Arising, vanishing, and change
Today, catch one thing arising, one changing, and one ending.
- Read · about 2 minutes
“Mendicants, the conditioned has these three characteristics.What three?Arising is evident, vanishing is evident, and change while persisting is evident.These are the three characteristics of the conditioned.”AN 3.47 · “Characteristics of the Conditioned” · tr. Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0)
From the text
The passage says the conditioned has three characteristics: arising is evident, vanishing is evident, and change while persisting is evident.
In everyday life
'The conditioned' is the text's word for anything that depends on causes: a cup of tea, a mood, a conversation, a body. The passage does not argue; it says these are evident, something you can see if you look. Three things can be seen: things arise, things vanish, and in between they change even while they seem to stay. The third is the interesting one. A friendship that is 'the same' is quietly shifting; so is a headache, a plan, a room as the light moves. This is the first day of a journey about change and letting go, and it starts by looking rather than by feeling anything in particular. Today's sit is a short arriving and settling. As you sit, sounds start and stop, breaths come and go, thoughts change shape. That is the passage in miniature. The action is to notice the same three movements in one ordinary thing.
- Sit · 3, 5 or 10 minutes
Arriving and Settling
Sit upright on a chair or cushion, hands resting in your lap. Read each cue as it appears; between cues you may close your eyes or lower your gaze.
- Live · during your day
Pick one ordinary thing today, a cup of something warm, a queue, a cloud, and watch it arrive, change while it lasts, and end.
- Reflect · this evening
What did you watch change while it lasted today, and what was that like?
Answer on paper, or in the app’s journal, which stays on your iPhone.