z:\ ambedkar\vol 011\vol11 04.indd MK SJ+YS 5 10 2013/YS 18 11 2013 240
240 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
- That is why the Buddha insisted upon the control of greed and craving.
III
§ 5. To believe that all compound things are impermanent is Dhamma
This doctrine of impermanence has three aspects.
There is the impermanence of composite things.
There is the impermanence of the individual being.
There is the impermanence of the self nature of conditioned things.
The impermanence of composite things has been well explained by the great Buddhist philosopher Asanga.
“All things,” says Asanga, “are produced by the combination of causes and conditions and have no independent noumenon of their own. When the combination is dissolved, their destruction ensures.
“The body of a living being consists of the combination of four great elements, viz., earth, water, fire and air, and when this combination is resolved into the four component elements, dissolution ensues.
“This is what is called the impermanence of a composite entity.”
Impermanence of the living individual is best described by the formula—being is becoming.
In this sense a being of a past moment has lived, but does not live nor will he live. The being of a future moment will live but has not lived nor does he live ; the being of the present moment does live but has not lived and will not live.
In short, a human being is always changing, always growing. He is not the same at two different moments of his life.
The third phase of the doctrine of impermanence is somewhat difficult for a common man to follow.
To realize that every living being will die sometime or other is a very easy matter to understand.