again we cry. We win and we lose. We are swimming in the pool of change. We are always busy with movements.

The whole world of anicca can never stand still in any situation. It is always moving or changing.

Wise people can contemplate the unavoidable nature of anicca when their relatives and close friends die and when they lose something they like, for example when a cup is accidentally broken. And thus they console themselves.

We are unhappy when we encounter bad situations in life. However we can console ourselves if we can see that bad situations are components of life, which are anicca.

To look at this from another perspective, we are unhappy because of our lobha, greed or attachment to things in life. According to the theory of the Four Noble Truths suffering or unhappiness (dukkha-sacca) is rooted in greed or attachment (samudaya-sacca). Greed is reduced when the nature of anicca is contemplated or understood. And consequently, when the greed is reduced, suffering or unhappiness is reduced.

When one can understand the nature of anicca completely, his/her greed is utterly uprooted. He/she is an arahant who has only physical suffering but no more mental suffering or unhappiness in his/her life which is the last existence for him or her.

To understand anicca is to understand the nature or to understand reality as it is. Anicca naturally exists itself. This nature was discovered by the Buddha. And thus anicca became the Buddha's teaching. Though it is the Buddha's teaching, it is concerned with everyone and everything. It is not for Buddhists only. It can be accepted by everyone, Buddhists and non-Buddhists.

In Buddhism the practice of insight meditation (vipassanaa) is the only way (ekaayana) leading to nibbaana, freedom from all kinds of suffering and unhappiness. When one practices insight meditation, he/she needs to see the three characteristics of everything namely anicca, dukkha (suffering) and anatta (no-soul). These characteristics are related to one another. The Buddha said what is anicca is dukkha; and what is dukkha is anatta (Yadaniccam. tam. dukkham., yam. dukkham. tadanattaa). When one of the three characteristics is understood, the remaining two are also understood. And, in the Jentettheragaathaa (Khuddaka Nikaaya), the Buddha recommended his monks to pay more attention to the practice of anicca-meditation. That is why it is important to understand the nature of anicca.

Regardless of whether the nature is accepted or understood or not, it is always functioning. No one can escape the power of nature prior to understanding it. We should try to understand the nature of anicca so we can free ourselves form it.

Ashin Acara

Read also the same topic written in ျမန္မာဘာသာ (အနိစၥ).