Early Buddhism dealt with the problem of impermanence in a very
rationale manner. This concept is known as anicca
in Buddhism, according to which, impermanence is an undeniable and
inescapable fact of human existence from which nothing that belongs
to this earth is ever free.
Buddhism declares that there are five processes on which no
human being has control and which none can ever change.
These five processes are namely, the process of growing old, of not
falling sick, of dying, of decay of things that are perishable and
of the passing away of that which is liable to pass. Buddhism
however suggests that escape from these is possible and it's
through Nirvana.
Buddhists did not believe in the existence of a permanent
and fixed reality which could be referred to as either God or
soul. According to them what was apparent and verifiable
about our existence was the continuous change it undergoes.
Thus Buddhism declares that in this world there is nothing that is
fixed and permanent. Every thing is subject to change and
alteration.
"Decay
is inherent in all component things," declared the
Buddha and his followers accepted that existence was a
flux, and a continuous becoming.
According to the teachings of the Buddha, life is comparable to a
river. It is a progressive moment, a successive series of
different moments, joining together to give the impression of one
continuous flow. It moves from cause to cause,
effect to effect, one point to another, one state of existence to
another, giving an outward impression that it is one continuous and
unified movement, where as in reality it is not. The river of
yesterday is not the same as the river of today. The river of this
moment is not going to be the same as the river of the next moment.
So does life. It changes continuously, becomes something or the
other from moment to moment.
