According to the Buddha, the world we live in is transient. Whether we refuse to admit this or not, nevertheless our world, including this temporal body of ours, is always changing and impermanent, passing away in time; ceasing to exist, eventually. It could be either very slow change or a sudden change from one state to another.
The Buddhist doctrine of a transient world is the most salient example of what is unreal; a position difficult to refute. Why is this so? It is because every thing is nothing in itself when we begin to examine it. This thing before us is dependent upon other things. It is a creation, constructed from many different elements. Because of this condition, it is something that is not real in itself. For example, the human body consists of trillions of cells, and various organs including a bone structure, muscles, tendons, etc. It has many parts, in other words. In addition, it also depends upon other things outside of it such as water and air, not to mention food.
“But this body, Aggivessana, which has material shape, is made up of the four great elements, originating from mother and father, nourished on gruel and sour milk, of a nature to be constantly rubbed away, pounded away broken up and scattered, should be regarded as impermanent, suffering, a disease, an imposthume [a source of corruption], a dart, a misfortune, an affliction, as other, as decay, empty, not-self” (M. i. 500).
Buddhism, rather than abide in the transient, is interested in what is ultimately real which does not change; which lies beyond our ever changing fragile human body together with the sphere of the six senses, viz., the eye and objects, the ear and sound, the nose and odor, tongue and taste, body and touch, the mental states with their mental objects. To reiterate, none of this is ultimately real because it is transient. While for us this transient world dominates, still there is something hidden behind all this which is increate and unchanging which is also unconditioned. But try as we might to get to it, we fail because we are using the transient as our tool. Our words, thoughts, ideas and theories fall short and will always fall shot. Still there is a way to the real even while we seem to be in bondage to the transient. The Buddha found it as did many after him, even in other traditions like Vedanta.
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