Impermanence is one of the core teachings of Buddhism. It is another way of saying nothing is unchanging; every ‘thing’ is changing (really?). However, for the ordinary waking mind, knowing change is a challenge. What ordinary mind mostly knows is difference.
When you see a friend after a long separation it is common to say, or at least think, “My, how you’ve changed.” But what is being noticed is not change, it is difference. The difference between the mental construct provided by memory and the mental construct arising in response to current sensory input. It is a comparison between past and (sort of) present. That pesky mind of comparison again.
Noticing change is actually quite difficult, a yogic samadhic skill. One definition of samadhi is ‘single pointed concentration’; a high degree of attention focused on a particular. On one ‘thing’. Different wisdom teachings offer different ‘things’ as objects of focused attention. In Christianity, it may be an icon of Jesus or the Virgin Mary. In Advaita Vedanta it may be the person or image of the guru. In Vajrayana Buddhism it may be a complex mandala, or as in Shingon, a simple disk. In Early Buddhism advanced jnana samadhi involves contemplation of colors, then the elements of nature, then space, then…. In Zen it may be attention itself as the object of attention.
Whatever the focus of attention in samadhic practice, patience is necessary. Patience with oneself, with the world, with the confluence of apparent duality. Patience as presence without expectation, without the mind of comparison. No anticipation. No waiting for some ‘thing’ to happen or to be. Patience is not equanimity, being ‘ok’ with things-as-it-is, but the two are closely related.
Here’s an experiment in noticing change: on a still day sit comfortably and gaze at some level ground with few surface features like rocks or bushes. Find a straight shadow from a tree or a pole, something not swayed by an occasional breeze. The shadow is the particular on which the attention is focused. Be patient. Notice without comparing. Can you see the shadow as it moves across the ground? Or are you are seeing the difference between where it was a moment ago and where it is now? Can you see change, or can you only see difference?
This is a Dharma-gate opening. To first notice difference, then to notice change without difference, is a step in the right direction. Not yet impermanence but, pointing in that direction. It is like looking at a mirror made of impermanence, change the reflection on the surface, difference the reflected object. It IS possible with a patient mind of focused attention to “cut off the mind road” of before and after, embracing the kaleidoscopic wonder of change without difference. But this is not yet things-as-it-is, self as the mirror of impermanence. To see impermanence with the “eye of wisdom” is seeing the mirror, not the object or its reflection.
What is it that is not changing?