Transcendence is its nature and comes in infinite varieties. It’s like a bouquet; each flower was once a seed that slowly transcended into bloom. To do that, they had to leap into otherness, becoming something new.
By Johnathon Lee
Buddha said, “All compounded things are impermanent,” but what is impermanence?
Impermanence and enlightenment are the same thing. That’s why Bodhi doesn’t actually take any effort. Being is being Awake. Enlightenment is self-transcendence, and all things naturally self-transcend. That’s what impermanence is.
When water boils, it transcends itself and becomes steam. Steam transcends itself and turns to rain—all compounded things are like this. We are compounded things too. We come and go depending on circumstances. We’re born like boiling water, and over the years we cool to room temperature and transcend ourselves.
Transcendence can be scary; death is its most poignant form.
The body transcends itself and becomes nature. Transcendence is its nature and comes in infinite varieties. It’s like a bouquet; each flower was once a seed that slowly transcended into bloom. To do that, they had to leap into otherness, becoming something new.
To read these words, your eyes have to move from the left to the right, and then back again.
With each motion, they transcend the space they were just in. They’re somewhere else, so they’re something else, something other than what they were. All things are transcendental. The clock frees itself with each wave of its arms. Understanding, experiencing and actualizing is a type of Buddha practice.
It takes the opposite of effort—intentional effortlessness. Focus on the effortless flow of the moment, the flow of your mind. See how it moves and stills, how thoughts and feelings rise up like waves whipped up by want. Aware of desire, desire disappears into awareness (because it is transcendent too).
Change takes no effort. It’s happening now. Simply be aware of it.
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