Impermanence Is Suffering: From the Simile of the Snake Sutra to the Lesson of Letting Go

**SUMMARY:** Understanding the impermanent nature of the five aggregates leads to non-attachment. Based on the teachings of Venerable Thích Chân Quang on the Simile of the Snake Sutra, this article helps you recognize the inherent suffering in life and the path of transformative practice.

There are things in life we truly understand only after experiencing them. Someone who has never felt sadness cannot know what sadness is. In the film *The Terminator*, the robot protecting the boy could not comprehend why he was crying. Only when it stepped into the molten steel to destroy itself did it suddenly grasp the human sorrow of parting. That story offers us a profound lesson about suffering.

**Impermanence Is Suffering – A Seemingly Simple Principle**

In the Simile of the Snake Sutra, the Buddha taught: "Whatever is impermanent is suffering." It sounds simple, yet it contains a profound philosophy. Venerable Thích Chân Quang explains:

Whatever is impermanent is suffering. There is a Western philosopher who reasoned similarly: whatever you consider happiness will cause you suffering when you lose it.

Think about a beautiful pen we love. When it is lost, we feel sad. When a close friend leaves, we feel a sense of emptiness. This is due to impermanence. Nothing lasts forever, and it is this very loss that brings suffering. Therefore, recognizing impermanence is the first step to understanding the nature of life's suffering.

**The Five Aggregates – From Body to Mind, All Are Impermanent**

The Buddha pointed out the five aggregates we commonly cling to: form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. Form is the body, feeling is sensation, perception is cognition, mental formations are mental factors, and consciousness is awareness. All are constantly changing. The Teacher teaches:

Any form—past, future, or present; internal or external; coarse or subtle; inferior or superior; far or near—one should contemplate thus: 'This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.'

We often cling to the body, from small details like a smile or a dimple, to even its flaws. We cling to feelings of joy and sadness, to thoughts, and to judgments. But all are impermanent and subject to decay. If we see them as "me" or "mine," then when they change, we will suffer. Practice is to see this clearly and gradually let go.

**Disenchantment – The Beginning of All Practice**

In the sutra, the Buddha presents a progressive sequence: "Through disenchantment comes dispassion, through dispassion comes liberation." "Disenchantment" (*yểm ly*) means becoming disenchanted and weary, no longer clinging. The Teacher emphasizes:

What is disenchantment? *Yểm* means forehead, *ly* means to leave. The term *yểm ly* sounds elegant in classical Sino-Vietnamese, but translated into Vietnamese as "weary detachment" it sounds odd. Yet, the entire starting point of all knowing and all practice lies here.

Disenchantment is not aversion, but clearly seeing the provisional nature of all things so we are no longer drawn into them. When we see this body as something impermanent and illusory, we no longer cling to it. From there, craving and desire gradually decrease, and we move closer to liberation.

**Practice Is Vital – Avoiding the Trap of the "Scholar"**

The Teacher warns of a danger: we become "scholars" (those who only study theory) instead of "practitioners" (those who practice). Studying the teachings without practicing is merely intellectual understanding. He tells the story of a Buddhist devotee clinging to an image of the Teacher from childhood, unable to accept the present. This is clinging to past form. Or the story of a woman who, after a heart transplant, suddenly liked beer, fried chicken, and speeding motorcycles like the young organ donor. This body has an invisible power that pulls the mind into attachment.

If we do not practice, we only pass on the shell of words, without inner strength. The Teacher shares:

My disciples will be able to become disenchanted with form. Because I speak imbuing my own inner strength into those words, not just speaking emptily.

Therefore, each day, each hour, let us contemplate that this body is false and illusory, to truly become disenchanted. This is how the Buddha's teachings (Dharma) are transmitted with the power of direct realization, not just empty theory.

Understanding impermanence is understanding the beauty of letting go. Each time we let go of a little attachment, we become a little lighter. As the Teacher says, simply becoming disenchanted with form allows the other aggregates to be gradually released as well. Let us start now: sit down, breathe, and contemplate that this body is not "me." This is the path leading to true peace.